Rapture Television, the cable and satellite channel owned by United
News & Media, is looking for a creative agency to handle its relaunch as
a full-blown daily channel at the beginning of next year.
BMP DDB, Maher Bird Associates, CIB and PD3 are lining up to pitch for
the account, which will promote Rapture’s new transmission hours and
underline its expanded availability.
The review is being orchestrated by the AAR and a final decision is
expected in the next couple of weeks.
The channel, which is available in about five million UK homes, will
switch from broadcasting just at weekends to seven days a week from next
January.
At the same time, Rapture is in discussions to expand its transmission
from analogue cable and satellite on to digital TV platforms next year,
which would add at least another million homes to its existing base. The
channel is United’s only foothold in the cable and satellite
broadcasting arena and is expecting to spend up to pounds 2 million on
advertising the new service.
Adam Stanhope, managing director of Rapture, said: ’This is a new ad
budget for what will be our biggest consumer advertising campaign.’
Rapture had previously used a range of creative agencies on a project
basis.
The ads will also highlight Rapture’s recent repositioning away from
targeting 12- to 20-year-olds to focus on an older youth audience,
specifically 16- to 24-year-olds. The programming is now focused on what
Stanhope describes as an urban lifestyle, covering clubbing, computer
games and extreme sports.
