Bed manufacturer Silentnight has announced that it is to sponsor ITV2’s screening of American Idol for a second year.

The deal will see the Hippo and Duck brand ambassadors appear in specially commissioned idents, which will run at the beginning and end of each episode.

The idents have been directed by Chris Gaffey and animated by Studio Liddell.

Silentnight will also be the official sponsor for the ITV.com American Idol programme page.

Feather Brooksbank is the media agency for Silentnight.

Amanda Jones, marketing director for Silentnight, commented: “American Idol has a strong mass-market profile which is perfect to align with the Silentnight brand.

“The sponsorship worked brilliantly last year and we are hoping for the same positive response from audiences in 2011. Silentnight characters Hippo and Duck will begin and end each show in their exciting new CGI format in a number of indents, enabling Silentnight to tailor each indent to the format of the programme that is shown.”