It’s that time of year when all plans post 9.00pm go out of the window and the nation settles down to watch this year’s crop of romantic hopefuls on Love Island.
Now in its fifth series, is it really all about finding love? Or do the islanders have more to gain? And what opportunities are there for brands to cash in?
According to ebay Advertising’, searches for ‘yellow playsuit’ on eBay jumped by 276% during the first episode of last year’s series, compared to a couple of hours before, after host Caroline Flack opened the show wearing similar on-screen. Overall, the ‘Clothes, Shoes and Accessories’ category saw searches jump by 26% in the same episode.’ And it would appear we can’t multitask when it comes when watching the show. Viewers are waiting until the credits roll to start browsing for their latest Love Island haul. In the hour after the 23 July 2018 edition of the show, searches for ‘pink denim jacket’ and ‘pink denim shorts’ peaked on eBay, after viewers admired Dani Dyer’s pink double denim combo.’
But it’s not just an opportunity for fashion – searches for fake tan also surged by 91% during the 2018 premier, with teeth whitening jumping 68%. Searches for ‘beach towel’, ‘sun lounger’, and ‘sunglasses’ also grew by up to 80%.
Mike Klinkhammer, director of advertising sales EU at eBay said: “Popular TV programmes such as Love Island can wield huge influence over shopping habits. These insights reveal the scale and scope of opportunities for brands – and not only those in the fashion, beauty and fitness categories – to pinpoint audiences likely to be interested in their products and target them with the right messages when they’re most inspired. Armed with rich insights into consumer behaviour and contextual data to find audiences in the shopping mindset, brands have the potential to achieve impressive results and boost their bottom line.”
But it might not all be good news… Bustle Digital Group recently conducted research looking at consumer attitudes to influencers. A survey of 1,500 women found that Love Island isn’t the best bet for brands looking to work with brand ambassadors.
While the show might dominate conversations on social media and of course in the office, 69% of women claim they do not follow Love Island stars on social media and 66% would not buy or trust a product recommended by a contestant.
While this year’s Islanders work on their tans, and perhaps their love lives… their Instagram accounts are sure to be growing – by hundreds of thousands! At the time of writing the most popular boy is Tommy Fury (increasing from 68.6k to 813k) and Lucie Donlan (69k to 742k).
But if you can’t wait to see which brands they’ll be endorsing in the coming months, you might want to lay your hands on some official merchandise from the Love Island shop. This year’s range has extended beyond water bottles and phone cases, so as well as the former favourite items, you can now pick up make-up, Polaroid sunglasses, suitcases, wash bags and wristbands. All the things we never knew we needed, but ‘it is what it is’.
Our consumer lifestyle PR team specialise in connecting everyday brands with everyday people across four core sectors; Consumer Lifestyle PR, Food PR, Retail PR and Sport, Health & Wellbeing PR. More information on these areas of knowledge and the work we do with instagram influencers can be found at www.escapadepr.com/about-us.
