The life assurance company, Equitable Life, has scored an
advertising first by securing a fully funded programming deal with
Channel 4 for the first three weeks of the new year.
Equitable Life has financed 14 programmes, entitled Things to Come,
which will project personal visions of different aspects of human life,
from schools to gambling and pleasure. A 60-minute discussion programme
will run on New Year’s Eve to introduce the series and, from 5 January,
13 five-minute programmes will each deal with a specific topic.
Equitable Life will have front- and end-bumper credits, together with
the endline: ’Anything’s possible in your Equitable lifetime.’
The company, which scrapped its long-running ’it’s an Equitable Life,
Henry’ campaign in September in favour of a more up-to-date positioning,
asked the sponsorship consultancy, Drum PHD, to find a deal which would
fit in with the new strategy. Channel 4 agreed to commission the series
on the understanding that it would have full editorial control.
The programmes were produced by Illuminations TV in response to a brief
from Drum PHD.
Channel 4’s sales and marketing director, Andy Barnes, said: ’Channel 4
has never before worked in this way, not because we’re opposed to the
principle, but simply because no project has yet interested us enough.
We look forward to more ideas of this quality.’
A spokesperson for Equitable Life said: ’Channel 4 has gained
high-quality programming at no cost, and Equitable Life will generate
some positive and meaningful brand awareness through on-screen credits.’
