Dave channel plots move into branded products
UKTV is considering extending its male-skewed TV channel Dave into branded products such as a deodorant and credit card.
Marketing director Tom Lucas says the strategy is to “stretch channel brands into new and relevant categories”.
He adds that the company is also looking at opportunities for its other channels including Watch and Blighty.
“I envisage Dave in a partnership with, say, Lynx to launch Dave deodorant. Or tie-ups that could see a chain of Dave pubs or Dave Live comedy events, or even a Dave credit card. The brand could work in some interesting categories,” says Lucas.
Dave launched in October 2007, replacing UKTV G2. It targets a 16- to 34-year-old male audience and features comedy and factual entertainment programming. Shows include Top Gear, Never Mind The Buzzcocks, QI, The Mighty Boosh and Red Dwarf.
Magazines targeting similar male audiences such as IPC’s Nuts and Dennis Publishing’s Maxim, now defunct as a print title, have launched brand extensions.
Nuts attempted to stretch the brand on to television in partnership with Turner with the launch of Nuts TV on Freeview in September 2007. The channel was subsequently axed just over a year after it launched.
Meanwhile, UKTV completes the relaunch of its channels this month with the rebrand of UKTV Food Channel as Good Food, the result of a partnership with the BBC Worldwide property.
UKTV has this year relaunched UKTV People as Blighty, UKTV Documentary as Eden and UKTV History as Yesterday. Last year it began rebranding its entertainment portfolio, when UKTV Gold became GOLD, UKTV Drama became Alibi and it launched new channel Watch.
