Toyota and BP to sponsor Channel 4’s Tokyo 2020 Paralympic coverage
Toyota and BP will be joint headline sponsors of Channel 4’s Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games programming as the broadcaster looks to take its coverage of the event to “the next level”.
Both advertisers will benefit from branding across the channels highly anticipated marketing around the games / Channel 4
Allianz backed Channel 4's 2016 Paralympics programming, but BP and Toyota will now split the sponsorship equally across Channel 4, More4 and All 4 – including all build-up shows, live slots, highlights and entertainment shows.
Channel 4’s agreement with Toyota follows on from a successful 2018 Paralympic Winter Games partnership. It also expands on another deal inked last year, in which the car marque was took on sponsorship of general Paralympic sports programming for the network, including the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) Swimming championships.
The BP agreement marks the oil and gas firm’s first TV sponsorship with the broadcaster.
Both advertisers will benefit from branding across the channel's highly anticipated marketing around the games following 2012's ‘Meet the Superhumans’ push (The Drum's campaign of the last decade) and 2016's similarly acclaimed ‘We Are The Superhumans’ campaigns.
Channel 4 said it is aiming to deliver more hours of coverage of live sport than from any previous Paralympic Summer Games shown in the UK, including almost 200 hours on Channel 4 and More 4.
The partnerships will see dual sponsorship branding on All 4 and site sponsorship of the dedicated Channel 4 Paralympics website which will carry live streaming throughout the Games from Tokyo from 25 August to 6 September.
2020 marks the first time Paralympic content will carry sponsorship across linear, digital and social platforms.
On social, Channel 4 said there will be a “substantial presence” in the build-up to and during the Games, with exclusive behind the scenes content starting this month in the form of diary exerts from ParalympicsGB hopefuls across C4-owned social platforms.
Working in collaboration with Channel 4’s Sports Commissioning team, BP and Toyota will also co-develop and create editorial content to run across Channel 4 linear and digital platforms.
Toyota is already a longrunning official IPC partner. The Channel 4 partnership is a natural fit for the Japanese car giant, which since 2018 has been running a global campaign called 'Start Your Impossible' which aims to "reflect the Olympic and Paralympic spirit of encouragement, challenge and progress" by focusing on the stories of individual athletes.
Andrew Cullis, director of communications and product for Toyota (GB), said: “Tokyo 2020 is an extremely important and exciting time for the Toyota brand as our business begins its evolution from an automotive manufacturer to a mobility company and we look forward to bringing this to life through this partnership and beyond.”
The deal was negotiated by Channel 4’s sales house, 4 Sales, and Toyota and BP’s media agencies m/SIX and Mindshare respectively.
Advertisers such as Visa are already gearing up for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, with Airbnb signing on as a multi-year sponsor ahead of the big event.