Rufus Radcliffe
Head of Marketing, Channel 4
Rufus Radcliffe began working life at McCann – Erickson Advertising, working on the agency’s biggest clients, Nescafe and L’Oreal. This was followed by a stint at J. Walter Thompson, working on clients as diverse as Kellogg cereals, handbag.com and Gulf Air, where the fact that he speaks Arabic meant a lot of sweaty meetings in Bahrain in 40 degree heat. The impending launch of E4, Channel 4’s entertainment channel aimed at young audiences, saw him move into the world of broadcasting in 2000. He was a key part of the team that produced one of the most high profile channel launches of the digital era. Rufus then led the launch marketing campaign for More4, Channel 4’s factual channel. Offering entertainment for Channel 4’s key ABC1 demographic, More4 promised viewers Channel 4’s own version of adult entertainment – news, documentaries and quality drama.
As Head of Marketing for Channel 4, Rufus now oversees all on and off air marketing for the main terrestrial channel, and is looking forward to answering the challenges presented by a country heading towards analogue switch-ff, on-demand viewing and growing PVR penetration.
The last 12 months has seen high profile campaigns for hit shows like new US hit show Dirty Sexy Money and major public service marketing activity such as the Lost for Words literacy campaign and January’s Big Food Fight featuring the three titans of cooking, Jamie, Hugh and Gordon. The award-winning identity has continued to roll out with a high - profile collaboration with Gracie Film on a Channel 4 ident set in the heart of Springfield and Channel 4 became the first terrestrial channel to launch a +1 service backed with a talent-led marketing campaign featuring the cast of Skins and Gordon Ramsay.
