Ann Summers picks agency to beat off 'vanilla' branding

Adult retailer Ann Summers is aiming to modernise its brand and reinforce its “relevance” for women, with the appointment of a new agency to handle its advertising and marketing account and tackle its self-confessed slump into vanilla branding.

Joan London has picked up the business following a competitive pitch, handled in-house.

Set up in 2023 as the UK offshoot of US independent agency and as a springboard for global expansion, the agency maintains its team has a deep knowledge of audience-building, establishing strong brands and creating cultural moments, with a focus on modern media approaches, such as editorial, content, social and digital.

The Rampant Rabbit retailer has tasked the agency with shaping the next chapter of “sexual empowerment”, with the first activity scheduled to launch in October 2025.

Even so, Joan London will have a fine line to tread. Back in 2023, a TV ad featuring former Love Island star Tasha Ghouri and five backing dancers triggered a raft of complaints to the Advertising Standards Authority, claiming the ad sexualised and objectified women.

In a series of dance routines, Ghouri was seen wearing several lingerie outfits, including suspender belts and thong-style knickers. The other dancers were wearing pink bodysuits and legwarmers with fluffy tails, collars and masks partially covering their faces and bunny ears.

Ultimately, the ad was cleared but these are sensitive times.

The company’s revenues come from both high street and online sales, and it operates a loyalty club, Fann Summers, offering members the opportunity to earn “carrots” that can be exchanged for rewards, which range from early access to sales, VIP gigs, and entry to exclusive events.

But having seen sales soar during Covid lockdowns, the sex toy and lingerie specialist has faced financial challenges recently. This February it reported a pre-tax loss of £13.1m for the year ending June 29, 2024, which is a significant increase from the £3.8m loss in the prior 12 months, meanwhile turnover also decreased from £104.5m to £93m.

The company cited the cost-of-living crisis, rising inflation, and Google’s safe search restrictions as factors contributing to the financial difficulties.

In an interview with Retail Week at the time, chief executive Maria Hollins said the business had scored some “own goals”, including mellowing out its brand identity to make it more appealing to the masses and boost is search engine visibility.

She added: “We did customer research just to check in on are we still relevant, who is our customer and has that moved on. And what we found was that it hadn’t moved very much.

“We came to the realisation that we had gone a bit vanilla, a bit mainstream and had lost that edge. We have always been about sexual pleasure and we had dumbed that down to try and feed Meta and Google. What we realise is: why bother? Because we’ve still got the same issues, so we may as well be what we really stand for.”

Commenting on the agency appointment, Hollins said: “Ann Summers has always championed female pleasure and confidence, and Joan London shares that same bold energy. As a female-founded agency driving cultural change, they’re the perfect partner to collaborate with on this campaign as we shape the next chapter of sexual empowerment. It’s an exciting moment for us both.”

Joan London executive creative director Kirsty Hathaway added: “Our mission is to build brands into modern legends in a way that focuses on both the longer term as well as the short, driving cultural impact and encourages talkability and change.

“Being a force for cultural change has been Ann Summers’ ethos for many years, and the brand propelled society forward to break down taboos around sex. They represent the Joan London vision, and it’s hard to imagine a more perfect brand/agency partnership.”