Coronation Street

Who starts talking about Harvey's in everyday conversation? It wouldn't be realistic.

People do talk about, or talk like, meerkats every single day though. I'm pretty sure that David Platt has said "Simples" in the past, long before the Compare the Market sponsorship was generally known about.

It would be unrealistic if no one on Coronation Street ever mentioned meerkats again just because the programme is now sponsored by Compare the Market. It would be like Rita never saying "WASSSSSUUUUPP!", Kylie not saying "Is that your final answer?" or Sophie saying "I'm out".

I have never, ever put those together. Think you may be reading a little bit too much into this. If they do or don't, I doubt It will be meaningful and/or paid for.

This website shows you all the Corrie meerkat promos

http://meerkat.comparethemarket.com/Coronation-Street/

Despite what I said earlier, those sponsor credits aren't too bad. If those are the only ones they could soon get a bit
boring after a few runs, so I assume they'll have some more lined up and ready to be aired in a few months time.

Why is the sponsor 'comparethemeerkat.com toys' rather than comparethemarket.com?

I would assume it's related to the current advertising campaign about giving out free meerkat toys to their customers.
The graphic on the promos can easily be changed to "CompareTheMarket.com Sponsors Coronation Street". later.

I wouldve thought theyd have launched with the core brand first. I did think it mightve been some weird advertising rule blocking the advertising of the proper site, kinda how 118118 used to sponsor ITV movies as 118118.com to avoid having to put the cost of a call to 118118 in small print.

I would think almost everyone knows what these meerkat characters advertise by now, except for anyone that's
been living under a rock for t' last few years. There'll be two types of reaction to the new Corrie sponsor credits.

Either:
"Awww, it's those cute Russian sounding meerkats from those Compare The Market ads. Seemples!"

Or, more likely along the lines of:
"Oh (expletive) it's those annoying (expletive) meerkats from those (expletive) stupid insurance ads!"

Of course before product placement was allowed, any references to the sponsor within the programme itself were strictly forbidden. Back in the days of the Cadbury sponsorship, the corner shop and the Kabin didn't stock any Cadbury's products, although happily displayed Mars bars and other brands.

How is the new corrie set coming along? Does anyone have any new pictures or know where they can be found?

I drove past it about three weeks ago and there's not that much, all of hoardings with ITV1-4 are still there and some steel framework is up, but that's about it.

They will probably change with the new branding in January. Someone should try and get a sneak peek when they do that!