O2 confirms its Big Brother sponsorship

O2, the newly launched brand replacing BT Cellnet, has confirmed it is to sponsor Channel 4’s Big Brother, in a deal that will run across the terrestrial television channel, digital channel E4, the Internet and a range of mobile phone services.

The deal was first tipped in Marketing Week (January 10) and follows in the footsteps of BT Cellnet’s sponsorship of last year’s Big Brother.

O2 director of brand and marketing services Garrison Macri says: “O2’s Big Brother activity marks the first time the interactive mobile services for a major terrestrial TV programme can be accessed across all UK mobile phone networks using easy-to-remember text ‘short codes’.”

Macri claims the “most compelling” O2 mobile service will enable viewers to vote on the Friday night evictions, using SMS via any UK mobile phone network. The SMS voting marks a first for the show.

Other O2 Big Brother services include paid-for news and gossip text alerts, quizzes, games and competitions, ringtones and logos and the ability to text comments direct to the Channel 4 and E4 studios.

Channel 4 head of sponsorship David Charlesworth says: “Big Brother will showcase O2’s products while ensuring that the mobile services behind this year’s show are second to none.”