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EDF, Britain’s biggest generator of zero carbon electricity, has teamed up with Havas Media, Havas Play and ITV to bring its ‘Sunday Saver Challenge’ into the heart of British culture on the nation’s much-loved street, ‘Coronation Street’ – marking a fresh new collaboration as the show heads towards its 65th birthday.

In a first-of-its-kind partnership between ITV and an energy supplier, EDF has produced an ad that places a specially built EDF-themed orange house on Coronation Street. The campaign, which aims to demonstrate the change its customers are leading, promotes EDF’s Sunday Saver challenge, which offers customers up to 16 hours of free electricity on Sundays for reducing their peak day usage during the week.

The campaign builds on EDF’s new ‘Change Is In Our Power’ brand platform developed by Lucky Generals and launched in 2024. The new creative features young guitar prodigy Zayne performing Bloc Party’s iconic track ‘Helicopter,’ now joined by his younger brother Zion – bringing the EDF family to life on the iconic cobbles, blending innovation with beloved British culture.

The integration means EDF content will air before, during and after ‘Coronation Street’ episodes, including 40s, 20s and 10s spots across ITV’s platforms to create a seamless multichannel experience from ad break and episode, to catch-up and social. The partnership will run for six weeks across TV, BVOD, digital and OOH, as well as EDF and ITV’s social channels.

EDF will be seamlessly integrated into ’Coronation Street’ through a branded van, bus shelter, a Pod Point EV charging point, and more. EDF will also gain licensing rights for its own channels, including social videos featuring ‘Coronation Street’ cast.

As founding partners in Ad Net Zero’s Every Brief Counts pilot, Havas Media UK and ITV will be embedding sustainable behaviours into content and leveraging Coronation Street’s reach to normalise them at scale. This directly contributes to the commitments of the Climate Content Pledge, which ITV is a signatory to, by amplifying content that inspires climate action.

EDF will harness Havas’ Converged platform to integrate its first-party data, optimising AV, digital and OOH placements to reach audiences that intersect EDF, ITV and ‘Coronation Street’. By using platforms like Sky AdSmart, Channel 4, ITVX, and Amazon Prime, Converged enables more targeted, value-led communication with customers and a more sustainable and relevant campaign – both central to EDF’s brand strategy.

EDF has doubled its investment into Havas Media Network’s Sustainable Market Place and used Havas’ Carbon Calculator to measure media emissions. EDF is also partnering with Jolt’s carbon-negative EV charging network in London and powering DOOH with clean energy. Meanwhile, their campaigns also tap into sustainable targeting across DAX, Spotify, Acast (e.g., Climate Curious podcast), and AudioXi, further aligning EDF with climate-conscious audiences.

Havas Media, EDF’s media agency for twelve years, and EDF’s work was shortlisted at the Ad Net Zero Awards 2024 in ‘Best Practice in Sustainable Media Planning (carbon measurement and management using innovative processes) category’.

Nicola Collins, senior manager brand marketing, EDF, said, “For over six decades, Corrie has been one of the UK’s most beloved shows, and now we get to be part of its history – which is really exciting for us as a brand. This content integration allows us to bring EDF’s Sunday Saver offering to millions of households, showing how a change – like shifting energy use – can unlock free electricity on Sundays. We’re excited to see our message come to life on the nation’s favourite street.”

​Laura Mouratsing, client partner, Havas Media UK, said, “This sophisticated first-of-its-kind integration with the nation’s much loved TV programme strategically elevates the ‘Change is in our Power’ platform into places that resonate with everyday EDF customers. Better still, we are further driving EDF’s sustainability transformation journey by limiting the carbon footprint of the media plan and supporting EDF’s customers in making more sustainable choices.”

Bhavit Chandrani, director, BE Studio, ITV, said, “In partnership with Havas, we’ve created an incredibly innovative project that brings together one of ITV’s biggest soaps and a brand as significant as EDF. We are dedicated to delivering solutions that will help them achieve their commercial objectives.”