10 days ahead of the start off the new Formula One season, which kicks off on 25 March with the Australian Grand Prix, UK co-broadcast rights holder Channel 4 rolls out a promotional campaign (sponsored by travel search engine Kayak) to generate excitement around the new championship and grab its share of the petrol head audience.
The promotion is spearheaded by a ‘Race Into The Future’ trailer which aims to build pre-race buzz by focusing on this season’s new rules and faster cars.
The spot, directed by Dahlan Lassalle and created by the broadcaster’s in-house team, began airing on the channel from 14 March and was simultaneously posted on its YouTube channel.
The hero spot was supported across Channel 4’s digital and social platforms.
The campaign is further supported by out-of-home and radio activity and the assets all aim to drive viewers/listeners and F1 fans to find out more about the channel’s coverage at http://f1.channel4.com/
The broadcast sponsorship activation, which was brokered by SPP (a division of Blue 449), will see Kayak idents feature across 10 live races: including practice, qualifying and online activity for watching live and across All 4, the video-on-demand platform
The campaign was created for Channel 4’s head of marketing James Walker and group marketing manager Grace Ayres by a team that included executive creative directors Chris Bovill and John Allison, creative director Dan Watts, head of production Clare Brown, creatives Jim Chambers, Nina Beyers, Tom Espezel-Bentley and Dahlan Lasalle, plus group business director Matt Berry, executive producer Shananne Lane, producer Rory Mclean, project manager Oliva Emmerson and marketing executive Maya Padhya.
Channel 4’s promotional campaign and F1 coverage is sponsored by travel search engine KAYAK.co.uk (as it was during the 2016 season).
The exclusive deal to back the broadcaster’s coverage of the 2017 FIA Formula One World Championship sees the KAYAK.co.uk logo appear on the promotional pieces, plus on sponsorship idents appearing around the live coverage of Grands Prix on Channel 4 (including practice and qualifying sessions, as well as extensive race highlights and Channel 4’s online coverage of F1 which spans watch live and catch up on All 4).
Founded in 2004, KAYAK.co.uk enables people to search hundreds of travel websites at once to find the best offer for flights, hotels, rental cars and package holidays. With 50 million downloads of its app, KAYAK is also one of the travel market leaders for mobile.
‘We have been looking for a big bang sponsorship to drive mass awareness of KAYAK.co.uk. Millions of Brits will be tuning into Channel 4’s coverage of Formula One®, making this broadcast sponsorship the perfect platform for KAYAK to reach the masses. Channel 4’s in-depth, technical approach to covering the sport really struck a chord with us as a technology-led brand. This synergy makes us the perfect partners for coverage of Formula One® in the UK,’ explained Kayak’s Loella Pehrsson whent he deal was signed in 2016.
Links:
Channel 4
https://www.youtube.com/user/channel4
https://www.facebook.com/Channel4
Formula One
https://www.facebook.com/Formula1
