Lovehoney is a sexual wellbeing business, primarily known for its adult toys. Ahead of Q4’s peak shopping season, Lovehoney discussed the idea of using content as a vehicle for promotion by enlisting top-tier media sites to push seasonal products and maximize its revenue.

The challenge

The brand aimed to make Q4 a commercial success while building recognition in the lingerie vertical, diversifying its reputation from its core focus of sex toys. Content was a perfect fit, but traditional editorial packages are often costly, especially with the high-profile publishers that Lovehoney was aiming for.

In most cases, this exposure is secured with a flat fee rather than paying for an action or outcome. With tight budgets going into Q4, Lovehoney needed a way to get editorial coverage in premium publications without bearing the risk of upfront costs.

Linkby emerged as the ideal solution.

Linkby helps advertisers like Lovehoney secure content placements on a cost-per-click (CPC) basis. After uploading a creative brief and setting a budget, advertisers can select from a large base of reputable news and lifestyle publications to collaborate with and drive a high ROI.

The CPC model paired well with Lovehoney’s goals around maximizing Q4 revenue and optimizing upper-funnel contributions to educate on less well-known products.

The solution

Lovehoney and Linkby worked on a content strategy targeting dedicated articles, inclusions, and listicles to secure reach and engagement. The focal topics included seasonal themes such as Q4, Cyber Week, Christmas, and Valentine’s Day.

The team at Lovehoney were especially impressed by Linkby’s budget-capping feature, meaning it could set aside an amount that could be monitored and controlled. Plus, as it would only pay for clicks generated for its site, there would be zero wastage.

Through Linkby’s platform, Lovehoney rapidly pitched to and secured features in major publications including:

• Marie Claire
• Who
• Now to Love
• ELLE
• beautyheaven
• Daily Mail

After starting the pitching process in October, a total of 19 content pieces featuring Lovehoney’s products were published. Of these, 12 centred on sex toys, five spotlighted lingerie, and two specifically featured advent calendars: a major seasonal product. This approach not only drove traffic to Lovehoney’s primary sex toy range but also created brand awareness for its lingerie products.

Six of these articles were also dedicated exclusively to Lovehoney - for example, providing a rundown of the best-selling Valentine’s gifts on its site - further boosting the brand’s profile. This was especially beneficial in promoting the lingerie range, as gaining share of voice was the key objective within that vertical.

Listicle formats performed particularly well, as readers were treated to a brief overview of the product along with details on promotions at Lovehoney. One feature at Elle promoted eight different products, each with affiliate links directing to the advertiser’s site.

The best part: all 19 articles remained on the publishers’ websites, continuing to drive clicks well after their initial publication.

The results

With Linkby’s CPC model, the campaign remained cost-effective as Lovehoney achieved its brand awareness goals while only paying for traffic to its website.

In the six months from Q4, the campaign yielded a host of impressive results:

• 19 content placements booked
• Six articles dedicated to Lovehoney
• ROI of over $1.50 for every $1 spent

Linkby’s traffic delivered plenty of incremental sales at an AOV +19% above Lovehoney’s average, creating extra benefit to the strategy’s delivery of brand awareness.

Lovehoney was also able to benefit from the placements long after these results were recorded, using them as evergreen traffic drivers that remained popular at key points in the year.

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