BBC Two of competition since ITV's launch in 1955, and both had aimed for a populist approach in response. The 1962 Pilkington Report on the future of broadcasting noticed this, and that ITV lacked any serious programming. It therefore decided that Britain's third television station should be awarded to the BBC. Prior to its launch, the new BBC2 was promoted on the BBC Television Service: the soon to be renamed BBC1. The animated adverts featured the campaign mascots "Hullabaloo", a mother kangaroo, and "Custard", her joey. Prior to, and several years after, the channel's formal launch, the channel broadcast "Trade Test Transmissions",
What Were You Hoping For? in 2008. Two songs from those sessions, "Moving Targets" and "Eyes Like Pearls", were included on "What Were You Hoping For?". After setting up his own label in 2009, Hunt began a new process for "What Were You Hoping For?", writing and recording songs for 10 months. In an interview for the "Chicago Tribune", he said of his expectations for the album's recording: "I really wasn't sure what it would wind up being sonically. I love Bach cello suites, I love punk music, I love old blues, negro spiritual quartets, Muddy Waters' 'You Need Love.' There is a simplicity but