Dorling Kindersley to sponsor series of Wish You Were Here

Dorling Kindersley is set to sponsor the entire run of ITV’s top

rating holiday series, Wish You Were Here.

The deal, worth at least pounds 1 million, will run from 15 November for

26 weeks. The on-air sponsorship will showcase Dorling Kindersley’s

glossy travel guide range, The Eye Witness Travel Guides. The campaign

will adopt the traditional on-air sponsorship format, a 15-second

opening with five seconds during the breaks and a 10-second closing

slot.

Collette Nugent, group head of marketing at Dorling Kindersley, said:

’This is a major investment for Dorling Kindersley but one which will

increase the profile of DK travel guides to a core travel market. We

hope that this will be the first of many sponsorship deals to help build

the Dorling Kindersley brand.’

The sponsorship deal was negotiated by Andy Thompson, head of

sponsorship at Carlton, and Jo Sanders, director of public relations at

Dorling Kindersley.

The creative for the credits were designed by Carlton.

With its regular audience of 8 million, Wish You Were Here launched in

1974 and is television’s longest running holiday programme. Taking over

from Anthea Turner, the new series will be hosted by Mary

Nightingale.

The deal marks the publisher’s second television sponsorship deal.

Earlier this year it became the first book publisher to sponsor a TV

show in the UK, when it sponsored ITV’s biggest pre-school commission,

Mopatop’s Shop.

Thompson said: ’Dorling Kindersley has chosen broadcast sponsorship on

ITV as a means of raising awareness of a core brand among their target

audience. Wish You Were Here and DK Travel combine great travel ideas

and practical travel advice.’

This article was first published on Campaign