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MPAA’s Big Branding Shift: It’s No Longer MPAA

In an effort to better reflect its scale, the Motion Picture Association of America will now be known as the Motion Picture Association, bringing the group’s name in line with its global reach.

The Motion Picture Association of America is not an organization that changes its branding particularly often—its globe-plus-film-reel logo, used since 1967, is iconic.

But sometimes, things change, and now that global nature reflected in the logo is becoming a lot more important to the association, which this week announced a name change to  MPA—the Motion Picture Association. The change effectively retires a name that had been in constant use for around 75 years (the group started in 1922 as the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America) with the broader goal of ensuring global consistency. The group has been known as the Motion Picture Association outside of the United States since 1994, according to Deadline.

In a statement, MPA CEO Charles Rivkin noted that the nature of the content industry often means that it has considerations far beyond U.S. borders, including on issues like production and copyright.

“In the nearly 100 years since our founding, the film and television industry has rapidly grown and evolved, and the stories we tell now reach every corner of the world,” Rivkin said in a news release. “The Motion Picture Association has evolved too, as have the challenges we face—from defending the creative expression of storytellers, to protecting our members’ content, to expanding access to international markets. This new, unified global brand better reflects today’s dynamic content creation industry, the multi-platform distribution models of our companies, and the worldwide audiences we all serve.”

MPA has been in something of a transitionary period as the industry changes; earlier this year, for example, the group welcomed Netflix as a member, making the streaming service the first that isn’t a traditional movie studio.

The name change also reflects the fact that the North American market is only one part of a much larger pie, with 71 percent of total box office and nearly 60 percent of home video revenue coming outside of the U.S. and Canada. And while MPA has long been associated with the American market, it has affiliates in 27 countries, touching every major part of the world.

These regional groups previously used often-discordant national branding to affiliate them with the broader MPAA; now, the affiliates focused on specific regions will have individual logos to tie them to different parts of the world, including MPA America.

And in case you’re wondering, that logo isn’t going anywhere, though it did get a slight redesign along with the rebrand.

(via the MPA website)

Ernie Smith

By Ernie Smith

Ernie Smith is a former senior editor for Associations Now. MORE

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