Channel 5 Says G’Day To Home And Away

Channel 5 is to launch its biggest ever marketing campaign to promote the start of Aussie soap, Home and Away, which it poached from ITV last year.

The soap’s relaunch on 16 July will be accompanied by a nationwide press and poster advertising campaign starting on 2 July.

The campaign, shot on location in Australia, will feature the soap’s teen idols sporting sunscreen versions of the Channel 5 logo while dressed in the channel’s colours.

Deputy marketing director for Channel 5, David Bainbridge, said: “It’s right that we support the biggest ever programme acquisition with our biggest ever promotional adspend.”

Home and Away will be the flagship programme of the channel’s new look daytime schedule and will be screened weekdays at 12.30pm and 6.30pm with an omnibus edition on Sundays. The campaign will extend to major teen and celebrity titles and the national press, with posters appearing on 96 sheets, 48 sheets and 6 sheets across the UK.

Bainbridge added that the campaign reflects a more mature Channel 5, which is famous for its irreverent tone of voice. He said: “It used to be that we had to be outrageous to get noticed. But the channel’s growing up and so is its marketing. Now, with the acquisition of high profile programmes like Home and Away, we can start to let the product speak for itself.”

Channel 5 had plans to move its daily news to make way for the soap but had them blocked by the ITC last April (see Channel 5 Sidesteps ITC Decision With New 5.30pm News Bulletin).

Channel 5: 020 7550 5555 www.channel5.co.uk

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