Citroën UK has acted on its ‘Advance UK’ strategy pledge to grow its marketing profile by signing a two-year sponsorship deal with UKTV’s Dave channel.

Officially getting underway, as the new C4 and e-C4 electric vehicle (EV) were launched today (February 15) the sponsorship will deliver exposure surrounding the channel’s primetime slot each weekday.

It includes ident video clips in advertising breaks during primetime programmes, highlighting the new crossover model range, using the tagline ‘The French Car That Speaks Your Language’.

Citroën UK managing director, Eurig Druce, said: "We are incredibly excited to announce our partnership with Dave. As one of the country's most popular channels, Dave provides its viewers with hours of entertaining programmes, and a great mix of much-loved classic shows and original productions.

“Citroën UK and Dave are a great fit, and the channel is a perfect place to host content in line with our new message of being 'The French Car That Speaks Your Language'.

“We are excited to work with Dave and cannot wait to see how viewers react to our new ident clips that will be featured across the channel."

Last month AM highlighted the content of the three-year, mid-term Citroën Advance UK strategy in a manufacturer profile feature with Druce.

In it, he said that he believed it was the plan that the Groupe PSA brand had been “crying out for”.

At the heart of the strategy is a new push towards multi-franchising, a Fair Pricing initiative aiming to deliver greater transparency through lower prices and reduced haggling, a renewed product range and a drive to deliver a greater brand awareness, particularly through digital communications.

Citroën UK’s new Dave TV sponsorship will see the brand feature in idents ranging from five to 15 seconds at the opening and close of each ad break.

The partnership also includes visible sponsorship across UKTV Play, UKTV's on-demand video service, as well as featuring on Dave podcasts and additional support on the comedic 30 second “I’m Dave” promotion.

The brand said in a statement that the idents will tap into Citroën’s heritage, showing an unmistakably French aesthetic, resembling a quaint French street, with a soundtrack to match, only for viewers to realise through the characters regional accents that the setting is actually “quintessentially British”.

“Themes for the idents include ‘Le Café’, which is centred around a traditional Parisian café named ‘L’Amour’, also a florist, and ‘La Boulangerie’ with all the look and feel of a traditional French bakery, but as with all the idents…there is a twist”, the Stellantis brand said.

Rupinder Downie, brand partnerships leader at Channel 4, said: “We are delighted that we’ve been able to partner Citroën with UKTV and Dave in what is a truly innovative deal – marking the first time we’ve carried out a partnership of this scale with Dave.

“The brands prove a solid fit and the idents work seamlessly with some of the channel’s most popular programmes.”