OMG! Mazuma Mobile R Sponsoring #TheCircle on @Channel4

23 August 2019

Channel 4 today announced that Mazuma Mobile will be the new sponsors of its ground-breaking reality gameshow series, The Circle, when it returns for a second series this autumn with an extended run and a weekly live episode.

The Circle is the mobile phone recycling service’s first ever venture into TV sponsorship following the success of series one last year. The partnership was negotiated by 4sales’ Nations & Regions in Manchester and media agency LOVE SUGAR SCIENCE.

The sponsorship will see a series of Mazuma Mobile idents, created by Diagonal View, wrapped around the new series of the show, which will be hosted by Emma Willis, when it returns later this year.

An innovative marketing campaign starring Emma Willis as viewers have never seen her before launches on Channel 4 tonight (Friday 23rd August) in anticipation of the return of The Circle [embeddable link here: https://youtu.be/pNAX7H0sYpY]. The film, created by Channel 4’s inhouse creative agency, 4creative, sees Emma morph between different characters to illustrate the concept of show – a popularity game where anyone can be anyone! These characters include a ‘more mature’ grey-haired Emma; a ‘daring’ tattooed Emma; and a bearded male Emma. The campaign includes TV, social, outdoor and press. 

The first series – the biggest fixed rig, fast-turnaround show on British TV* – was Channel 4’s most popular new factual entertainment series for young viewers in 2018, proving a massive hit with young audiences on social and critics alike, becoming Channel 4’s youngest profiling show since 2012 with an average of 49.4% profile of 16-24s.  On All 4, The Circle was the biggest new original commission launch since 2012, with over 10 million views.

Rupinder Downie, Partnership Controller at Channel 4 said: “Mazuma is the perfect partner for our young skewing game show which plays out almost entirely over social media. We’re thrilled that Mazuma has chosen The Circle for its first foray into the powerful medium of sponsorship.”

Head of Marketing at Mazuma Andy Cruxton said: “This is a really exciting time for our business. We have invested significantly into creating a product and portfolio that sets new standards for the used devices market. The synergy between what we offer and how The Circle’s audience view and interact with the show was obvious. We can’t wait to see the show launch for season 2!”

LOVE SUGAR SCIENCE Co-Founder Jessica Scott said: “We are absolutely thrilled to be working with the team at Mazuma and Channel4 on such an ambitious brief. We all believe this is the start of something big for Mazuma and it is great to be part of the team.”

In The Circle, players can choose to be whomever they think will make them most popular with other players.  They don’t get to know each other face-to-face, meeting each other through the profiles they choose to share through The Circle (a purpose-built, voice activated social media site) and the information they release via chats. The players live in separate apartments in a single building and play games and chat with each other through The Circle.  They rate each other frequently and unpopular players are blocked. Once blocked, and before leaving the show, the eliminated players will get to meet other players in person for the first time. Ultimately, the most popular player wins a cash prize of up to £100,000.

Ends

Notes to editors

• *The Players were observed by 106 fixed rig cameras – the biggest fast-turnaround rig on British television