Dirty Business: The Guardian and Channel 4 partner to promote new factual drama exposing Britain’s sewage scandal
The Guardian will use its full suite of formats including a Guardian-wide advertising takeover to drive audiences to watch Channel 4’s new series, Dirty Business.
The Guardian today (Monday 23 February) announces a major new campaign partnership with Channel 4 and media agency OMD, supporting the launch of Channel 4’s new three-part factual drama, Dirty Business, which reveals the scale of the UK sewage crisis.
Based on a decade-long investigation into England’s water companies, Dirty Business uncovers one of the biggest corporate and public health scandals in modern British history. The series starring David Thewlis, Jason Watkins, Posy Sterling and Asim Chaudhry, tells the real stories of the whistleblowers and victims who say their lives have been destroyed after encountering sewage-polluted water.
Bringing Dirty Business to the top of the news agenda, this multi-channel collaboration spans digital, audio, video, online and print Guardian channels. Launched today, Channel 4 has “polluted” the Guardian, taking over all print, homepage and podcast ad slots with hard-hitting facts about the scandal.
The Guardian’s branded content department, Guardian Labs, will also publish a series of sensitive interviews with the real people who inspired the show’s characters. Each article will feature a “reading-time sewage calculator”, using Guardian data to show readers how much sewage is released into UK waters in the time it takes to read.
Channel 4 has also be unveiled a hard-hitting art installation – the Fountain of Filth – on London’s South Bank to mark the launch, which the Guardian is publicising with a satirical cartoon, and a video stream of the fountain in a Guardian “branded story”: a disruptive, mobile-only video ad format.
A leading voice on the environment, the Guardian generated 3.5 million page views to its sewage and river pollution coverage over the last year, holding water companies and regulators to account.
Audiences can watch Dirty Business tonight on Channel 4 at 9pm. The series will air over three nights and be available to stream on Channel 4 on Demand.
Gabi Schuman, marketing manager, Channel 4:
“This partnership was a no-brainer. With our Channel 4 remit to champion unheard voices, The Guardian was the perfect platform to continue our story off-platform, amplifying the real people behind the show and giving audiences a powerful reason to care and tune in. It was a natural synergy, enabling us to tell these stories in a trusted and credible way, while still driving momentum and narrative urgency.”
Leanne Young, Client Partner, OMD UK, said:
“This is about more than launching a TV show – it’s a story about the human cost of the UK’s water crisis. Holding truth to power is the Guardian’s MO. Coupled with their environmental credentials and unrivalled journalistic integrity, they’re the perfect partners to help us land this incredibly important campaign to support the Dirty Business series.”
Imogen Fox, global chief advertising officer, said:
“This partnership brings together two media brands united by shared values: public-interest journalism, social justice, and exposing wrongdoing hiding in plain sight. With its unrivalled scale, trust and investigative authority, the Guardian offers Channel 4 the only environment capable of carrying a campaign of this ambition, impact and urgency - putting the sewage crisis back where it belongs, at the top of the national agenda.”
All branded content will be clearly labelled in line with the Guardian’s content funding guidelines.
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For more information please contact media.enquiries@theguardian.com.
The Guardian and Channel 4 partnership was brokered by OMD and will run across other platforms.
About Guardian Media Group
Guardian Media Group is one of the world’s largest and most-trusted quality newsbrands, publisher of the Guardian, theguardian.com and the Guardian app.
Founded over 200 years ago, the Guardian now serves audiences through five editions: Australia, Europe, International, UK and US. With no billionaire owner, the Guardian is renowned for its fearless investigative journalism, holding power to account and amplifying the stories that need to be told. Its independent ownership structure means it is free from political or commercial influence.
Today, millions of people worldwide choose the Guardian’s journalism every day and more than two million readers across 180 countries have supported the Guardian’s work.
Audiences can listen to the Guardian’s top-rated podcasts, watch its award-winning documentaries and interact with its growing digital portfolio, from a premium live news app to the recipe app Feast.