Jazz FM signs sponsorship deal with US spirits brand

Jazz FM has signed a sponsorship deal with Southern Comfort that will see it create a New Orleans-themed Saturday evening show and launch branded live events.

Jazz FM has signed a sponsorship deal with Southern Comfort that will see it create a New Orleans-themed Saturday evening show and launch branded live events.

The “Southern Comfort Big Easy” show will be broadcast on the digital station every Saturday night between 8pm and 9pm and will start on 25 July.

The programme will feature music from New Orleans and Southern Louisiana and a Southern Comfort-based cocktail each week.

The six-month deal, brokered by the alcohol brand’s media agency Universal McCann, will also see the launch of Southern Comfort-branded Jazz FM live events.

Evi Kaarlehto, assistant brand manager at Southern Comfort, says the deal will allow the brand to talk about its “roots and heritage in a credible way”.

The station, which receives a significant proportion of its revenues through sponsorship, has also recently renewed an agreement with The Financial Times and signed deals with Pizza Express, Yamaha and Olsen Cruise Lines this year.

Earlier this year, the station was the subject of a management buy-out led by current chairman Richard Wheatley. The Wheatley-led team bought the station from the Local Radio Company and Guardian Media Group.

It was relaunched as a digital-only station last October and is available online, on DAB and through Sky and Freesat.

Southern Comfort, owned by Brown-Forman Beverages, also recently launched a campaign that includes a branded tour bus at the Rockness music festival and tie-ins with the XFM and Galaxy stations.