LadBible partners with Three to launch first branded channel
LadBible has partnered with Three to launch its first branded social channel, called Relaxing Stuff. Pitched as ‘the most relaxing place on the internet’, the social publisher has 1,000 pieces of content lined up for the first year of the deal.
LadBible co-launches Relaxing Stuff
In October, the title acquired viral rival Unilad in a heated, fast-paced bidding war. The last few months have been about planning how to best utilise and distinguish both properties to ensure it remains one of social media's most viewed publishers.
It believes it can now quickly scale a new channel purpose-built for a brand partner. For Three, it has developed Relaxing Stuff which has launched with a website, Facebook and Instagram channel.
It will look to interrupt social feeds with “soothing audio, CG animations, serenely absorbing puzzles and oddly satisfying weird and wonderful video content” in addition to some other ASMR content.
The goal is to break stress-inducing social feeds with relaxing videos that tie into Three’s new ‘Phones Are Good’ brand mantra.
Three's got space to play, having aligned its brand with a funny, phone-loving campaign that saw cavemen ordering Deliveroo, Henry VIII’s wives staving off execution with the implementation of Tinder, and Moses parting the Red Sea for an unmissable Snap Story.
Both brands claim this new channel will help them build out their commitment to mental wellness with its focus on relaxation. Also queued up is “episodic video franchises“ and collaborations with “the best online creators”.
Celebs will whisper bedtime fanfiction to viewers, including pundit Chris Kamara and People Just Do Nothing stars, Alan 'Seapa' Mustafa and Hugo Chegwin.
LadBible believes, with Relaxing Stuff, it has solved an issue with modern wellness content – in that it sometimes takes itself too seriously. It cites research claiming that "seriousness" has been one of the “biggest barriers” in delivering this genre to younger audiences. Its solution is to serve up ”time lapsed natural wonders, dogs being shampooed, people playing with slime, soap cutting and the peeling of protective covers off mobile phones”.
An offline footprint is also envisaged, something that rival Jungle Creations is leaning into to ensure the social brands resonate wider. LadBible will roll out relaxing experiences at events and pop-ups throughout the year.
Joyride, LadBible’s in-house creative agency steered the partnership and will oversee its development.
It opens with a launch video outlining what is to come from the partnership.
Arian Kalantari, co-founder of the LadBible Group, said: “We know that wellness and mental health is important to young people in their busy everyday lives. They naturally consume content through social platforms, so we knew this was the best space to reach and support this demographic. Relaxing Stuff offers simple moments of relaxation delivered straight to the social newsfeed.
“Partnering with Three is a perfect fit for our first ever premium branded channel, as we both share similar values and understand that content on mobile devices can have a positive social impact on an audience of millions.”
Shadi Halliwell, chief marketing officer at Three, said: “We were looking for the right partner to reach our target audience in a simple, fun and light-hearted way. LadBible approached us with this idea around wellness and it complemented our #PhonesAreGood campaign, so it was a no-brainer.”
The channel will be laden with Three branding and even looks aesthetically similar to Three's flagship brand movie showing phones are good, further aligning the properties.
Post Unilad-acquisition, the company also pushed into the world of documentaries in partnership with Channel 4. A five-part series, called Unreported World, was tailored for LadBible’s social platforms using rushes from the C4 long-form doc. The title is also working with Universal Records to showcase emerging music acts, these serve as just a few examples of how it is leveraging partnerships to create original content.
LadBible’s properties include Unilad, SportBible, Pretty52 and numerous sub brands like Relaxing Stuff that it is looking to build out.