SOFIAH NICHOLE SALIVIO

News Editor

Ann Summers has completed a transformation of its data integration layer with PMC as part of its wider turnaround plan.

The overhaul moved the retailer’s data layer to PMC’s Graphene platform, replacing older integrations that had become complex and costly to maintain. Completed in three months, the project involved reverse-engineering more than 100 integrations to create a modular structure.

Ann Summers has been reshaping parts of the business as it seeks growth through its store estate and third-party marketplaces. It reported full-year revenue of £93.4 million, up 0.4% year on year, while maintaining 75 UK stores and expanding through platforms including Next.

The technology work was intended to tackle years of additions to legacy systems that had made the group’s stack harder to manage, slowing change, adding operational friction and increasing day-to-day costs.

Jeannette Copeland, Technology & Supply Chain Director at Ann Summers, described the point at which the retailer decided it needed to rebuild core parts of its technology base.

“We’d gotten to the stage where we were continually building on top of things,” Copeland said. “And that gets to the stage where you’re almost building on top of sand… we got to the point where we needed to dig in and change that.”

Cleaner, more direct access to data was also important as Ann Summers considers broader use of artificial intelligence. Copeland said those efforts could be constrained without stronger data foundations.

“With the most recent push from an AI perspective, unless you’ve got your data straightened out, it can hold you back. We are trying to ensure we’ve got foundations within our data so we can scale in the future and that we’ve got options, so we don’t find ourselves in a technical corner,” she said.

Marketplace shift

Marketplace distribution was another driver behind the project. As a seller of adult products, Ann Summers said its website is often hidden from traditional online search results and increasingly from AI-generated search results, affecting how customers discover the brand and reach its eCommerce site.

That has made visibility on marketplaces and through third-party sellers more important. Ann Summers said its existing data set-up needed to change to support that strategy more effectively.

PMC’s Graphene platform uses an API-led, headless structure hosted in the cloud. Ann Summers said the move gives it a more composable systems estate that can adapt as requirements change, while reducing integration and running costs.

Elliott Winskill, Technology & Solutions Director at PMC, said the work was designed to bring data closer to source systems and make it more useful for operational and commercial decisions.

“By restructuring its data integration layer, Ann Summers has opened up a much more strategic way of using insight to drive innovation, bringing its data as close to the source systems as possible,” Winskill said. “By making that foundational data more strategic at the edge point, we’ve enabled Ann Summers to do more and, ultimately, deliver more, into the future.”

Cost and control

For retailers with long-established systems, integration layers can be among the hardest parts of the technology estate to change. New channels, supplier links and customer services often depend on those connections, so simplification projects can affect a wide range of operations.

The new arrangement gives Ann Summers more room to add integrations as the business expands. Its relationship with PMC will also continue through managed services support as the platform develops further.

Copeland said the change was intended to support both internal teams and the customer proposition as the business grows.

“We are now ready to scale and have a technology partner [in PMC] who can advise, develop and support new integrations during our growth strategy. This benefits teams in both businesses and, most importantly, our customers,” she said.

SOFIAH NICHOLE SALIVIO

News Editor

THG Studios has partnered with Cowshed on a new brand campaign, Gloriously Untamed, supporting the British wellness brand’s relaunch and image reset.

Centred on Cowshed’s Somerset origins, the campaign presents the brand as less polished and more rooted in everyday indulgence. It marks a fresh push for the business, founded at Babington House in 1998, with the message that wellness should feel pleasurable rather than tightly managed.

Shot in the English countryside, the campaign draws on Cowshed’s long-running “champagne flutes and muddy boots” idea to frame a mix of calm and disorder. Styling features products and clothing from British names including Damson Madder, Oliver Bonas and Marks & Spencer, while the visual direction leans on countryside imagery and domestic rituals.

The work combined a physical shoot with limited use of artificial intelligence in post-production and content creation. Alongside the campaign imagery and film, THG Studios also produced eCommerce photography for Cowshed’s updated product range.

The relaunch comes as beauty and wellness brands face growing pressure to stand out in a crowded market, where many have adopted clinical design cues and language around optimisation. Cowshed is seeking to differentiate itself by emphasising scent, British provenance and a more relaxed tone.

That positioning sits at the heart of the campaign. The brand describes its refresh as “fragrance-first” and “design-led”, with revised formulas, stronger scent profiles and new botanical packaging intended to support the wider repositioning.

Creative direction

Rob Sanderson, group creative director at THG Studios, said the brief called for a tone that reflected the brand’s origins and personality rather than the conventions of the wider category.

“Cowshed is a brand with real soul, and that required an approach that matched its honesty. In a world of wellness brands increasingly governed by rigid rules and an overly clinical pressure to be perfect, we aimed to re-energise Cowshed with some of the creative, offbeat energy that made the original Soho House parent brand so disruptive in the 90s.”

“‘Gloriously Untamed’ became our mantra, expressing a sense of luxury without reverence and indulgence without apology. Drink champagne in the bath if you want to, get your boots muddy and jump in a river if you feel like it. If it feels good, do it. In Cowshed’s world, we embrace the Great British weather, we break the rules with style, and we live life on our own terms. Above all, we do it with a grounded sense of fun and freedom, because pleasure shouldn’t need permission.”

The campaign also reflects a broader effort by THG Studios to show how its in-house creative, strategy and production teams can work together on brand repositioning projects. The studio is part of THG’s wider commerce services business and has been expanding work across advertising, content production and online retail assets.

For Cowshed, the relaunch is as much about restoring brand identity as it is about changing packaging or campaign imagery. The business was established within the Soho House orbit and built a following around bath, body and home fragrance products shaped by a recognisably British mix of rural references and urban lifestyle cues.

Its latest reset aims to bring those references back to the foreground. The updated brand expression is intended to feel human, sensory and irreverent, with one foot in the city and the other in the countryside.

Brand reset

Kat Kerrigan, Senior Brand Manager at Cowshed, said the relaunch was designed to reintroduce the brand with more confidence while preserving its original character.

“With Gloriously Untamed, we wanted to reintroduce Cowshed with the character it was born with: British, sensory, irreverent and deeply pleasurable. Cowshed has always stood for wellness that feels human rather than prescriptive – fragrance-led, beautifully made and grounded, with one foot in the city and the other in the countryside. This relaunch brings that spirit back with more confidence and more design, from elevated formulas and bolder visual codes to a campaign that lets the brand be a little wild again. THG Studios understood that immediately. Their world-class studio team, strong production craft and thoughtful use of AI helped us create something unmistakably Cowshed: premium, playful, modern and proudly British.”

THG Studios said the work was produced across its UK creative spaces as well as on location. It has positioned its production infrastructure as a differentiator for consumer brands looking to combine campaign work with online retail imagery and film.

Cowshed’s relaunch reflects a wider pattern in beauty and personal care, with established labels revisiting heritage and tone as they compete with digitally native brands and changing consumer tastes. Rather than chase a clinical or highly perfected aesthetic, this campaign leans on British humour, countryside references and a less regimented view of wellness.

Cowshed also used THG Studios for eCommerce photography to create what it described as a more cohesive expression for the refreshed range.

SOFIAH NICHOLE SALIVIO

News Editor

Apollo3D has urged UK pubs and bars to adopt virtual mapping tools ahead of the FIFA 2026 World Cup, as uptake of virtual tours among hospitality venues rises. The Leeds company said demand is up 50 per cent on a year earlier.

It has been working with operators including Greene King pubs in England, Scotland and Wales, as well as Ossett Brewery in Wakefield, as venues prepare for higher demand during the tournament. Apollo3D has also produced tours for several pubs on the Otley Run in Headingley and wants to create a video tour covering all 18 stops on the Leeds pub crawl.

The push comes as hospitality operators look for ways to attract match-day bookings in a difficult trading environment. Rising energy bills, higher business rates and broader economic pressure continue to squeeze margins across the sector, while closures remain a concern for businesses operating on thin profit lines.

Around half of Apollo3D’s current work now comes from venues seeking to increase visitor numbers. Its recently launched Infinity Virtual Tours platform is also attracting interest from theatres, stadiums and cinemas in overseas markets.

The tours let customers view a venue online before visiting, highlighting features such as large screens, private hire areas, outdoor spaces and premium seating. The platform can also link multiple locations and give operators data on which parts of a space attract the most viewer attention.

For pubs screening major football matches, the sales opportunity can be significant. Apollo3D cited figures showing that England games can lift pub sales by between 30 per cent and 147 per cent, with a successful tournament potentially adding more than £150 million to the wider hospitality economy.

That is sharpening the focus on how venues present themselves online as fans decide where to watch matches. Operators are trying to turn digital browsing into confirmed bookings, particularly for high-demand fixtures where groups may choose venues well in advance.

Rob Wilyman outlined the company’s view of the opportunity for the trade.

“The World Cup always brings a huge opportunity for pubs and hospitality venues, but competition is fierce. Customers want to know exactly what they are getting before they commit to a venue, especially for major fixtures. Virtual mapping gives venues a powerful way to present their space and secure bookings early,” said Rob Wilyman, Director of Apollo3D.

Its virtual walkthroughs can be embedded on venue websites, shared on social media and linked to booking systems, giving potential customers a clearer view of layout, atmosphere and facilities before they make a reservation.

Sector pressure

The hospitality sector has faced a series of cost increases in recent years, leaving many pub and bar operators searching for practical ways to drive footfall and increase spend per visit. Big sporting events can provide a short-term trading boost, but competition for those customers is intense, especially in towns and cities with dense pub markets.

This has helped drive interest in tools that let venues differentiate themselves online. Apollo3D argues that a clearer digital presentation can help venues win group bookings, private events and repeat visits over the course of a tournament.

Mark Shepherd said pressure on operators has made major sporting events more important.

“Pubs have had a challenging few years, so making every major event count is crucial. We have seen firsthand how virtual tours can increase enquiries and event bookings. For a key sporting occasion like the World Cup, where demand peaks quickly, being visible and engaging online can make a real difference,” said Mark Shepherd, Director of Apollo3D.

Wilyman said venues that move early may have an advantage as supporters make plans.

“Venues that invest now in showcasing their offer are more likely to capture group bookings, corporate events and repeat visits throughout the competition. This is all about getting ahead of the curve. The pubs that present themselves best online will be the ones fans choose when it matters most,” he said.