Npower signs TV sponsorship first with £2.5m The Bill deal
Energy supplier npower is to sponsor ITV’s twice-weekly police drama The Bill for &£2.5m. It is the first time the programme has been sponsored.
The TV deal forms part of an &£8m push for the utility brand before the end of the year. It includes TV, press and online advertising.
Npower’s first TV sponsorship deal follows its debut in sports sponsorship, after it signed up as a sponsor for the FA Premier League (MW August 10).
Npower was formed in October 1999 when National Power split into two separately listed companies – npower and global unit International Power.
Manning Gottlieb Media, which won npower’s launch account in January, arranged the sponsorship. The tie-up begins on September 5 and runs until the end of the year. TBWA GGT Simons Palmer has created the idents.
MGM managing partner Nick Manning says: “Npower is effectively launching a new brand. The Bill is a community-based, down-to-earth programme with lots of integrity, an exact match for npower’s brand values.”
Manning says npower was attracted to The Bill as a means of building a major consumer brand because it has not been sponsored before. According to a Bill spokeswoman, the programme has 8.5 million viewers.
