Unilever sponsors C4 music show

Channel 4 has commissioned a Unilever-funded music programme promoting the Elida Fabergé Lynx brand in a deal brokered by Gem, GMG Endemol Entertainment’s commercial arm.

The show, called Lynx Voodoo Eclipse, is a fly-on-the-wall look at an open-air concert through the eyes of its participants. It coincides with the eclipse of the sun on August 11.

Besides the publicity for the Lynx brand generated by the show’s title, it will also carry Lynx sponsorship credits.

GMG Endemol’s production arm Initial (makers of Channel 5’s The Pepsi Chart) will produce the one-hour special, which was commissioned by Channel 4 head of night-time Stevan Keane. It will be screened on Saturday August 14 at midnight as part of the 4 Later strand.

Gem head of advertiser related programming Simon Wells says: “Our involvement in advertiser funded programming over the past two years has given us a unique understanding of how to successfully deliver these projects on national TV.”

Unilever has shown considerable commitment to advertiser funded programming, which is still unusual in UK TV schedules.

It funded a deal for Lynx last year around a concert called Lynx Location Apollo, and is also behind a factual series called Animal Alert Sea World, made by GMG Endemol production subsidiary Bazal, to be screened on Channel 5 later this year.

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