Smart Drives Awareness of EV Range with Channel 5’s ‘Outdoor Adventure’ in First-Ever UK TV Sponsorship

smart UK Automotive has announced its first UK television sponsorship, partnering with Channel 5 to sponsor the ‘Outdoor Adventure’ strand across both linear and streaming on My5 from yesterday. This collaboration marks smart UK’s return to broadcast television and its debut in TV sponsorship.

The ‘Outdoor Adventure’ programme strand incudes popular titles fronted by well-known faces such as Tales from the River Bank with Clare Balding, Yorkshire Great and Small with Dan and Helen, Ben Fogle’s New Lives in the Wild and The Isle of Wight with Kate Humble.

The partnership provides smart with an ideal platform to reach a broad audience while showcasing the brand’s award-winning, all-electric range. As part of the sponsorship, creative idents featuring the tagline “Adventure Just Got Bigger” will highlight smart UK’s new EV models, challenge misconceptions, and reinforce the brand’s commitment to innovation, quality, and affordability.

Jason Allbutt, CEO smart UK Automotive, said, “The partnership with Channel 5’s ‘Outdoor Adventure’ aligns perfectly with smart’s brand values. This sponsorship gives us an opportunity to introduce a wider audience to smart’s stylish and practical model range, which includes the award-winning #1 and #3.”

The sponsorship deal was brokered by Sky Media and Mediahub’s Radical + Disruptive Lab, with creative work produced by Recipe.

Christa Thompson, group account director, Paramount Advertising International Markets commented, “This new partnership enables smart to tap into Channel 5’s highly engaged audience through its popular, accessible factual content presented by much-loved talent – taking viewers to new places. We’re thrilled smart has chosen Channel 5 for their first foray into UK TV sponsorship.”

Saj Nazir, SVP of media creativity at Mediahub, said, "We’re excited to bring smart UK Automotive’s partnership with Channel 5’s ‘Outdoor Adventure’ to life. This collaboration aligns with smart’s brand values, showcasing their award-winning models to a wider audience. By leveraging Channel 5’s engaging content, we’re creating a campaign that truly resonates." 

Channel 5’s linear channels grew by 5% in 2023, marking the portfolio’s fifth consecutive year of share growth. Channel 5’s main channel was the only commercial public service broadcaster (PSB) to increase its audience share in peak time (7-11pm) year on year and also grew its share of ABC1 viewers in peak time by 4%.