Stella Artois lines up 12-minute ad slot on Film4

By Gemma Charles, marketingmagazine.co.uk, Thursday, 19 May 2011 02:55PM

Stella Artois will premiere its King of Cannes short film on Film4 this weekend during a 12-minute break, one of the longest in UK television history.

Gustavo Alvarez: recruited for the lead role via a Facebook campaign

In celebration of the film's launch, Stella Artois has bought up the ad slots around Film4's peak time film content and replaced these with the story of Jacques d'Azur, a character the brand created to promote its sponsorship of the Cannes Film Festival.

Film4 will run trailer spots to promote the premiere which airs this Sunday at 8.48pm. The short film will be featured in a specially scheduled weekend of films including original and new versions of 'The Italian Job' and 'Alfie'.

Alexander Lambrecht, global marketing manager, Stella Artois, said: "It was only right that we mark the UK premiere of the film by giving viewers a unique and exciting event which rewards them for their love of film."

The film's leading man is played by Argentinean Gustavo Alvarez, who was recruited through a global online casting call on Facebook.

The film premiers at the Cannes Film Festival tomorrow (Friday 20 May).

This article was first published on marketingmagazine.co.uk