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The i newspaper debuts first major TV sponsorship deal, with Dave

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i, Britain’s first and only concise quality newspaper, has signed an inaugural TV partnership deal with UKTV’s popular entertainment channel, Dave.

The newspaper will sponsor a series of idents across some of Dave’s key programming, kicking off on Monday 27th March, with each of the idents carrying the tagline, ‘i sponsors Characters on Dave.

The deal is part of owner’s Johnston Press’ ongoing strategy to elevate the title’s position in the market, and showcase its concise nature and quality journalism, following continued growth for under Johnston Press, since its acquisition in April 2016.

Created by Atomic, the campaign will bring to life the brand’s trademark logo, the red ‘i’, in a sequence of smart and playful news-related sketches including Trump, Brexit and North Korea. The activity will also be supported by witty press placements in the paper and online, throughout the duration of the sponsorship with the distinctive red ‘i’ taking centre stage across the whole campaign to drive awareness.

Airing during a selection of Davemost popular programmes including QI, Storage Hunters UK, Cops UK: Bodycam Squad, Mock The Week and Room 101, the sponsorship agreement plays a key role in Johnston Press’ strategy for i, cutting through the noise of opinion to provide clear facts on a range of complex issues.

The deal comes as another step evolving and building from last year’s You Decide campaign, launched by throughout the week preceding last year’s decisive EU Referendum vote, reminding readers of the importance of their participation. This bold and uniquely impartial Brexit coverage powered a 30,000 sustained sales lift and attracted over 2m new readers online*.

As well as directly driving record sales figures for the title, the campaign also played its part in Johnston Press’ strategy to engage i’s readers with its trademark journalism, providing the facts they need to make difficult decisions around significant issues on the news agenda.

Richard Thomson, Publishing Director at Johnston Press, said: Dave is a great and natural fit for us to showcase what as a brand is all about. Its audiences are much in line with i’s, with the same wit, humour and intelligence, and we look forward to kicking off our partnership at such an exciting time for the brand.”

The sponsorship deal was brokered by Channel 4 Sales and 7Stars.