BBCi Launches Biggest Ever Advertising Campaign
The BBC is launching its biggest ever advertising campaign to promote its interactive arm, BBCi, amid renewed calls for tough restrictions to be applied to the Corporation’s £111 million per year internet services.
The BBC has recruited Formula One racing driver, Jenson Button, to front the campaign for its new-look digital information service in a move that marks the first time that BBCi has used a celebrity as part of its advertising strategy.
The campaign launches on BBC television channels this Saturday and runs until the end of January with the strapline: “BBC at your beck and call”. The initial push will be supported by online activity, ads on BBC radio stations and press ads in a range of BBC magazines.
Commenting on the initiative, BBC director of new media and technology, Ashley Highfield, said: “Jenson’s the ideal front man for the BBCi on TV campaign: Like our audiences he leads a busy life and doesn’t have time to wait for news, he wants the latest information when it suits him and that’s what BBCi on TV is all about.”
BBC recently relaunched its interactive television services with improved functionality, in an attempt to simplify the interactive experience by providing viewers with a single point of entry for all interactive TV programmes and information services (see BBC Revamps Interactive Services For Digital Generation).
The BBC’s rivals are growing increasingly critical of the BBC’s online services and recently called for the Government-launched review of the BBCi to go further in assessing their impact on the commercial market.
The wide-ranging review is currently being conducted by being former Trinity Mirror chief executive, Philip Graf, to examine how the BBC’s online services fit within its general public service obligations (see ISBA Urges Government To Go Further With BBC Online Review).
BBC: 020 8743 8000 www.bbc.co.uk
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