The Guardian has announced a major partnership with Channel 4 and media agency OMD to promote the new three-part factual drama Dirty Business, which investigates the UK sewage crisis. The collaboration will see the Guardian use its full range of formats, including a print and digital advertising takeover, to drive audiences to the series.
Based on a decade-long investigation into England's water companies, Dirty Business stars David Thewlis, Jason Watkins, Posy Sterling and Asim Chaudhry. It tells the real stories of whistleblowers and victims whose lives have been affected by sewage-polluted water, uncovering what is described as one of the biggest corporate and public health scandals in modern British history.
Channel 4 has “polluted” the Guardian's print, homepage and podcast ad slots with hard-hitting facts about the scandal. Guardian Labs, the newspaper's branded content department, will publish interviews with the real people who inspired the show's characters, each featuring a “reading-time sewage calculator” that shows how much sewage is released into UK waters during the time it takes to read the article.
To mark the launch, Channel 4 has unveiled a “Fountain of Filth” art installation on London's South Bank, which the Guardian is publicising with a satirical cartoon and a video stream in a mobile-only ad format. The Guardian, a leading voice on environmental issues, generated 3.5 million page views to its sewage and river pollution coverage over the past year.
Dirty Business airs on Channel 4 at 9pm tonight and over the following two nights, and will be available to stream on Channel 4 on Demand. The partnership was brokered by OMD and all branded content will be clearly labelled in line with the Guardian's content funding guidelines.
