Isawitfirst and JD Sports link with Love Island

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Jun 4, 2021

The easing of lockdown restrictions also means that TV phenomenon Love Island will soon be back and big sponsorship deals are back too.

Online fashion retailer Isawitfirst has signed up to be the lead sponsor once again and JD Sports is the official activewear partner.

Manchester-based Isawitfirst is actually the “official fashion & sunglasses partner” for the show’s seventh season, following its “hugely successful" partnerships in 2019 and 2020.

Previous seasons have seen both fashion and beauty products linked with the show selling out fast. Isawitfirst said that in previous years, exposure on the show meant it saw a 67% increase in sales month-on-month, a 60% spike in traffic week-on-week and a 254% increase in followers on Instagram and 61% on Twitter.

This time, the audience will again be able to shop the brand directly from the Love Island app, which will showcase a selection of the products seen in the villa. 

Isawitfirst also said it’s sponsoring the First Look aspect of the show, “where viewers are able to see a sneak peak of the day's episode”, and the brand will also have access to exclusive imagery from inside the villa.

The retailer’s brand director Leanne Holmes added: “The Love Island partnership has proven to be a fantastic opportunity for us to gain direct access to our target audience.”

And Gemma Isherwood, Client Strategy Controller at ITV said: “Over the years the partnership has played an instrumental part in the brand’s growth strategy, reaching core audiences in a way that is culturally more powerful than advertising alone.”

As for the JD Sports link-up, the retailer is providing all of the activewear for the show this year. And it has released a teaser video starring former Islanders Joanna Chimonides, Molly Smith, Michael Griffiths and Jack Fowler.

JD will own the exclusive Love Island TikTok hashtag challenge and there’s gamified interactive content set to run on a dedicated Snapchat portal and on the JD Sports app. The deal also includes podcasts and a YouTube content featuring a number of famous faces, including past Love Islanders.

The retailer’s UK webstore will also have a dedicated hub for the show where consumers will be able to shop.

JD Sports’ executive chairman Peter Cowgill called the show “a cultural phenomenon and the must-see event of the summer”. He said the brand is always looking for "new and dynamic ways to connect with and entertain our audience and we know that Love Island will sit at the heart of their TV schedule for the coming months, so it’s absolutely a natural partnership fit”.