LEGO® Batman barges in on Channel 4 continuity

2 February 2017

From this evening until Sunday (5th February), LEGO® Batman will become a self-appointed, ‘unofficial’ member of Channel 4’s peak time continuity team leading up to the 10th February release of The LEGO Batman Movie, from Warner Bros. Pictures, Warner Animation Group and LEGO Systems A/S.

In a series of first-of-their-kind ads, LEGO Batman will provide ‘alternative’ Channel 4 continuity announcements, giving his very own self-assured intros. The ads, featuring the vocal talents of the film’s Will Arnett as LEGO Batman, will air alongside Channel 4’s own editorial announcements across the four days. In some shows, he will even re-appear in the centre breaks just in case viewers were missing him.

Created through a collaboration between PHD, Warner Bros. UK, Channel 4 and Omnicom Media Group’s content and creative arm Drum, the ads are the first execution of a series of ‘Batman barges in’ media activations heading into the launch of the film in cinemas.

The partnership was conceived and aligned by PHD, Drum and 4Sales through their creative arm PL4Y.

The ads were written by Drum and produced by Warner Bros. Pictures.

Bringing the film’s irreverent spirit of fun to Channel 4, LEGO Batman will embellish the continuity announcements with his self-described awesomeness - regaling viewers with references to his own accomplishments at any given opportunity.

The first ad will air at 4.45pm today, followed by 18 specially scripted and animated intros to a variety of popular, peak time Channel 4 shows across the four days, in more than 40 ad spots.

Deputy marketing director of Warner Bros. UK, Martin Gough, said, “We are delighted to be able to bring LEGO Batman’s hilarity to life in such a contextually perfect and high-profile platform as Channel 4’s peak time schedule. Whilst this partnership might not land him a full-time job as a continuity announcer anytime soon, I’m sure it will make a big impact in the run-up to the launch of the movie. ”

PHD’s chief strategy officer, Mike Florence, said, “This partnership provides the perfect launch pad for our ‘Batman barges in’ media activations. The team at Channel 4 has been so impressive in how they’ve been able to make our vision come alive. This partnership is another great example of how much flexibility and creativity can be applied to using spot TV.”

Drum’s creative director, Matt Cole, said, “Even though I’m sure in Batman’s mind this whole thing was his idea, he begrudgingly acknowledges that it’s ‘kinda cool’ to have the opportunity to show Channel 4 audiences how awesome he is at this TV presenting stuff. Gee thanks, Batman.”

Chris Braithwaite, agency principal at Channel 4, said, “This is a first for us and has meant massive collaboration across the channel. Batman’s irreverent, edgy style sits nicely with Channel 4’s and our viewers are going to love it.”

The LEGO Batman Movie is released in the UK on Friday 10th February.

About The LEGO Batman Movie

Will Arnett reprises his starring role from The LEGO Movie as the voice of LEGO Batman, aka Bruce Wayne, in The LEGO Batman Movie. The film is directed by Chris McKay and produced by Dan Lin, Phil Lord, Christopher Miller and Roy Lee, with executive producers Jill Wilfert, Matthew Ashton, Will Allegra and Brad Lewis. The screenplay is by Seth Grahame-Smith and Chris McKenna & Erik Sommers and Jared Stern & John Whittington, story by Seth Grahame-Smith, based on LEGO Construction Toys and based on characters from DC. Batman was created by Bob Kane with Bill Finger; Superman was created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster.

From Warner Bros. Pictures and Warner Animation Group, in association with LEGO System A/S, a Lin Pictures / Lord Miller / Vertigo Entertainment production, The LEGO Batman Movie will open in cinemas in 3D, 2D and IMAX. It will be distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company.

www.legobatman.co.uk              

BATMAN and all related characters and elements are trademarks of and © DC Comics.

LEGO, the LEGO logo, the Minifigure and the brick and knob configuration are trademarks of the LEGO Group. © 2017 The LEGO Group. Used with permission. All rights reserved.

Ends

About Warner Bros. Entertainment UK

Warner Bros. Entertainment UK is a fully integrated, broad-based entertainment company and a leader in the creation, production, distribution, licensing and marketing of all forms of entertainment and their related businesses. A Time Warner Company, the fully integrated, broad-based Studio is home to one of the most successful collections of brands in the world and stands at the forefront of every aspect of the entertainment industry from feature film, television and home entertainment production and worldwide distribution to DVD and Blu-ray, digital distribution, animation, comic books, video games, product and brand licensing, and broadcasting.  WBEUK, led by Josh Berger, is based in Warner House, Holborn, London (with a small regional office in Dublin, Ireland) and has the broadest footprint of businesses outside of the US, including; Warner Bros. Television Production UK (formerly Shed Media), Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden, Warner Bros. Studio Tour London – The Making of Harry Potter, TT Games, Rocksteady Studios and WB De Lane Lea

About PHD

PHD is known globally as an innovator in communications planning and buying across broadcast, print, digital, mobile, social and emerging media and was named as the UK’s ‘Media Agency of the Year 2016’ at the Media Week Awards and as ‘Media Network of the Year 2015 and 2016’ by Campaign magazine.

About Drum:

Drum is Omnicom Media Group UK’s multi-award winning content & creative business and Content Agency of the Year, 2015 at The Drum Awards. From content partnerships and channel creation to ad funded programming, social content dynamic creative and talent collaborations; DRUM creates communications that audiences choose to engage. Drum is packed full of 70 thinkers, creators and makers who pride themselves on being constantly curious in a world of relentless digital change.

About Channel 4:

Channel 4 is a publicly-owned, commercially-funded, not-for-profit public service broadcaster and has a remit to be innovative, experimental and distinctive. Its public ownership and not-for-profit status ensure all profit generated by its commercial activity is directly reinvested back into the delivery of its public service remit. As a publisher-broadcaster, Channel 4 is also required to commission UK content from the independent production sector and currently works with 300 creative companies across the UK every year. In addition to the main Channel 4 service, its portfolio includes: E4, More4, Film4, 4Music, 4seven, Channel4.com and digital service All 4.

Credits

TITLE: CONTINUITY BAT

CLIENT: Warner Bros.

CLIENT LEAD: Martin Gough, Deputy Marketing Director, Warner Bros.

MEDIA PLANNING & BUYING: PHD

MEDIA PLANNERS: Jessica Roper, Charlotte Ullah (PHD)

PARTNERSHIP LEADS: Nick Scott (Channel 4) Callum Sibley (Drum)

CREATIVE AGENCY: Drum

PRODUCTION COMPANY: Warner Bros. Pictures

CREATIVE DIRECTOR: Matt Cole, Drum

CREATIVES: Andrew Wilson, David Williams (Drum)

ACCOUNT HANDLERS: Ruth Griffin, Alice Pascoe (Drum)