Simply Be joins forces with youth-focused E4 channel

By

Barbara Santamaria

Published
May 10, 2019

Online fashion retailer Simply Be has agreed to sponsor British TV channel E4 in a partnership that will help it get in front of the coveted 16 to 34-year-old audience seven days a week.

The N Brown-owned business is the first ever official channel partner for Channel 4’s youth-focused channel.

The year-long partnership includes 10-second idents for Simply Be which will appear before every show between 6am and midnight, as well as digtal content, tapping into E4’s multi-platform audience.

Ed Watson, chief brand officer at N Brown, explained why E4 was a good fit for the online fashion retailer: “As a brand we are ahead of the curve, authentic and unapologetic and E4 totally mirrors this, being full of energy, existing to entertain and make their audience feel amazing.

“Being the first brand to hold a partnership with the channel is completely aligned with our strategy; we’re on a journey to inspire, influence and connect with our customers and feel that E4 is the perfect environment to do this.”

Peter Metcalfe, managing director at Carat, which negotiated the deal on behalf of Simply Be, added: "It’s a great fit with both brands sharing very familiar values. The sponsorship will ensure Simply Be has a strong share of voice across the year, help drive consideration through the frequency of messaging and provide an exciting environment to effectively reach our target audience.”

Simply Be was the star performer for N Brown in the year ended 2 March 2019, generating £131.5 million in sales and growing by 4.4% against the previous year. In contrast, the group’s largest retailer JD Williams saw revenues fall 2.4% to £159.5 million, and while Jacamo improved sales by almost 4% it only contributed £64 million to total revenues.

Mainly focused on fashionable size 12-32 women, Simply Be will become an even larger part of N Brown’s business moving forward, as the company refocuses on the core UK market to return to profitability. Group revenue was down 0.8% to £914 million during the year, while the business swung to a pre-tax loss of £57 million from profits of £16 million a year earlier.