Virgin Radio has secured Sky TV as the exclusive sponsor of its high-profile Pete & Geoff breakfast show as part of an extensive brand marketing campaign to be launched the satellite broadcaster later this autumn.
The deal, which builds on the an existing eleven year relationship between the two brands, includes full show credits and promotional trials, as well as the daily television guide, which has been sponsorsed by Sky Plus since March.
The on-air activity will be supported by an extensive online push with full integration into the breakfast show section, special listener offers and competiions targeting virginradio.co.uk’s 1 million listeners each month. There will also be an on-site banner campaign and Virgin’s VIP memebers will receive targeted messages via the weekly newsletter.
Commenting on the campaign, Virgin Radio’s sponsorship and promotions manager, Brian Commins, said: “Pete & Geoff have a long standing relationship and genuine enthusiasm for all things Sky. As viewers themselves they can talk knowledgably and sincerely about a brand that is part of their everyday lives.”
Last month Virgin Radio became the first to respond to the increasing popularity of music downloads by launching the nation’s first weekly chart rundown using Napster online sales figures. The Napster Online Music Chart counts down the 20 most popular songs downloaded by Napster users from a catalogue of 750,000 tracks each week (see Virgin To Launch UK’s First Online Music Chart).
The latest RAJAR figures for the three months to June 2004 show that Total Virgin Radio has seen its weekly reach decline by 5.9% year on year to 2,632,000. However, Virgin 105.8 FM London is gaining valuable ground in the capital with a solid 4.6% increase to 959,000 during the same period.
Virgin Radio: 020 7434 1215 www.virginradio.co.uk
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