Channel 4 announces first industry Product Placement Combined AFP deal

15 March 2011

Channel 4 announces first industry Product Placement Combined AFP deal with high street fashion retailer New Look

Channel 4 has today announced its first product placement deal, a unique partnership which will see high street fashion retailer New Look appear in, and advertiser fund, an innovative new T4 series this Summer.

The show is a pioneering, live 2-screen entertainment series produced by Twofour in partnership with Monterosa and Mother, which will celebrate the style and creativity of everyday girls up and down the UK.

Each week, the show will roll into a new town and scour the neighbourhood for the most stylish girls and girls on the High Street, culminating in a head-to-head catwalk competition between the two most ultra-stylish locals discovered by the presenters.

The winning collection in each show will be decided by T4 viewers in a live vote. One of the show's most stand-out features is that people at home can create their own outfits online, some of which will be modelled in the show itself. The weekly winner then goes through to a national final at the end of the series where one lucky stylista will win a life-changing opportunity to become one of New Look's stylists.

The series is a creative collaboration between Channel 4, Twofour, Monterosa, New Look and Mother, New Look's creative agency.  The series will be one of the first combinations of advertiser funding and product placement on UK television. As part of the deal, New Look will be able to have their clothes featured in the show and on the catwalk, if they are used for editorial reasons - all of which would not have been possible before the relaxation of the rules around Product Placement.  New Look will also receive branding within the title sequences around the programme.  By allowing all partners to contribute to the series' development from the start, the show is discarding traditional definitions of AFP to create an experience that is as truly rewarding for the viewer as it is for the New Look brand.

Channel 4's Head of Sponsorship, Placement and Funded Content David Charlesworth said,

"Having always maintained that Product Placement will be integral to squaring the circle of measurable value within the Funded Content arena, we're pleased to demonstrate such an innovative approach as an industry ‘first' in collaboration with TwoFour, Monterosa, Mother and New Look who will mark their place in retail history."

New Look's Group Chief Marketing Officer Nick Cross said,

"With over 600 stores in the UK and 10.6 million people shopping at New Look in the last year, New Look is the barometer for high street fashion.* As such, we are always looking for innovative ways to fuel our customers' excitement for fashion. Working alongside Channel 4, Twofour, Mother and Monterosa we are creating pioneering entertainment which is a celebration of ‘real-time' fashion as it's lived on the high street. Our customers are a generation who do not delineate their online lives from their interests in the real world - so this is a natural next step in how brands can engage their audiences in the most immediate, relevant and exciting way possible."

Jennifer Hills, Head of Branded Content, Twofour

" Twofour has a long history in creating multi-platform brand funded entertainment and the relaxing of product placement rules will only help improve the offer to our brand partners.  The change in guidelines allows us to extend the integration of a brand and its products into editorial and tell a complete story to consumers, something that has proved difficult in the past when relying solely on break bumpers.  Product placement will help improve the commercial value for brands who evaluate against traditional media metrics and that can only be beneficial for growing investment in Branded Content."

 

Notes to Editor

Source: Kantar Worldpanel, females aged 12+ years excluding Northern Ireland, Womenswear includes Women's Outer/Sports, Nightwear, Underwear, Hosiery, Footwear & Accessories, 52 w/e 23rd January 2011