Brands operating as newsrooms and embracing the art of responsive marketing is a shift which has extended beyond the annual marketing trend cycle. Driving cultural currency as a brand increasingly demands the ability to align your marketing messages with a relentless news cycle. 

It is a tool embraced with agility and authenticity by Channel 4 in a response campaign which highlights Channel 4 News' role as a trusted news source in the wake of Meta’s announcement that it will stop using fact-checkers on its platform. 

The tongue-in-cheek campaign, created in house by 4Creative and the Channel 4 marketing team, will include a national print campaign. While a touring van featuring the strapline: ‘We fact check the Zuck out of our news’ will drive earned-media coverage by visiting Meta’s London offices and the Houses of Parliament. The creative will also run on Meta platforms and in national print ads.

Katie Jackson, Chief Marketing Officer, Channel 4, said: “Fan of facts? Us too. And right now trust is more important than ever. Truth builds trust - and for our viewers, for our brand, for our advertisers and for our people - we think that’s worth reminding you of.”

A video of the van was also shared on LinkedIn by Alex Mahon, CEO of Channel 4. She explained: “In public service media we are playing by the rules. We are ensuring that independent fact-based reporting is what we do. It should be the norm. It should be what we consumers are always served.”

She continued: “So we check everything in our news. Always. Last week we popped around to Meta HQ in London to remind them of how we do it.”

The campaign comes at a critical juncture in the brand safety debate. With a growing concern that brands fear of being associated with hard hitting news inadvertently undermining the sustainability of trusted journalism. This issue is particularly acute online with the blanket blocking of sensitive news content through programmatic advertising blacklisting disproportionately damaging news brands. 

A state of play which makes marketing quality journalism a business imperative that will extend well beyond any single news cycle. For the best brand newsrooms are forever a work in progress.