Remember the times when you turned on the TV and you had just four channels to watch? Well, you must be older than you look as anyone who is anyone will tell you, there are now more than 450 channels to choose from in the UK.
Obviously, with so much choice, it is hard to stick out from the crowd but UKTV for one has a cunning plan which sees its free streaming service transition to U and its free-to-air channels become U&Dave, U&W, U&Drama and U&Yesterday. Viewers will see the changes on air and across platforms, with all assets reflecting the design.
Enter a new advertising blitz, fronted by the one time “queen on the infomercial” Cher, designed to celebrate the wealth of free content on the U streaming service, promising its viewers they can lose themselves in what they love, “whatever you want to watch, we’ve got U”.
Cher is seen travelling through time to appear in some of Britain’s best-loved shows on U, performing a new rendition of the song I Got You Babe.
Created by Havas Entertainment, the ad starts with UKTV execs pitching their creative to Cher, who, in a vision, says she “can see it now”, and immediately starts singing I Got You Babe.
Along the way, Cher meets EastEnders’ Barry (Shaun Williamson), and together they perform karaoke in the Queen Vic, as well as meeting Orlando Bloom, who’s perched on the top of a rock as he tests his physical and mental strength in the self-titled, Orlando Bloom: To the Edge. The singer also has a chance to test her own nerve as she’s sat in the back of a car driven by Chris Kamara and Jeff Stelling, cheating death in Sri Lanka in World’s Most Dangerous Roads.
Viewers can catch a glimpse of Cher making a surprise appearance in Secrets of the London Underground, as well as many other shows including Annika, which sees Cher perform to DI Annika Strandhed (Nicola Walker) who heads up the Marine Homicide Unit, as the duo don lifejackets, setting sail on the Scottish waters.
UKTV chief marketing officer Penny Brough said: “Following ten months of research, design work and asset creation, I couldn’t be more excited to see U come to life on and off air. We’ve taken a bold approach to our new branding, and this has been matched by our biggest ever multimedia campaign and our launch ad featuring Cher, one of the most recognisable women in the world.
“I Got You Babe perfectly aligns with our campaign tagline ‘We’ve Got U’, reflecting the depth and range of almost 8,500 hours of free content available on the U streaming service.”
The ad will run across UKTV’s social and linear channels, as well as on ITV, Channel 4 and Sky, YouTube, Facebook and TikTok.
To complement this, Havas Entertainment has secured a strategic radio takeover in partnership with Bauer, while the campaign will also be seen across Britain’s most prominent poster sites, social media takeovers, CTV UI, digital display, online videos, and a TV dinner pop-up restaurant. Bascially, you literally can’t miss it.
Havas Entertainment managing partner Alex Sherr said: “It’s brilliant to support U during this period of transformation and growth for the brand. U’s commitment to fostering joy through its diverse range of shows has a deep-rooted place in our culture, which is what we’re all about.
“We now enter our fourth year together, which we can’t quite believe but have loved every second. We’re excited to play our role in supporting U’s ongoing brand evolution and mission to redefine free-to-air streaming for the better.”
So, what is the consensus around the Decision Marketing office?
Well, this ad appears to have sparked joy around the nation (more than the English football team could do), much of which has been sparked by the link up with Barry from EastEnders. And, to be fair, it even brought a ray of sunshine into our offices and that is no mean feat.
Interestingly, for a company that only broadcasts repeats, UKTV seems pretty popular. Then again, with most of the channels free to air, it is perhaps easy to see why.
As for Cher, she is the perfect brand ambassador; she doesn’t need to “turn back time”, she hasn’t aged a day since UKTV first launched in 1992…
Decision Marketing Adometer: A “U better believe it” 8 out of 10
