Channel 4 Launches Formula One Coverage Ad Sponsored By Kayak

Travel search engine Kayak.co.uk is to sponsor Channel 4's coverage of Formula One "as the broadcaster revealed its first full ad" on Tuesday, according to Gurjit Degun of CAMPAIGN LIVE. The deal was brokered by SPP, a division of Blue 449. Channel 4’s first race coverage will be from Bahrain on April 2 and April 3. Idents will "feature across the ten live races, including practice, qualifying and online activity for watching live and across All 4, the video-on-demand platform." The idents are "yet to be released." Channel 4 won the terrestrial rights for the races in December, when it said that it "will air the coverage without ads." 4Creative has also "revealed the full ad to promote the races on Channel 4." It uses the classic Formula One theme tune, The Chain by Fleetwood Mac, and "shows a black race car covered in the broken down Channel 4 logo, which is used in its branding." The ad was created by Alex Boutell, Tim Fellowes, Richard Biggs and Jolyon White, and Boutell directed the spot. The ad will be broadcast across sports shown on BT Sport and ITV (CAMPAIGN LIVE, 3/8).