Businesses must learn lessons from Love Island brand collaborations - Charlene Sweeney

Even as the latest group of sexy singletons to enter the Love Island villa continue to entertain viewers, brands are queuing up to collaborate with its budding stars. Actress, singer and dancer Molly Marsh is tipped to be a frontrunner with rumoured deals including clothing line Pretty Little Thing.

If true, she will be the latest in a line of islanders to secure big money fashion, beauty and entertainment deals. Molly Mae Hague, Amber Gill and Chris Hughes are just a few of her predecessors who have seriously boosted their bank balances following the ITV series.

Last year’s Summer edition winner, Turkish actress Ekin-Su Cülcüloğlu, left not only with £50,000 prize money to share with Davide Sanclimenti, who she recently split from, but also lucrative contracts with several fashion and beauty brands.

Clothing company Oh Polly, make-up brand Bperfect and hair extension business Beauty Works launched partnerships with Ekin-Su, who amassed 3.2 million Instagram followers while in the villa, in a blaze of publicity.

Charlene Sweeney, Media Relations Director, The Big Partnership

Less than six months later, however, it emerged that she would create just one collection with Oh Polly; her Beauty Works collaboration also ended, with the brand swiftly removed from her social media profile.

Was their investment in the Love Island star worth it for such short-lived fame? Possibly – it certainly achieved attention.

But even if it was a success of sorts, what it shows is that brands should pursue ‘influencer’ marketing with caution. Commercial relationships that depend on the allure of a personality are only valuable if that individual continues to have allure. Phillip Schofield is a timely reminder of the risks.

Alliances with influential people are, of course, nothing new; brands have been partnering with celebrities for decades, from Nanette Newman’s Fairy Liquid ads of the 1980s, through to Gary Lineker’s long-standing Walkers Crisps campaigns.

Winner Ekin-Su Cülcüloğlu teamed up with juice brand Oasis for an advertising campaign (Picture: Tristan Fewings/Getty Images for Oasis)

What’s changed along the way is that brands are increasingly backing real people who have become famous through their social media platforms, or reality TV. Influencers have extensive reach and a ready-made audience who trust them, share their values, and crucially, their interests.

The trouble is that fame achieved through reality TV or social media only lasts so long. Without the longevity conferred by achievement - whether in sports, acting, art or even journalism – brands may find that consumers quickly stop caring about the figures they invest in.

Ultimately, the most successful brand collaborations occur when organisations ally with people who genuinely believe in and potentially also advocate for their cause. When fashionista Alexa Chung, designed a range for outdoor wear specialists, Barbour, it made sense. She had already revived their waxed jackets by wearing them to festivals and was the perfect fit for the brand.

With the influencer industry accounting for $164 billion last year, and more than three quarters of brands having a dedicated budget for influencer marketing, this sector is not going away anytime soon, and will undoubtedly continue to grow.

The trick is to ensure that collaborations are authentic and are part of wider, strategic campaigns encompassing a range of tactics; influencer marketing should complement brand strategy rather than being brand strategy.

Something to bear in mind when the sun sets on Love Island.