4Sales launch new creative strategy PL4Y

17 November 2015

4Sales today announced the launch of its brand new in-house creative strategy PL4Y at Channel 4’s Upfront 2016 event in London. From next year PL4Y will drive all of 4Sales’ responses to campaign briefs from media agencies and clients.

PL4Y is led by Creative Strategist Charlotte Rowland  working with Jonathan Lewis, Head of Digital and Partnership Innovation and David Amodio, Digital and Creative Leader and will see the team align themselves closer than ever before with agency planning processes, utilise deeper insight and define the real creative challenges. This approach will allow PL4Y to develop the best ideas and solutions resulting in stronger ideas which ensure that a campaign delivers against a brand’s original objectives.

This new integrated creative approach builds on 4Sales’ industry leading reputation for innovative, creative solutions including holistic brand partnerships working with Channel 4 talent and programme brands – and access to Channel 4’s unique audience insight and first party viewer data.

The PL4Y brand encompasses twenty ‘Ideas Agents’ (fully trained experts in ideas workshop facilitation and generation) and a dedicated production team who will work alongside the wider 4Sales’ team to conceive and deliver all new commercial creative output on behalf of agencies and clients.

PL4Y’s dedicated production team will comprise of award-winning talent from the creative industry including Channel 4’s in-house creative agency 4Creative and their preferred agency partners including The Outfit, offering media agencies and clients their expertise in delivering content innovation that upholds Channel 4’s high quality production values. 

4Sales will trial a pop-up ‘PL4Y Room’, a creative space in central London early next year where agencies and clients will have full access to all of PL4Y’s resources. They will be invited to use the space to immerse themselves in the creative world of Channel 4 and be given the opportunity to attend workshops and ideas sessions facilitated by the PL4Y team.

Jonathan Allan, Sales Director at Channel 4, said: “On the back of winning Sales Team of the Year, we’re further developing our creative culture and product for 2016 through the launch of PL4Y. This is a uniquely integrated creative proposition that will offer our agency and client partners a bespoke Channel 4 experience that embraces our Born Risky spirit.”

The launch of PL4Y follows the recent expansion of Jonathan Lewis’ digital and partnerships team to super-charge 4Sales creative resources to find innovative ad solutions for brands. Emma Derrick, Commercial Development Leader and team help to align clients with Channel 4’s programme brands and talent as well as activate sponsorship and product placement deals into ever more interesting spaces through licensing deals; and Simon Wells, Partnership Controller, Content Solutions and team help brands to create high quality linear and digital TV content working alongside Channel 4's commissioners.

Recent examples of industry leading creative solutions from 4Sales have included the world’s first advert directed live via Twitter to launch Years & Years’ new single ‘Shine’; the first TV show in the UK produced specifically for use in commercial airtime using the Gogglebox cast to critique the latest Lotto ad; and the award–winning McCafe Moments integrating McDonald’s McCafe brand with some of the key themes, stories and characters across Channel 4’s flagship programmes.

4Sales recently won the Sales Team of the Year Award at the Media Week Awards 2015.