Beck’s signs 2m deal to sponsor C4 drama

Beck’s Bier has signed a 2m deal with Channel 4 to sponsor its drama output.

The sponsorship will begin in November with the new drama series, The Young Persons’ Guide to Becoming a Rock Star.

Beck’s, which is distributed in the UK by Scottish Courage, will sponsor ten more drama series over the next 14 months. It is the first time that the channel has sold drama as a generic sponsorship.

The deal is the first of two strands that the Channel 4 sponsorship department, headed by David Charlesworth, has created for sponsorship (MW September 30). The other is its weekend youth TV strand called T4.

Maurice Breen, Scottish Courage director of premium lagers, says: “The combination of powerful new television drama and Channel 4’s unrivalled appeal among our core audience of 18 to 34-year-old men offers an impressive communication vehicle for Beck’s over the next 14 months.”

Channel 4 sponsorship account manager James Oxley says: “The task for head of drama Grub Neal is to do for drama what this network has done for film. To make it contemporary and cutting edge.”