Beefeater to sponsor two Channel 5 shows

Channel 5’s relaunch of Seventies TV team gameshow It’s A Knockout is to be sponsored by pub and restaurant chain Beefeater as part of a &£1.5m campaign celebrating the company’s “Britishness”.

The Whitbread-owned group has also signed up celebrity chef Brian Turner for a series of 20 three to five-minute programmes on British food, which the chain is funding.

The first programme in the series is expected to go on air on September 8.

It’s A Knockout – fronted by children’s television veteran Keith Chegwin, with Frank Bruno in the Eddie Wearing referee role, and starring minor celebrities Nell McAndrew and Lucy Alexander – is expected to be the station’s autumn flagship programme.

The first of 11 programmes with Beefeater-branded sponsorship bumpers, created by Mother, airs at 8pm on September 3.

Turner will act as a food consultant on the regular Ready Steady Cook programme on C5, providing advice on recipe development, menu selection and staff training. Turner’s own series, Great British Food Made Special, will be repeated across C5’s schedule over the next five months.

Both sponsorship agreements will be supported by a promotional print campaign in women’s consumer titles, with recipe cards and offers.

The recipes will be compiled in a cook book – to be given away at Beefeater restaurants.

Beefeater brand marketing controller Deborah Cutler says: “The appointment and forthcoming campaign give a new edge to our strategy. The sponsorship will focus on our Britishness and commitment to providing great British food.”

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