ITVX butters up viewers with popcorn dispensing billboard
Out-of-home installation in London coincides with the launch of ITV’s new streaming platform.
Nothing goes better with a good movie than some fresh popcorn
ITV has unveiled a billboard with a difference to showcase the launch of its new streaming platform, ITVX. The ad, erected in Victoria Station in London, allows passers-by to help themselves to popcorn from the enormous stock within the transparent billboard.
To strengthen the association with the new streaming service, content from ITV’s entire back catalog with be broadcast on enormous screens across the station concourse. In order to grab the popcorn, the public will also have to spin a handle in the shape of the ITVX logo.
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The interactive billboard is live from today until Saturday to coincide with the launch of the new service. Paul Ridsdale, director of marketing at ITV, said: ”We’re really excited to be officially launching ITVX today – our fresh new streaming service offering more new shows for free than anywhere else. And what better way to celebrate than with the UK’s freshest ever billboard – treating viewers to both fresh popcorn and fresh ITVX program highlights as they pass by.
”This is an exciting new chapter for ITV and we can’t wait for viewers to start enjoying the thousands of shows ITVX offers – for free.”
The campaign is part of ITV’s £45m marketing blitz for the new service. All told, it amounts to the single largest campaign in terms of ad spend in the channel’s history.
Its marketing chief, Jane Stiller, told The Drum that one aim of the wide-ranging campaign is to increase ITV’s awareness among audiences that have never considered it a streaming service – a significant shift in how the channel markets itself. ”This is a very different brief, this is landing a product message and making sure that resonates with viewers that love ITV but also with viewers for whom ITV isn’t top of their consideration. That is a really big shift for us.”
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ITVX is designed to put ITV on the level of streaming giants such as Netflix. As even those giants move from strictly SVOD to a hybrid AVOD/SVOD model, ITVX’s success will be predicated on giving its users access to live TV events in addition to its back catalog, marrying the appeal of must-watch TV to the ease of accessing content to which the public has become accustomed.