About:
Client: Renegade Pictures
Programme: Ben Fogle: New Lives in the Wild
Date: January 2022
Marking a decade on air, adventurer Ben Fogle set off to meet more people who have turned their back on the rat-race and set up home in remote locations in the UK and beyond in Ben Fogle: New Lives In The Wild. He joined a variety of brave individuals who chose to venture down a very alternative path to everyday life. We watched as Ben travelled from a remote Portuguese mountain to a real life nomad land in the Arizonian desert. Throughout the eleven-part series, Ben seeks to discover the motivation and reality of abandoning a life dominated by debts and daily grind in search of something different. A commonly occurring theme sees nature as solace from the often harsh realities of the fast-paced world we live in. The series sensitively addresses discussions of mental wellbeing and how the natural environment can provide an alternative 'cure'.
Project:
We began working with Renegade Pictures on their long-running series Ben Fogle: New Lives in the Wild in December 2021 with the first episode confirmed to air on Channel 5 on the 4th January 2022. We carried out a high-visibility campaign across TV and radio, broadsheets and mid-market tabloids. There was a total of 575 pieces of coverage from 1st January 2021 - 29th March 2022 across national and regional press, radio, TV and listings magazines. The programme regularly topped viewing stats with 1.1-1.4 million weekly viewers (according to Broadcast Now).
A day before the first episode aired Ben Fogle was interviewed live on BBC Breakfast which has an average of 5.7 million daily viewers. On Tuesday 4th January Ben was then a live video guest on Channel 5's Jeremy Vine Show. In January Ben was also interviewed on Times Radio's Hugo Rifkind Show and BBC Radio London's Robert Elms Show. Later on in the series, episode 5 contributor Helen Hart was interviewed on BBC Radio Scotland's Afternoon Show and episode 8 contributor 'Box van Dee' was interviewed on Times Radio.
National features included a brilliant double page feature (Print and Online) in the Sunday Times on the Irish couple featured in episode 2 of the series; "We built a healing eco-paradise on an Irish bog". The Mirror ran an interview with Ben Fogle in print and online; "Ben Fogle wants to spend retirement living on a remote island with his wife". The Mail Online and Radio Times both ran weekly features for each episode including exclusive clips in advance of the programme, This is Money and WhatsNews2day also shared the Mail Online articles. The Daily Express also ran two features throughout the series. As well as this, there were over 500 national and regional previews and listings of the series across broadsheet, mid-market and tabloid outlets.