The SUN TV channel introduced new mascots

The SUN TV channel summed up the results of an open vote on the choice of mascots. The Luchikov family has become the new heroes of the brand — characters who will appear on the air, digital projects and marketing campaigns of the TV channel, and will further develop as a sketch comedy.

The Luchikovs will become part of the channel's on-air design, inter-program commercials, vertical video content, commercial special projects, and partner integrations. In the future, the channel is also considering the development of a licensing area: the release of merchandise, publishing products and collaborations with other brands.

"Today, it is no longer enough for a media brand to be present only on the air. The audience interacts with him on several platforms at once, so the brand needs its own recognizable characters who can live in different formats and build a long-term emotional connection with the viewer. That is why we decided to invest in creating our own universe of characters, which will eventually become one of the key intangible assets of the TV channel," says Ruben Oganesyan, General producer of the SUN TV channel.

The work on the mascots took place in several stages: the team explored family archetypes, developed dozens of character concepts, their characters and visual images. However, the TV channel entrusted the final decision to the viewers. The Luchikov family became the winner of the open vote, gaining 62% of the votes. 23% of the participants voted for the Solntsevs' family concept, 15% voted for the Siyashkins. More than 68,000 people took part in the voting, and over 200,000 users got to know the concepts of all three families on the project's landing page. During the three weeks of the contest, the promotional campaign reached more than 14.5 million people. Every second viewer of the channel contacted mascots during the campaign period, reaching 51% of the SUN audience. In addition, the unique audience for the three weeks of the contest increased by 6%* compared to the same period before its start. On the day of the results, the channel's share turned out to be 20% higher than the average share in the summer.

When creating the project, the TV channel's team used generative AI tools both at the character development stage and during the preparation of the advertising campaign. Artificial intelligence helped to explore various artistic trends, stylistics and characters of future heroes, as well as accelerated the creation of visual materials for ethereal design — logos, IDs, dies and other promotional elements. At the same time, all the final decisions, artistic refinement and production of materials remained with the creative team of the TV channel.

The voices of the mascots were given by professional voice actors and media personalities. The Luchikovs' dad was voiced by Ivan Chaban, the voice of Spider—Man (played by Tom Holland), Newt in The Maze Runner trilogy and Bran Stark in the Game of Thrones series, and Varvara Chaban (Titanic, Finding Nemo, etc.). The eldest daughter was introduced by blogger Lera Tusi, The son was voiced by Feodor Kirsanov, and the youngest daughter was voiced by Arina Savostyanova.

Creating your own line of characters is part of the long—term development strategy of the SUN brand. The Luchikov media universe will increase brand awareness, increase audience engagement, and open up additional opportunities for the development of partner and licensing projects.