To promote the brand, we wanted to create a campaign that showcased the platform’s content without simply stringing together snippets of ITV’s own shows. We wanted to create an engaging and exciting story for the audience that would transcend traditional advertising and encompass the world of entertainment that ITV brings to its customers.

Using ITV’s very own stars, we wanted to create a film that pitted reality against drama. With multiple spots using the same general format, we created action-packed films that promoted ITV’s own content with its own stars, playing on the tug of war between reality and drama television. The brief was to promote the wealth of content available on the ITV Hub and make people reappraise the brand.

Emphasizing the fact that drama and reality live side-by-side in a surprising alliance, we pitted actor Jason Watkins against reality star Kem Cetinay. The act is the physical manifestation of “drama’s” attempt to put an end to the formidable foe of “reality tv.”

Watkins starts in his trailer on the backlot, running lines for an upcoming film. He’s then joined by reality star Kem Cetinay for a glass of wine who marvels at the opulent interior decor. Watkins waxes poetically about the virtues of the dramatic writer and actor by proxy as a way to distract Cetinay and poison his drink. In the back and forth, Watkins literally loses himself in his performance, as Kem performs a switch-a-roo, causing Jason to drink the poisoned glass. Cetinay was one step ahead of the ruse and knowingly drinks from the safe glass as he watches Watkins fall to his knees. Cetinay reads lines from Watkins’s script who can’t help but give notes as he succumbs to his own poisoned concoction.

The final product is a thrilling and entertaining film that pits reality against drama and accomplishes the goal of promoting the wealth of content available on ITV. The rhythm and lyrical quality of the writing is worthy of a prestige drama, and the film is a fitting visual metaphor for the genre battle royale for viewers’ attention.