An Update from The Other Side....

Over a year ago I started at ITV; a Creative Strategist role that has allowed me to be the most creative I have ever been and work with the biggest brands in the world on a daily basis.

As a central part of the Creative Partnerships team, my role is to take brand partnerships beyond just badging a brand logo on an ITV show. It's about creating integrated campaigns that feel like a genuine partnership between the brand and ITV businesses, ensuring we land objectives and get real, tangible results.



Back at LRS, my client-side experience from leading partnerships (Missguided, Antony Joshua, Warner Bros), taught me that the "red thread" is crucial; this is the shared creative platform from both brands in a partnership.
In my role at ITV I am responsible for that “red thread”; interrogating briefs, creating a shared purpose & creative "hook”, then ideating & pitching a full campaign idea off the back of it.

Tight turnaround times means I have to think hard, quickly – this is where my talent for pulling an idea out of my arse on the fly really bodes well for me – but I love it because ITV is a fantastic property to work with. The plethora of huge shows, talent, channels and integrated partnership opportunities, means that there is so much to work with and inspire.


Every day I get a new brief from a huge brand with an exciting campaign, and it’s my job to elevate that campaign by thinking of the best, most creative use of our ITV IP; enabling us to build engaging, commercially viable campaigns that are relevant to both audiences and, best of all, get those brand objectives met.

As I sit within Commercial Sales, my ideas are designed to sell. Within this year, my ideas have attributed to the sale of a three-year headline sponsorship of Emmerdale and a two-year headline sponsorship of Love Island.

A lot of briefs I work on are high reach/awareness stunts – one of which was for the Asda 2019 Christmas ad.

Asda had a lovely ad which saw two children pinch some Northern Light “Santa magic” from the sky, and sprinkle it over their town; spreading the Christmas joy.


Instantly for me, using ITV Weather for this campaign was a no-brainer.

It was one of my favourites, so I thought I’d take some time to share it with you.


Project Asda

Challenge: Asda needed to amplify their creative journey with the Northern Lights and wanted ITV to create impact and standout; making it memorable and extra special!

Creative Strategy: Asda’s Northern lights represent the magic of Christmas. Just a pinch of that green dust from the sky is enough to spread happiness and playfulness to the nation. To bring this partnership to life, I wanted to create that same excitement and intrigue for our audience – teasing that something magical, and extra special was about to happen.
We used key programming across our schedule that we know Asda customers watch - keeping them intrigued across the weekend with teasers around the weather, Emmerdale, and throughout Saturday – all leading up to Asda’s incredible 120” ad premiere in the break of Celebrity X Factor that night.

Activation: We created two bespoke weather report ads featuring Alex Beresford – telling viewers that The Northern Lights were spreading far and wide across the weekend and to “look out for them on your screens” leading up to Saturday night.

                           

This was extended with utilising the Emmerdale IP, which had a Northern Lights make-over, with two crafted ads which launched on Friday’s and Monday’s episodes.


10” teasers were created that went out across our schedule on Saturday, featuring hits in the RWC in the morning – through to Take Me Out that same evening.

For the premiere, we created a bespoke Northern Lights “Proud to Present” that launched Asda’s 120" ad in Celebrity X Factor that night - locking down millions of views.

The entire campaign was supported with a digital take-over package that launched on The Hub on the same weekend.

                           

The client was extremely happy with the activation and Asda generated the most search interest according to Google Trends across the weekend of their Christmas campaign launch, as well as creating plenty of buzz on social media.

Personally, nothing beats seeing my idea come to life from a scribble to on the telly.



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