Virgin Media to Sponsor Big Brother

Seen this today:


Virgin Media is the new sponsor of Big Brother, it has been confirmed.

The company has signed an exclusive deal with Channel 4 to sponsor the eighth series this summer and will have first refusal on the next Celebrity Big Brother.

"We're a pioneering and innovative company so it made sense to create an alliance with a show that has genuinely changed the face of TV," said James Kydd, Virgin Media's managing director of marketing.

Carphone Warehouse pulled out of its £3 million sponsorship deal following the Celebrity Big Brother race row.

Kydd said: "Big Brother has always come under the spotlight and courted a lot of attention.

"Virgin is known for facing challenges head on and we know that our customers enjoy Big Brother because it's the most unpredictable and exciting TV programme there is."

The Virgin Mobile brand will be at the heart of the sponsorship deal.

Channel 4's head of sponsorship, David Charlesworth, said: "We share so much with Virgin in both brand and business so look forward to pooling our expertise to create a ground-breaking sponsorship."

Whilst it's possibly a cheap way of getting coverage compared to regular advert slots, I'm not sure of the impact on the Virgin Brand. I believe this could go either way

Well the Virgin brand is no stranger to controversy and yet i do agree with Woggledog that this could go either way.

[Bazz]

Well that is just about as down market as you can go! So much Kydd's choice of programming, "...we know that our customers enjoy Big Brother because it's the most unpredictable and exciting TV programme there is".

[RichardMannion]

Interesting choice, but then Virgin Mobile rushed to sign up the Snow Queen after all the scandal that caused many corporates to sever their contracts and ties with her.

Thanks,
Richard

[fozzyo]

Virgin Media are trying to attract the younger ones away from Sky etc. and so are associating themselves with a brand / programme that the youth of today enjoy. That and it will get them plenty of column inches and advertising at what is probably a bargain price compared to what Carphone paid is my guess. Too many of the paranoid suits and bean counters don't want to be associated with such made up controversy.

[Bazz]

Originally posted by fozzyo
...Too many of the paranoid suits and bean counters don't want to be associated with such made up controversy.

That must be me then [?][:I]

I'd rather hoped that after all the furore over the last series (which I didn't watch) that BB would have died a quick and painless death, never to be inflicted on the great British public again. Sadly this would not appear to be the case. What's the betting SRB will end up as a (Celebrity) house guest at a later date (just think of the publicity it would generate)?