More on: NBC Sports

Back in August 2011 NBCUniversal made the anticipated announcement that their sports channel Versus would be renamed NBC Sports Network to take advantage of the NBC Sports brand. At the same time, it unveiled a new NBC Sports logo. When an article on the subject was published here, the only elements available from the new identity were low resolution versions of the new logo and a press release.

After relaunching on January 2, the revitalised and expanded NBC Sports brand has been on the air for almost six months and we have seen plenty more of it. This month the LA motion design studio Troika unveiled the work they had done for the rebrand.

Troika worked to refresh NBC Sports across platforms, including the rebranding of Versus into the NBC Sports Network. The result is a conventionally slick and fast-paced package filled with metallic logos and graphics in realistic environments.

New logo: Rewe Frei von

REWE frei von is a new brand for products that don't contain lactose or gluten, sold by the German supermarket chain Rewe. It was launched in April as "the new brand for food sensitive" (die neue Marke für Ernährungssensible) with the slogan "Enjoyment allowed" (Genießen erlaubt). The new identity and packaging was developed KW43 Branddesign in Düsseldorf.

New logo: Vier

VT4 is the second most watched commercial channel in Flanders, the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium. In September, VT4 will be renamed VIER (Dutch for "Four"), while its sister channel VijfTV would analogously be called VIJF ("Five"). The new names were announced last week, on June 14.

The channel has also unveiled a new logo, created by the London agency Why Not Associates, where a team is currently working to make the new look ready for the September launch.

Vier wants to position itself as a a channel that is "at the same time very new and very familiar" and "exclusive to everyone". "Familiarity of the old" is apparently a "springboard" to launch the new brand, and the new minimalist logo has a stylish retro sensibility with its 60s TV screen shape. Marketing materials from Vier has the logo imposed on faded images from the 60s, 70s and 80s, although its not clear if they resemble what will ultimately end up on screen.

New logo: Telly

Twitvid was originally created for people who wanted to share videos on Twitter, essentially a video version of Twitpic. Over time it has developed into a more independent site where people can discovery videos from Twitvid's own library as well as other websites. Some months ago it shed its Twitter-esque logo and last week, on June 13, it also announced that it would give up its old name to become "Telly". The logo above came with the announcement.

Istanbul's Olympic logo contest

On May 23, the International Olympic Committee announced which bids for the 2020 Olympics would be allowed to move on the the candidate phase in the selection. Tokyo, Madrid and Istanbul were granted candidate city status, while the bids from Baku and Doha were rejected.

The logo Istanbul used for its bid for 2020 Olympics was a bit unconventional as it consisted of a wordmark combined with a pattern, and not the usual badge stacked on top of a wordmark. And last week, on June 13, it became clear that it will not be used in the candidate phase, as Istanbul 2020 launched an online vote where the public can select the logo they want.

Whether this was because they organisers never intended the previous logo to be used in the candidate city phase, or that it was breaching IOC's strict rules on Olympic emblems, isn't clear. Olympic bids typically use the same symbol in both the application and candidate phase. In the event that Istanbul gets to organise the 2020 Olympics, they will have gone through three completely different logos.

New logo: Swiss Football League

Swiss Football League is the name used by Switzerland's professional football league. Ahead of the 2012–13 season, it highest division has changed its name from Axpo Super League to Raiffeisen Super League after the banking group Raiffeisen replaced energy company Axpo as its name sponsor.

To mark the new name, the league unveiled new logos last week, on June 15, for both the Swiss Football League, Raiffeisen Super League and the second division Challenge League. All three logos are based on the same template, a pentagon with a footballer and a football with the Swiss cross. Compared to some other logos in this genre, they are quite restrained.

Logo round-up: May 2012

May was an exciting month for rebrands this year. Not only was there the annual crop of companies launching new corporate identities for their shareholder meetings, several TV channels unveiled new looks at the TV upfronts. And there were also several other high profile rebrands from around the world.

As usual, readers are encouraged post a comment if there's something significant missing. Previous editions of the logo round-up can be found here.