Channel 4 Launches The Guest List Vertical Drama With Sol de Janeiro

Channel 4 has commissioned The Guest List, its first vertical drama series, with curly media producing the five-part project in partnership with Sol de Janeiro. The series follows four young women in London and will premiere on 24 October across Channel 4's Meta, TikTok and YouTube platforms.

According to Channel 4 and theindustry.beauty, the mobile-focused drama explores friendship, careers, relationships and everyday life through the group chat experiences of Amaka, Aisha, Bella and Mika. Each character is connected to a fragrance from Sol de Janeiro's Intense Perfume Mists collection.

The cast includes Deba Hekmat, Jadesola Odunjo, Mia Ito Smith and Felicity Ali. Channel 4 commissioned the project through Digital Commissioning Executive Ameenah Taher, with Emma Walker serving as executive producer and Jade Greene as series producer for curly media.

Ameenah Taher, Digital Commissioning Executive at Channel 4, said, "We're always looking to anticipate where audiences and storytelling are heading next. I’m proud to have commissioned Channel 4’s first branded micro drama foray into this space and worked closely with curly media to develop the project - a bold, character-led series exploring the friendship, ambition and lives of a diverse group of intelligent young women. We are excited to have collaborated with Sol de Janeiro to bring this series to life."

The project was developed as an entertainment-led partnership rather than a traditional product campaign, placing the fragrance collection within character stories and social situations. Zenith UK brokered the collaboration between Channel 4 and Sol de Janeiro.

Channel 4 Head of Advertiser Strategy Sam Hicks said, "We love finding new and creative ways to bring brands and audiences together, and The Guest List is a brilliant example of what that can look like. By pairing Sol de Janeiro with an emerging format, we’ve created a partnership that puts the brand at the heart of the idea and gives audiences something genuinely entertaining."

The series reflects Sol de Janeiro's effort to connect its beauty products with short-form storytelling. The collection includes intensified versions of Cheirosa 62 and Cheirosa 59, the new Cheirosa 74 scent, and Cheirosa 91 planned for launch in December, according to theindustry.beauty.

Rebecca Pollard, Director of Marketing & Consumer Engagement of UK & Ireland at Sol de Janeiro, said, "Sol de Janeiro is all about rewriting the rules of beauty and celebrating confidence, connection and sparking joy, The Guest List is our chance to challenge what beauty content can be. We wanted to be a part of creating something unexpected, culturally relevant and made for the world our community actually lives in."

Zenith UK CEO Sannah Rogers described the partnership as an opportunity to combine the brand's identity with a new storytelling format. The agency worked with Channel 4 and Sol de Janeiro to develop the creative approach.

Sannah Rogers, CEO of Zenith UK, said, "The best partnerships start with a shared ambition to create something people genuinely want to spend time with. We saw a real opportunity to bring Sol de Janeiro and Channel 4 together around a new kind of storytelling, taking what makes the brand so distinctive and building it into the creative idea from the start."

curly media produced the series for social audiences, with the company describing the project as its first micro-drama collaboration with Channel 4.

Emma Walker, executive producer at curly media, said, "curly media is passionate about making entertainment for social audiences and so we’re thrilled to be asked to produce The Guest List. It feels both right and exciting that Channel 4 is behind a first of its kind micro-drama, in collaboration with a great brand like Sol de Janeiro."