ABOUT

What needed doing
Rampant Rabbit. There’s an iconic sex toy if ever we saw one. The first to offer simultaneous clitoral and vaginal stimulation, it even scored a mention in Sex and the City. What no-one realised, though, was that Ann Summers invented it. With a proliferation of poor imitations on the market, it was time for them to take ownership.

We took on a complete rebrand, from logo and design right through to tone of voice work including naming, pack copy and guidelines.

How we went about it
Everything started with the logo. We realised an upside-down R looked like a rabbit in profile, added ‘vibrating lines’ either side and there you have it: a recognisable, distinctive logo with a real smile in the mind.

We considered the structure of the packaging, introducing a front flap to give the feel of undressing, or revealing, the toy inside. We made the boxes black and created product photography style guides for a more consistent, premium feel.

The product names had never been considered together, so were a ragbag of different styles. We came up with a simple system based on each product’s key feature, for example, ‘The Rotating One’, ‘The Thrusting One’ and ‘The G Spot One’. This makes it much less blush-inducing for people to ask for them by name in the stores.

The existing pack copy veered madly from the language of everyday small electrical appliances through to the tone of an enthusiastic hen party. We developed a brand story to go on all the packs, and wrote the product specific copy across the range, elevating dull phrases like ‘innovative new dual rotation’ to ‘The Ballsy One is named after the wriggling, whirling rotating metal beads embedded in its shaft. You’ll feel them turning this way and that, then that way and this.’

We considered every detail, and are pleased to report they’re now flying off the shelves faster than ever before.

What our client said
'We have been thrilled with our customers' response to the re-launch of the iconic Rampant Rabbit product and the fabulous packaging designed by Elmwood and the Ann Summers team.'
Jaqueline Gold,
Group Chief Executive

Results
In the first year after relaunch (Autumn/Winter 2011), the retail sales value of Rampant Rabbits was up +4% on Autumn/Winter 2010, increasing by a quarter of a million pounds from £4,054,469 to £4,234,488. Sales of Rabbits grew at double the speed of other vibrators Other channels – the website and parties – saw a decline in sales (-2% and -6% respectively) in the same period. Why? Because the shops are the only places to display Rabbits in their packaging – elsewhere, people just see the products. In the same period, Ann Summers sex toys as a whole saw a +2% increase, meaning the Rabbits grew at double the speed of other vibrators.

The first Rabbit to launch in the new packaging was The Silicone One, which took £2m in its first six months. The target was £1.2m, which is an upweight of +66% in sales value.