Here's how Honcho generated links in Mirror, OK! and more... Love or hate it, Love Island has the majority of the nation in a chokehold. With the final looming, what better time to take advantage of the conversation? Initial ideas were around predicting who would be this year’s finalists based on factors like public opinion on socials and which couples had been in the bottom three, tracking this against previous years. After researching and keeping track of Love Island coverage, we decided it was better to opt for data that would predict how well this year’s finalists would do in terms of brand deals and earnings once they leave the villa.

1. HOW HONCHO UTILISED
LOVE ISLAND FOR LINKS

2. Love or hate it, Love Island has the
majority of the nation in a chokehold.
With the final looming, what better time
to take advantage of the conversation?
Initial ideas were around predicting who would be
this year’s finalists based on factors like public
opinion on socials and which couples had been in
the bottom three, tracking this against previous
years.
After researching and keeping track of Love Island
coverage, we decided it was better to opt for data
that would predict how well this year’s finalists
would do in terms of brand deals and earnings once
they leave the villa.

3. Bringing The Idea
to Life with Data…
Using the Inbeat Instagram
Money Calculator, we found out
just how much each contestant
could request per sponsored
Instagram post based on key
metrics including follower count
and engagement rate.
Then, we took a look at their
occupations before they entered
the villa, and their estimated
finishing place based on bookies
favourites.

4. Our original plan had been to find trends and include
contestants over a 5 year period. However, our data didn’t
give us a clear method of correlating the data with
predictions of who would come out on top in terms of
opportunities, so…we pivoted.
Throughout the process, we kept our eye on the news
cycle to make sure we had a relevant hook, deciding
instead to focus on the islander’s previous occupations
and average hourly wage, and how many hours they
would’ve had to work to earn the equivalent of their
sponsored Instagram post rate.
THE IMPORTANCE OF ADAPTABILITY

5. We worked fast, and targeted publications that
had provided an ongoing commentary
throughout Love Island Season 8.
We changed up our subject lines to reflect the
way the journalists we were targeting wrote theirs.
We paid attention to the sentiment of tweets
about contestants on Love Island to understand
who the fans were most interested in hearing
about.
We played on the financial angle of the campaign
and related this to the Islander’s previous
occupations to make the story more relatable to
the journalist’s target audience.
SO, HOW DID WE OUTREACH THIS?

7. "When it comes to outreach, we're
constantly making sure we're in the loop
with any new releases by utilising industry
research every morning, and keeping track
of campaigns we've already outreached to
see if there's a way we can refresh our
work and relate it to the current news
cycle.
Google Alerts are a fantastic way of
keeping up to date with any news relating
to our client's work, too."
“Reactive ideas often feel natural, it’s about
responding to something that’s happening
in the news cycle or popular culture and
offering your take on it.
Creativity and speed are equally important,
the process can’t be too complex at the
sacrifice of timeliness, otherwise you’ll miss
the boat. Focusing on what’s interesting is
the best way to capture attention.”
SCHAUNAGH GLEESON- DIGITAL PR SPECIALIST @ HONCHO
ELLA GRAPPY - DIGITAL PR SPECIALIST @ HONCHO

8. www.honchosearch.com