Deals On Deals...
Now that Love Island 2022 is finished, it's interesting seeing the deals and opportunities the contestants are receiving. Here's an overview and my take on some of the brand partnerships...
Happy New Week,
For eight weeks, the British public was glued to their screens every night other than Saturdays watching Love Island. On August 1st, Ekin Su Cülcüloğlu and Davide Sanclimenti were crowned winners of Love Island 2022, with a strong 64% of votes. Just 12 days later, Ekin Su signed the biggest deal in Love Island history, potentially making her the fastest millionaire after leaving the villa.
Ekin Su signed to be the face of fashion brand Oh Polly for over £1 million. Ekin Su was seen wearing a lot of Oh Polly in the villa, according to Grazia, she wore 27 pieces during the show. I’m sure Ekin Su got loads of offers after winning Love Island 2022, but she decided to go with a brand she truly loves and buys from often. Rather than going for just any fast fashion brand, she went for a brand that aligns with her values more.
When it comes to brand partnerships, It is important that the brand and influencer are both aligned in values and it doesn’t come across as a transaction because people will notice. You want your deal to come across as natural and authentic. As an influencer or content creator, when partnering with brands, it is important to question whether this is a brand you will wear or work with for free and whether the brand aligns with you and your brand.
As your brand grows, more brands will approach you. Love Island is a great platform for influencers to grow their brand. We’ve seen their followers grow to the millions in just eight weeks. The clothing and sponsorship deals trump the £25,000 prize both the winners received. The finalists also benefited from the series. Tasha Ghouri was the first 2022 Islander to officially sign a game-changing fashion partnership with eBay to encourage buyers to change the way they shop. It has also been reported that Gemma Owen has been offered almost £ 1 million by PrettyLittlething.
Influencer marketing is still a fairly new thing. Brands are able to attract more customers and drive more sales by leveraging the audience an influencer brings. As an influencer, you need to build a community around your niche and stay on brand. In this day and age, it is also important that you stand for something. For example, Tasha mentions, in her announcement post, that she’s always bought second-hand for her wardrobe, so joining eBay on their sustainable fashion mission is also a very genuine and authentic partnership.
It is amazing to see the deals and opportunities coming from being on Love Island and being a person of huge influence. However, I do believe that it is important to do more than just be paid for social media posts. Season 5 runner-up Molly Mae was able to break the mould, landing a top job role at one of the leading fast fashion brands Prettylittlething, earning around £250,000 annually. Kem Cetinay, the 2017 winner was also able to break the mould by going down the TV presenting and podcasting route. He was also able to build a successful restaurant, Array.
There are many benefits that come from building an influential brand. I’m interested in what Ekin Su being the face of the brand entails, this could be her dropping her own clothing range with Oh Polly, wearing and posting in Oh Polly frequently (which she did for free beforehand), or maybe influencing the direction of the company. Either way, it is a great and well-deserved opportunity for Ekin Su. It is said that Ekin Su and Davide are to have their own reality tv show, which is very exciting considering everyone loves having two on their screens.
Have a great week!