The archive · Advertising · Marketing decision · 2021
ITV casts drama and reality stars against each other to sell ITV Hub's full range
ITV put drama actors and reality stars in the same ads plotting against each other, so the collision of genres becomes the pitch for everything on ITV Hub.
ITV
What it had to solve
ITV Hub had a wealth of both drama and reality shows, and the brand campaign had to communicate that full range rather than push one hit title.
How it works
ITV Hub carried acclaimed drama and endless reality television, but a campaign that simply listed the catalogue would be as forgettable as a menu. Drama vs Reality instead put the two genres in the same frame and let them fight for the viewer's attention.
The spots starred drama and reality figures stopping at nothing to win: Jason Watkins tries to poison Love Island's Kem Cetinay, while Emmy-winning actress Anna Friel plots to wipe out even more reality stars. These epic collisions are the campaign itself — drama meeting reality on screen in the most memorable ways possible.
Rather than announcing that the hub has something for everyone, the campaign showed it: if a drama actor is plotting against a Love Island star in the same ad, the platform plainly carries both worlds. D&AD's awards archive records the work.
Why it lands
- Pitting the two genres against each other embodies the catalogue's breadth instead of asserting it.
- Real stars from each world give the collision authenticity that scripted stand-ins could not match.
- The fights are entertainment in their own right, so the ad rewards watching rather than interrupting it.
What it did
Each spot is itself a drama-versus-reality showdown, demonstrating the catalogue's breadth as entertainment rather than as a claim. The work is filed in the D&AD awards archive.
What you can take
When the product is a range of genres, do not list it — cast its two worlds against each other, and the ad demonstrates the breadth it is selling.
Since then
Drama vs Reality ran during 2021 as ITV Hub's push to be seen as home to both halves of television, with D&AD's awards archive recording the idea of letting the two genres collide. No audience or subscription figures appear in the archive entry; the case rests on the mechanism — a range sold by making its two halves fight for attention on screen.
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