Freemans launches first sponsorship link-up, with TV show Loose Women

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Apr 26, 2022

Digital UK department store Freemans (part of the Otto Group) has unveiled a major two-year, six-figure, cross-platform partnership with ITV daytime show Loose Women.

It starts on 2 May, a public holiday in the UK with the weather forecast to be average, so plenty of people should be watching.

The exclusive new sponsorship is a first for the brand and Freemans said it will “deliver idents at the start, during, and at the end of each episode of the award-winning weekday lunchtime show, as well as sponsorship bumpers across ITV Hub and Loose Women digital sites, in addition to ‘proud to sponsor’ messages on Freemans’ owned channels”. Idents around the show will be voiced by show panellist Nadia Sawalha.

Freemans’ Chief Customer Officer Richard Cristofoli said of this:  “Loose Women is a show that goes all out to celebrate women in an honest, authentic, accessible, empowering, relatable and diverse way – values that align perfectly with Freemans and the journey we are on to be the digital department store of choice.

“The sponsorship is an indication of a more holistic approach to communicating what the Freemans brand represents today and will complement other through-the-line activity including, paid social, elevated ad campaigns, digital and PR across the coming season.”

The announcement follows a “complete re-imagining of the Freemans brand” over the last 18 months while its product offer has seen Freemans launching plenty of exclusive labels in fashion and home including Julien Macdonald, Henry Holland, Abigail Ahern and Siobhan Murphy.

Bradford-based Freemans’ new partnership with Loose Women is the result of collaboration from teams in Manchester at dentsu UK&I’s iProspect and The Story Lab, dentsu’s partnership content arm, working together with ITV Media. Freemans is also collaborating with The Production Factory to deliver its creative content.

Heidi Kenyon-Smith, Client MD at iProspect, said: “This new partnership enables Freemans to positively benefit from association with ITV’s Loose Women year-round, reaching a significant key audience. It marks an important next step in their brand reinvention, [and] will help drive brand reappraisal.”