27 October 2017

Dave is one of Britain's most iconic and loved TV channels. Showing programmes such as Taskmaster, Red Dwarf XII and Dara O Briain's Go 8 Bit, its loyal viewers are always entertained.

But over the last few days its content has been a bit out of character.

At exactly 3.28 pm, the hungriest time of day, Dave got a bit confused and turned into a completely different channel called Rupert. Rupert, a pontificating, polo playing, slipper wearing square, changed the schedule and started showing nonsense like the art appraisal show 'Private Collections', the International Chess Championship, 'Battle of The Boards', and some vintage film noir, a Parisian Classic Ni Pour L'amour Ou L'argent.

This out of character content did not just stop with the TV broadcast.

Rupert took over Dave's advertising space swapping out the Classic 'Dave' chalkboard branding with a gold and red velvet identity for 'Rupert.'

He controlled Dave's social media, posting about Polo and the correct place setting when hosting a dinner party.

But SNICKERS(R) soon put a stop to the chaos.

In the live broadcast the plug was pulled, a set of colours bars appeared and a Snickers bar slammed onto screen with the famous tagline "You're not you when you are hungry".

Having had a SNICKERS(R), Dave returned to the air and normal service resumed.

With the chaos over, an open letter of apology, in the form of an ad, was then issued containing a promise to all loyal Dave viewers that thanks to a stack of SNICKERS(R), Rupert will never return to disrupt the channel again.

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The Dave and Snickers partnership was created by AMV BBDO and produced by UKTV Creative. The partnership included creating three fake TV shows, social, out of home and press and is the first commercial project for UKTV Creative, headed up Scott Russell.

The deal was brokered by Zenith and 4Sales.

Sarah Goldman, Director of Advertising at UKTV comments:

This partnership demonstrates UKTV's willingness and ability to work with advertisers on bringing to life ambitious ideas.

Christoph Weber, SNICKERS(R) Brand Director, adds:

We're thrilled to partner with Dave for the next stage of the 'You're Not You When You're Hungry' campaign. This is an iconic campaign, and we hope fans of the brand enjoy seeing it return to their screens in such an innovative and unique way.

Credits

Project: Dave Snickers Partnership
Director: Paul Philpott (UKTV)
Producer: Daniel Wimborne (UKTV) and Trish Russell (AMV)
Production Company: UKTV
Client name & job title: Christoph Weber - Snickers UK Brand Director
Creative Agency: AMV BBDO
Creative Director: Rosie Arnold
Copywriter: Michael Hughes
Art Director: Dalatando Almeida
Agency Planner: Alaina Crystal & Elly Fenlon
Agency Account Man: Lou Woolf, Philippa Field & Aliya Brijnath
Media Agency: Mediacom & Zenith Optimedia
Media Planner: Amanda Zafiris & Holly Jerreat

For more information please contact:

AMVBBDO: Vicky Allard / allardv@amvbbdo.com OR Alexandra Brand / branda@amvbbdo.com

UKTV: Ali Laurie

About Dave

Sky 111/246, Virgin 128/194, Freeview 12, BT & TalkTalk 12 On demand on Sky, Virgin and UKTV Play

dave.uktv.co.uk / @DaveChannel

About UKTV Creative

UKTV Creative launched as an in-house agency in 2017 and has won numerous awards for its work.

UKTV decided to bring all creative in-house to offer a bespoke and integrated creative and media service for UKTV and its brands.