About VUSH
VUSH is a sexual wellness brand that sees no shame in the self love game. The VUSH range is a combination of everything the creators behind the VUSH brand have always wanted sex toys and intimate care to be: inclusive, empowering, high quality, fun to use, and aesthetically beautiful.
Client Location
South Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Campaign platform
YouTube, Instagram
Campaign snapshot
Video Views
Likes on Cardi B’s IG Post
Swipe Ups on IG
Engagements
The big question
How Does a Sexual Wellness Brand Boost Awareness and Interest with Music Artist Brand Activation?
The background
Sexual Wellness Takes Center Stage
VUSH was looking to raise awareness of its next generation of sexual wellness products and share its positive sexual wellness message.
The brand is always working to move the conversation around sexual wellness forward. It makes sex toys and intimate care products that deserve better than to be hidden in a sock drawer or in the back of a bathroom cabinet. To help VUSH on its mission, BENlabs facilitated a tailor-made integration with Cardi B, who showed off VUSH sexual wellness products authentically in the music video for her single Up, supporting the placement and driving direct action by sharing VUSH on her official Instagram.
The creative
It’s a Vibe: VUSH + Cardi B Brand Integration
As artists see more pressure and incentive to create cool, high-production music videos, brand partnership can provide funding to support these efforts. The key is to find an authentic match between the artist and the product.
When BENlabs brought VUSH the opportunity to partner with Cardi B in a brand activation that included product placement in the upcoming music video for Up, supported by artist ambassadorship on Instagram, it was a clear opportunity.
Cardi B is a pop culture icon, and an outspoken advocate for sexuality and sexual wellness — a topic she regularly promotes on her social channels. Partnering with Cardi B was a clear opportunity for the sexual wellness brand to remove stigma around their products. Just in time for the launch of its newest line.
The BENlabs team made the connection between VUSH and Cardi B, designing a custom strategy to ensure Cardi B maintained full creative license and to drive returns for VUSH in brand awareness and sales.
Cardi B music video “Up” featuring Vush
The Results
Authentic Artist Integrations Start With Respect
For BENlabs, ensuring creators maintain autonomy in their creative process is important. The partnership between Cardi B and VUSH is a study in why. Initially the music video extras were tapped to promote the Majesty 2, a product in VUSH’s new line. But when Cardi B walked on set, she opted to hold the product in a scene by herself. As a result, the Majesty 2 was featured prominently, VUSH logo visible, in the hands of the video’s star.
Amplifying the placement with social content ensured that product talking points and calls-to-action could be incorporated while emphasizing Cardi’s alignment with VUSH.
BENlabs worked closely with both parties to ensure the music video and product pre-sale would launch the same day to best amplify traffic to the VUSH website. The music video garnered over 69M views on YouTube within 30 days, driving pre-sales and exposure for VUSH. Cardi B’s decision to promote the product herself also attracted a flurry of media attention, leading to coverage of the partnership in publications like Rolling Stone and Elite Daily.
The BENlabs team architected the social campaign with Cardi B to drop the day the official launch happened to maximize exposure. Cardi B posted on her Instagram and incentivized click-throughs to the VUSH site with a 20% off discount code. The feed post, which highlighted the music video integration, got over 1.1M likes. Cardi B’s three-frame Instagram Story featuring the Majesty 2 resulted in over 125K swipe-ups to the VUSH website.
The brand continued to see ROI from the campaign, with the discount code in use for a month after the campaign ended. Moreover, the music video has garnered over 263M YouTube views to date, demonstrating the evergreen value of music video integrations.
The Takeaway
Product Placement + Social Activation = Win
Selecting the right brand activation for the right audience, and respecting the artist’s creative autonomy, make for authentic artist + brand integration.
By adding a well-timed artist influence activation alongside a high-profile music video product placement, VUSH was able to raise awareness and interest, and drive directly attributable product sales.
Cardi B’s Up video racked up 69M views in its first 30 days. Supporting the placement with an artist activation on Instagram was key to turning that interest into engagement and attributable ROI. But it doesn’t stop at day 30.
Up, and and with it VUSH, continues to get views to this day; 263M and counting. So to the above, add to that the long tail effect of smart product placement and you’ve improved an already winning formula.
