Umbro Foots The Bill For Channel 4 Music Sponsorship

Channel 4 has secured sportswear giant Umbro as the exclusive broadcast sponsor of The Urban Music Festival to be broadcast on 16th May.

The event, filmed on May 8th/9th at Earl’s Court in London, featured some of the biggest names in urban music such as Beyonce, Jay Z and The Streets. Channel 4 and E4 will exclusively broadcast the show over a three-week period.

Under the deal a set of sponsorship credits created by Advertising agency 4Creative will be shown with the broadcaster’s coverage, highlighting Umbro’s backing. The credits will depict groups of young men and women performing football skills to a hip hop sound track.

Commenting on the deal James Walker, account director at 4creative said: “Umbro is a great sports brand and we wanted to do an idea that gave a clear link between Umbro, music and urban culture.”

The move follows a successful year for 4Ventures, the parent group of 4Creative. Last month the company announced pre tax profits of £4.1 million for 2003, compared to a loss of £17.7 million during 2002. Channel 4 also revealed that 4 Ventures’ contribution to the broadcaster’s revenues had increased to 18% (see Channel 4 Planning Raft Of Digital Channels).

Channel Four: 020 7396 4444 www.channel4.com

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