American Express has taken its first leap into the UK’s television
sponsorship market, using Channel 4 as its launch pad.
The US credit card company is sponsoring Channel 4’s weekly restaurant
industry series, If you Can’t Stand the Heat, featuring six failing
catering ventures with tips for improvement.
The documentary, based on the premise that 40 per cent of restaurants
never reach a second birthday, aims to find solutions for survival in
such a competitive trade.
The series, launched last week, will run over the next five weeks and
the American Express logo will appear during ad breaks, including
standard sponsorship credits, 15 seconds going into the programme, five
seconds around each ad break and 10 seconds at the end the
programme.
The creative output for the sponsorship deal was produced by Channel 4’s
in-house creative team and directed by Grant Gilbert.
Melanie Briggs, sponsorship account manager at Channel 4 said: ’American
Express is a top rate brand, and is the perfect partner for a series
which reflects its ideology - to help people do more in their
professional lives.’
Media planning and buying was by Carat.
