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ITV has kicked off a new brand campaign to showcase its veritable smorgasbord of drama and reality shows.

The channel’s stable of shows is so extensive that its latest campaign features two of its biggest hitters – BAFTA-winning actor Jason Watkins and Love Island winner Kim Cetinay – battling it out in the fight for our attention.

Launched last night after The Brit Awards, the spot shows the pair pitted against each other in a skit entitled "Poison".

Watkins (who appears in Des and McDonald & Dodds) has murderous intentions when he invites Cetinay over for a drink – but amid rivalry and confusion, who will eventually sip from the poisoned cup?

The campaign was created with Uncommon Creative Studio and shot by Oscar-winning director Tom Hooper (The King’s Speech, Les Misérables) whose credits also include classic ITV crime drama Prime Suspect.

Nils Leonard, co-founder at Uncommon, said: “ITV are unique – they are the only place to bring together epic British drama and ferocious reality in one place on the ITV Hub. We celebrate this collision with a series of gloves-off films that blur the lines between advertising and entertainment, all showing the lengths ITV stars will go to in the fight for your attention.”

ITV Hub has kicked off the year with its best viewing figures for drama, with titles including The Pembrokeshire Murders, The Bay series two, Finding Alice and Marcella series three to name but a few.

It’s also home to hit reality series Love Island, Ibiza Weekender, Real Housewives of Cheshire (and Jersey) and Sam and Billie: The Mummy Diaries.

Earlier this month, ITV forecast ad revenue to bounce back by 85% in May and up to 90% in June as the UK's biggest broadcaster recovers from the pandemic's impact on 2020.

The campaign will use multiple media channels, including outdoor and innovative activations on younger-skewing platforms such as Snapchat and Tiktok, over the coming weeks.

Media for the campaign was planned and delivered by Essence. The campaign is set to follow with another battle between ITV drama and reality TV stars launching next week. Stay tuned.