With a budget of around pounds 1 million per hour, an intensive
trailer campaign and enough A-list thesps to sink the Groucho, Channel
4’s adaptation of Anthony Powell’s A Dance to the Music of Time was
guaranteed to pull in an exceptionally high audience of ABs.
This episode - the first instalment of a four-parter - was two hours
long, and the first ad break was of significantly higher quality than
the final one. Perhaps the buyers had seen the rushes. But it’s not
every day that an advertiser can sandwich itself between the likes of
Sir John Gielgud and Edward Fox. Advertisers in the first break were:
BMW, Equitable Life, Sainsbury’s Homebase, L’Oreal Plenitude and BT.
BMW pushed the boat out with three ads in the first break, realising
that a programme of this calibre was too good to miss. The understated
approach to the car’s finer features contrasted well with the drama’s
lavish production values.
Homebase and Equitable Life - bought by the same person - wanted to be
part of Channel 4’s biggest-yet investment in drama. ’It is very
Equitable Life, and good for Homebase’s new image,’ he said.
Client: BMW
Agency: Zenith Media
Buyer: Matt Howe
Client: Equitable Life
Agency: New PHD
Buyer: Simon Willis
Client: Sainsbury’s Homebase
Agency: New PHD
Buyer: Simon Willis
Programme: A Dance to the Music of Time
TV station: Channel 4
Date: 9 October, 21.00
Break transmission time: 21.20
BARB: 11.4 AB men TVRs (live)
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