Lee Stafford: Reconnecting a British icon with its fans on social
CASE STUDY
Services provided
UGC & Creator Network
Social Content Production
Paid Social Amplification
The challenge
A UK favourite, reaching the wrong audience and being forgotten
Lee Stafford is a much-loved, nostalgic UK hair brand, with Boots as its key retailer nationally. After its acquisition, its social content had become significantly more US-focused, so it wasn't reaching the right shoppers who actually buy the products. On some posts, up to a quarter of viewers were American.
The opportunity was clear:
1. Reconnect the brand with its core UK audience
2. Drive engagement with nostalgic past customers and new gen-z buyers
3. Turn social into a real driver of demand at Boots and online sales.
The in-house team brought us in as specialist support to make that shift happen fast.
The fix
Back to its roots, built for social
We rebuilt Lee Stafford's social content engine around what made it famous in the first place: bold personality, pro-level hair know-how and a sense of fun.
💖 UK trends, humour and social-native formats became the core of the content
💖 We brought Lee himself back on camera with founder-led "Ask Lee" education that he shares on his own channels
💖 We built a network of salon creators who show the products working where they're used professionally
💖 We partnered with the right names, not just big ones. Millennial icon Charlotte Crosby headlined our Hyaluronic Hydration campaign, while Gen Z influencer Flossie took the brand to TikTok
💖 We put modest paid budgets only behind content that had already proved itself organically
Crucially, we set expectations early. Follower numbers would dip while the audience reset, before growing again with the right people. That's exactly what happened.
The impact
Right audience. Real demand.
The right audience
🇬🇧 UK share of viewers rose from as low as 12% to a consistent 75%+, with US viewers down to 2–6%
👀 70% of July views came from non-followers, so the content was reaching new people, not just existing fans
Content that performs
🚀 The April product launch campaign grew reach by 416%, interactions by 403% and views by 271%
✂️ Our first salon creator collaboration, with Hairbyamzk, hit over 130K views
🎂 The 25th birthday takeover drove around 11,000 comments and lifted September engagements from 787 to 12.3K year-on-year
🎙️ Founder-led "Ask Lee" content put Lee back at the heart of the brand, an added bonus he also shared posts on his own channels
Sales and credibility
🔥 Charlotte Crosby's hero reel collab got 1.46M views and reached 887K accounts
🤝 Charlotte added organic Stories and her own Boots affiliate link beyond the original contract driving tackable sales
🛒 Scalp Water sold out at Boots, and every product in the range grew week-on-week
💸 Paid amplification cost just £0.04 per link click, delivering 26.7K clicks from under £1K of spend
📰 Lee Stafford products have been featured in multiple multiple online publications including Harper's Bazaar as a result.
Why it matters
Social that shows up on the shelf
Lee Stafford was getting lost in a competitive category, and social media couldn’t clearly demonstrate how it was supporting the turnaround. The brand now reaches the people who love it, in the place they buy it. Their social activations now genuinely turns into sales at Boots and online with key moments and viral content showing a direct collaboration to in-store and online sales spikes.