Lovehoney Australia
Warming up winter for Aussie couples.
2023
Global brand, LoveHoney needed the support of an integrated creative studio to bring their brand refresh and seasonal promotion to the Australian market. After approaching ShareStory, we resonated with their approach to sexual wellness and their message for consumers around building healthy, intimate relationships.
LoveHoney is the global leader in sexual happiness operating from the UK, USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Offering discerning individuals a plethora of products that support intimacy and exploration. Since their founding in 2002, the brand has focussed on shaking up an industry previously seen as seedy and distasteful.
With a global brand refresh in 2023, LoveHoney needed a launch campaign that felt more aligned to the geographically, culturally and seasonally disconnected markets here in the Southern Hemisphere.
ShareStory worked in partnership with the LoveHoney Australia team to conceptualise, craft and deliver a campaign that was more connected to the local population. Promoting their key messages here to an audience with an affection for cheeky messaging.
Headquartered in Europe, yet managed for in Australia - the language, cultural and seasonal barriers were massive for the Love Honey group.
Their first campaign since their global rebrand, LoveHoney needed a local team who were connected to the seasonal context of Australian markets to spearhead the creative for their strategic Winter Campaign.
ShareStory led the creative direction from the outset and built on the refreshed brand guidelines with care. Finding Australian supported messaging, production design that complimented Aussie winter conditions and a delivery approach that aligned with the needs of their internal marketing stakeholders.
This campaign was dictated by the delicate balance of messaging.
As this campaign was destined for a comprehensive campaign across mass communication, owned channels, PR and social media advertising, we had to consult all stakeholders closely to ensure compliance.
Going “too far” meant offending the regulations and having the content blocked, but not being fun enough would fail to catch the eyes of the LoveHoney customer demographic.
ShareStory found the balance for Aussie fans by blending innuendo and winter themes to develop promotional copywriting that spanned from spicy to vanilla depending on the setting.
Pairing the Nationwide brief and the delicate messaging ShareStory was responsible for delivering this integrated brand campaign from concept through messaging, content production retouching and designing the hero campaign deliverables.
In totality, the campaign was far reaching on East Coast Australia. The LoveHoney team handled media buying placements that included OOH, Social Media Advertising, Print Publications and their own internal channels for Website and Database marketing.
Numerous takeaways emerged from this project, encompassing the art of crafting a conversation-stirring yet brand-safe message, fostering a relaxed on-set vibe to enhance creativity, and emphasising the critical importance of meticulous scrutiny in evaluating the efficacy and brand safety of out-of-home placements.
Working with the global brand standards, advertising guidelines and trend insights is a balance to find a message that is brand safe, advertising safe but still stirs up conversation. Feedback from the client suggests that the campaign results met their risk expectations.
Given the product and sub context of the shoot, a relaxed approach to the photoshoot helped the brand and production team’s achieve the tone of the campaign with ease. Too much pressure and too many prying eyes on set would have stunted creativity and encouraged overthinking.
One of the most profound takeaways from this campaign is recommending that brands become very scrutinous of the OOH inventory they’re offered. Given the sensitive nature of this campaign and the team’s ambitions in making it a success - inspecting a promotion site for it’s brand safety and efficacy is crucial.
