Have you ever heard of Tristan da Cunha? No? Well, firstly it’s not the name of a Z-list celeb, it’s actually the most remote island in the world. Basically, a volcano, with a populous of around 250 people, no airport, hotels or anything like that and it is only accessible by boat. So…who’s betting that they are watching Love Island? It’s inevitable, and now that one of the most popular shows on TV is on twice a year, we thought we would look at what makes the show such a hit.
Marketing the show
Let’s be honest, marketing Love Island right now isn’t a difficult job, but that hasn’t always been the case. The original ads promised debauchery; they promised questionable behaviour and most of all they promised relatable everyday people, although in reality we probably know very few people who look anything like the line-up for the show.
Knowing the demographic was and still is key to the success of the show. Aimed quite blatantly at generation Z and younger, the show knows it’s market and embraces it. It’s throwaway television at its very best, but what they can’t have expected is the mass appeal the show has created. Turns out a lot more people love the show than openly admit it, and therefore the demographic has changed despite the formula remaining the same.
Post-show success
There’s nothing most Millennials love more than a Z-list celebrity, and that is exactly what Love Island makes of its contestants. We mean every single one, no matter how short a spell they had on the show or how insignificant they were.
In the world of social media marketing and the influencer boom, ex-love island contestants are absolute gold, and they know this.
For example, let’s take who most would consider last years’ power couple, Tommy Fury and Molly-Mae Hague. Post-Love Island escapades they have amassed a following of 6.5 million people between them on Instagram. That’s a lot of marketability. This means they are now an option for paid for advertising as influencers, selling products to their followers alongside #ad
The show, apart from being a huge success and OK we will hold our hands up, really addictive, seems to be a breeding ground for future success and wealth of those who appear on it. It is a sure thing that this year’s contestants will have marketing contracts waiting for them the minute they leave the villa.
Merch, Merch, Merch
Remember the summer of 2018? England were flying at the world cup; the sun was baking, the country ecstatic, people were wearing waistcoats again, not that we ever should have stopped. But once the football was done, and the empty cans, bottles and pizza boxes had been tidied away, one thing remained… Those personalised Love Island bottles. Why were they such a big success that year and not previously?
Well, this really is marketing done well by the love island team. Yes, it was incredibly hot, so obviously, water was essential, but wasn’t it always? The country was in a mood where you could literally have sold our general populous anything, we were caught up in the greatest world cup hype for what seemed an eternity, and what did we do? We bought those bottles, and we bought them in bulk, for our mums, sisters, brothers, cats, we just bought and bought. And being seen on social media with your bottle pretending to be your fave contestant from that year, actually became a thing.
Somehow.
