# Ann Summers: How we brought a British icon back into culture

> Ann Summers' social had been in decline for over a year. We took full creative ownership, reset everything, and turned it around. Now: five consecutive months of net positive growth, shares up 1,700% and clicks to site up 201%.

Source: https://ourownbrand.co/work/ann-summers  
Client: Ann Summers  
Services: Influencer marketing, Creative & Content, Social, Creative, Creator UGC, Social strategy & positioning, Channel & community management  
Updated: 2026-08-20

## Results

- **1700%** increase in shares (vs prev period)
- **201%** Clicks to site (vs prev period)
- **174%** Engagement increase

## Awards

- **Winner: Best Long-Term Strategic Use of Social Media**, UK Social Media Awards 2026 (OOB & Ann Summers: Bringing a British Icon Back Into Culture)
  The judges said: "This submission showed the power of sustained strategic thinking. A clear long-term vision, backed by consistent delivery, transformed audience growth while creating original content that evolved into something with impact far beyond the social feed."
  https://uksocialmediaawards.com/2026-winners/

## The challenge

British icon Ann Summers came to OOB with a brand presence that had lost its cultural momentum. AS is undeniably one of the UK's most recognisable lingerie and pleasure brands, but its voice had gone quiet. Instagram told the clearest story: an account in decline for over a year, with net negative follower growth in seven of the previous eight months before OOB took full creative ownership in October 2025. The brief was bigger than fixing the feed: rebuild momentum across the brand's social presence, reset the creative approach, and turn every channel into a space that actually drives conversation, community, and commercial value.

#### The goals were clear:

- Reverse a year of decline and rebuild a consistent, confident brand presence online
- Reset the creative approach across content, tone and casting
- Drive measurable uplift in shares, engagement and clicks to site
- Build a content engine rooted in diverse, inclusive, culturally fluent storytelling that worked as hard commercially as it did creatively

## Our approach

We rebuilt the creative strategy from the ground up, leaning into the formats, tones and cultural moments the Ann Summers audience actually wanted to engage with. Educational carousels became a genuine awareness driver. We unlocked and amplified the community through the comments section, confessions and proactive engagement. UGC-style shoots produced in-house by OOB elevated Reels output and pulled traffic back to the site. Diverse and inclusive casting and messaging became a consistent positive sentiment driver.

## The results

In just six months, we’ve already achieved a full reversal of a year long decline and a brand presence now achieving consistent follower growth, record-breaking shares and a huge lift in clicks to site, culminating in the strongest performance period the account has seen.

- Impressions: 20,287,431 (+106.3%)
- Engagements: 260,515 (+174.4%)
- Engagement rate: 1.3% (+33%)
- Follower growth: 27,088 (+30.2%)
- Views up 14% vs previous period
- Shares up 1,700% vs previous period
- Clicks to site up 201% vs previous period
- Five consecutive months of net follower growth since OOB took full creative ownership, reversing a year of decline
- Top-performing posts regularly reaching 500k+ views and 30k+ shares

The feed now works harder across awareness, community and conversion, with share behaviour in particular showing the audience is not just watching, but actively passing content on.

And we’re only just getting started 😈

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Our Own Brand (OOB) is a social-first creative agency in London, founded in 2018: social, creative, influencer, brand and paid social for 200+ brands. Two UK Social Media Awards 2026 wins. Brief us: https://ourownbrand.co/contact · hello@ourownbrand.co · More for agents: https://ourownbrand.co/agents.md