The story of the MTV owl

For fifty years our logo has lived with the times and been transformed along with each decade’s trends, but one thing has not changed – it has always featured an owl.

The owl logo was adopted when the company was established in 1957. The artist Peppe Nyström first sketched out an egg, then a bird – and finally the wise owl with a twinkle in its winking eye was born.

In 1975 it was time for the appearance of the blue circular owl. The logo was recreated specially for the launch of colour broadcasts. The new owl was designed by Ilkka Levonranta, a visualist with the advertising agency Markkinointi Viherjuuri. The logo typeface was changed in 1983 when the company officially became MTV Oy.

The triangle logo of Oy Kolmostelevisio Ab was designed by Matti Salmi of AC-mainos in 1986.

The owl took to its wings in 1993 when MTV3 was born. This owl was created by graphic designer John Kennedy of McCallum Kennedy D’Auria Ltd.

The owl on the red square was introduced in 1995 and designed by Pekka Hamberg from Brand Seller DDB.

In 1998 the red-blue-white logo lost the blue to give it a simpler look, so the white owl flew on a red background until 2001.

The year 2001 saw the owl’s keen eye emerge as MTV3's new icon. The wise owl observes the world and keeps viewers company every night. The logo was designed by the international design firm Novocom. In 2005 the logo was fine-tuned with a change in the colour of the number three from red to black.

In 2003 MTV3’s fun and friendly animated owl character hit the screens. It provides support to the owl’s eye appearing in the channel logo and ident and increases the visibility of the owl as a symbol of MTV3 that is so firmly rooted in the channel’s history.