In this interview, Luka Matutinovic discusses how LELO is staying ahead of industry trends with a focus on innovation and consumer-driven strategies. He reflects on his career journey and the key insights shaping the brand’s expansion into new markets.

 

Luka's career journey and advice

Tell us about your career so far and the essential turning points that got you where you are today.

Prior to joining LELO, I worked as an international brand manager at Henkel and a product manager at L’Oreal Adria d.o.o. Working in beauty and, especially, the FMCG industry is wonderfully rewarding as both thrive on innovation and new ideas. Whether it is coming up with new products, strategies, advertising campaigns that benefit branding and exposure, both are a fantastic place for those with a creative streak and I can honestly say they have prepared me for the challenges of working in a heavily restricted industry as is the sexual wellness industry.

 

Looking back at your career, what advice would you give your 20-years-old self?

Every day, the choices you make, whether in your personal life or in a business setting, contribute to your overall journey. Success does not come overnight; consistency and patience are the keys.

Keep investing in yourself and growing, and your future will remain bright.

 

Luka's conference: “Marketing in the Post-Pandemic Era: Wellness, Innovation, and Agility”

What lessons did LELO learn from the pandemic, and how have those lessons shaped your current and future marketing strategies?

From our experience, the first lockdown of 2020 completely normalised the discourse on sexual pleasure in the mainstream media. As an industry, we finally got a seat at the table, and finally, it was proven that sexual wellness, and therefore sexual pleasure, is an integral part of human wellbeing. Talking about sexual health in general, and increasingly about female sexual health, has been in focus for decades now. But lately, we have been witnessing change as the wellness movement pushes a number of women's issues, from periods to sex toys, into the limelight helping further lift the remaining taboos, boost education and promote sexual wellness and equality by introducing innovative sexual wellness products accelerating the industry growth and further adoption of it in the mainstream.

As a direct consequence, we have seen that there was a notable increase in women buying our products during the lockdown. Usually, LELO's sales are split almost 50/50 between men and women. Still, all of this changed during the pandemic - mostly due to our popular products piquing the interest of the media and selling at more than twice its usual rate. It is ever so clear that women are now buying for themselves at a higher level than expected.

As far as the comms strategy is concerned, this has not changed that much for us since we have always championed women’s pleasure and focused on topics surrounding female empowerment, encouraging women to own their own pleasure and close the orgasm gap.

 

LELO has been a pioneer in luxury intimate products. What motivated the recent expansion into the beauty industry, and how does this align with LELO's brand identity?

LELO has always been looking for ways and products to highlight and further our mission in the industry, a mission to empower and break taboos. In that respect, branching out into makeup to us was a very logical extension of our portfolio. We take pride in our core business and the sex toy background, and we are happy to be able to highlight the link between sexual wellness and beauty. The makeup world, much like sexual wellness, enables uninhibited self-expression and inspires  experimentation. But, the link goes even deeper and is even more inherent than it might seem at first glance. The common denominator between beauty and sexual wellness - it is self-love. And self-love in its turn boosts confidence.  There are only a handful of things that instill confidence and assert power, and dominance if you will, like putting on a splash of colour. Applying a bold shade of lipstick can change your attitude in seconds. It calls on our creativity and makes a bold statement, and makes you look amazing. Put the lipstick on and you have a complete look. Moreover, it has been well documented by psychologists that putting on lipstick or a gloss, especially a red one, can spark sexual attraction as it evokes the natural colour of arousal and sex appeal. For this reason, we have decided to enrich our portfolio of products and highlight the luxe sex toys business with makeup. We recognise that people are beautiful as they are, but at the same time recognise that putting on a little bit of makeup may boost your confidence even more. And here is where LELO steps in by bringing in an air of luxury into something that is as commonplace as makeup. We did it by being very particular about which ingredients are to be used and in what formulas. We did it with sex toys, and now we are doing it with makeup. We firmly believe everyone deserves to feel beautiful and are looking to disrupt and challenge norms. We want to inspire people to feel confident and take in every day as if it was a night of unbridled passion, celebrating freedom and empowerment. So it seemed entirely logical to enter the makeup world through the category of lipsticks. Moreover, venturing into makeup was very symbolic for us. The entire 2023 actually is, as it was the 20th anniversary of the LELO brand and we were happy we could celebrate it with such a milestone like introducing makeup. The idea of venturing into the beauty industry might not seem all that innovative, but in our opinion, it is a credible one and one that is very much in line with our mission. And in the age where marketing is everything, to the point where it almost seems irrelevant if it is in line with the brand’s philosophy or not, credibility is innovative. And we look forward to furthering this and innovating more.

 

LELO emphasises destigmatising conversations around sexuality. What initiatives or campaigns have been most effective in promoting this message?

The last two decades have been marked by changing attitudes towards sex, lifting the stigma around sex and growing awareness about sexual wellness. This, in turn, led to the introduction of innovative pleasure-enhancing products, thus developing new opportunities, increasing visibility and propelling growth for brands like LELO in the global sexual wellness market. Also, it's safe to say that LELO has been setting trends for over two decades now. When you see a really beautiful pleasure product in a shop or online, it is always our product. And it is our designs that opened the door and made more elegant sex toys possible. That's a trend that will never die: we will always be leading the charge for more beautiful, more pleasurable sex toys. The design has always been very important to us, as we know people respond to it, and it has really made it easier to talk about sexual health, helping it become mainstream. For decades, there has been an inherent link between the "socially acceptability" of sex toys and the fact that very little thought was given to design, craft, material composition and/or the ease of cleaning the toys. It had a direct bearing on the, I dare say, unfair perception of sleaziness when it comes to introducing sex toys into your sex life, thus increasing the stigma on those who used them and tried to talk about them openly. A number of very brave people and brands, like LELO, were needed for us to arrive at this moment in time when sex toys are considered a standard addition to our lives and a vehicle for sexual, and consequently even psychological health. For example, there used to be this feeling that if a woman owned a vibrator, her partner was not doing the job right.  Nowadays, we are aware that owning a sex toy is a self-journey into getting to know your body and what pleases you, enhancing your own and your partner's sex life.

 

How does LELO utilise research and customer insights to innovate and develop products that resonate with evolving market demands and consumer preferences?

Our customers crave innovation and new sensations, and that's our biggest mission: to offer pleasure to those who seek it.

Coming up with ideas for new toys is a comprehensive one at LELO. The stages are fluid, and the know-how comes from a multitude of sources which in the end shape up a large internal LELO resource used among other things for envisioning new toys. During the calendar year, we conduct a large number of surveys, as well as use services in various countries for researching the opinions of the general public. Usually, we focus on a number of topics thus providing us with a comprehensive body of knowledge on what people are taking pleasure from. Alongside that, we conduct market research into consumer preferences and behaviours. Last but not least, we listen to our users and fans on our own social media channels and customer care, which is an invaluable asset, as well as analyse the searches on our blog Volonte. From all of these resources, we are able to make a very educated prediction of what kind of innovation customers are craving.

As an agile brand focused on always bringing new things to the table, we can get from the creative spark which gets put up on the whiteboard to a prototype in a matter of weeks. It’s a team effort. But, it's easy to get excited about new ideas and pursue them to their extremes. With experience, you learn to identify what design has potential and which one does not. LELO is a very fast-paced environment, with decisions being made all the time, and the workflow is carefully controlled so that we can see projects moving forward in real time.

When it comes to sexual wellness or products designed to enhance sexual pleasure, technology becomes essential – sometimes in unexpected ways. We invest a lot in the research and development of our pleasure products, which makes us uniquely positioned to understand where technology and sexual wellness overlap. Still, ideation, validation, prototyping and eventually, mass production sometimes take months, even years. After the research and analysis into our customers' preferences are done, we move on to the phase of technical alignment and testing. The testing phase is the most important one, as we need to make sure the result is a pleasurable and quality experience for our prospective customers.

 

How does LELO craft content that resonates with a global audience? Agility is critical in today’s fast-paced world. What practices or frameworks does LELO use to ensure its marketing teams remain responsive and innovative?

LELO has a global in-house marketing team, along with web developers and our creative unit whose task is to make sure all our agencies and local markets have everything they might need at their disposal. At the heart of this is our digital media unit which handles everything from PPC to content marketing. Over the years we have accumulated great talent from all over the world. LELO also has a very rich brand heritage which makes it easier for us to implement storytelling elements into our brand awareness campaigns, along with educated experts who make sure we’re educating people in the best way possible. This in turn makes it possible for our marketing team to create compelling content that resonates with different audiences in different markets.

 

What excites you most about the future of marketing in wellness and health as we head into 2025?

The industry landscape has been changing over the years and will certainly change more come 2025 . The biggest change will definitely happen within the brick and mortar sector as they will most likely become showrooms for brands, especially those brands that have an established e-commerce presence. B&Ms who don’t have their own e-commerce websites will most likely try to kick-off e-commerce to steady their revenue flow, though platforms like Amazon or Shopify. As a result of the current situation where brands are heavily leaning on e-commerce to stay profitable, branded webshops will become more immersive. Therefore, the storytelling will be more important than ever, as it will be the webshop that tales the tale that will pick the low hanging fruit. For the past couple of years, LELO has been researching the ways we can provide our users with a more immersive experience and now is the perfect time for us to try them out. For those who have the 18-24s in their key demographic, the digital native generation is vital - not only because they’re consumers, but also because they are content creators in their own right, and user-generated online content will most certainly become more important than ever.
 

Quick-fire questions

What is your favourite social media platform, and why?

The answer is threefold, depending on the context in which they are used. Industry wise, that would be X because since May 2024 this platform supports the autonomy of people to engage with and create content that reflects their own beliefs, desires, and experiences, including those related to sexuality. Given that any mention of sexuality is highly censored, and consequently warped to bypass the censorship, X gives us the freedom to easily engage with our audiences. Alongside X, I would have to say that Tiktok is a close second as is the most intriguing business-wise exploring what works there and why, levelling our marketing strategy, and seeing it as a phenomenon that will continue to make a lasting impact on business and industries. Considering the massive user base and engagement rates the platform offers, there’s a huge opportunity for brands like LELO to capitalise on this untapped potential. Lastly, on a personal level, it is Soundcloud because of my love for music, which I create in my spare time.

 

What tools and solutions do you use the most as a marketer, and why?

Marketing your business is essentially mastering the art of telling others that you and/or your services are available and presenting them with compelling reasons to get them interested in our products. The more people who know about your company and products, the more opportunities to sell to them. Most companies use a variety of different marketing tools to boost their visibility and consequently sales. LELO and me in particular are no different, since we utilise a mix of direct mail, advertising, PR and social media management to boost sales. Using different marketing tools means you can focus on different elements, like gathering insight about our consumers’ behaviour etc. Essentially, it’s important to think about which ones are the best ones for your business to use. For us it has been a mix of using Google analytics, translating the insight we get from GA into the process of lead generation to turn the prospects that we have hopefully into customers with the help of email marketing and PPC.

Is there any marketing campaign (from any brand) that you liked recently?

A lot of them, but IMO Charli XCX’s “Brat Summer” campaign was especially impressive, spreading at an unprecedented speed and volume thanks to fans even before the album actually dropped. Every facet of the campaign turned into a cultural force, with the especially powerful statement of just how big the campaign is coming during the US election campaign when even the presidential candidate Kamala Harris became the active participant in it. The whole story is proof that authenticity goes a long way these days and is something that companies need to learn from, especially if you are targeting Gen Z.

How many unopened emails do you currently have in your inbox?

Zero (laughs). Honestly more than I care to admit, but all that needed my immediate attention and answer have been answered.

What is one of your proudest moments in your career?

There have been a lot of them, but definitely one of the proudest moments was the rebranding of LELO several years back. Rebranding gave us an opportunity to better align with the current needs and desires of our customers, but also our workers as they felt more connected to and invested in the brand’s story and purpose. It also yielded one of the most remarkable pieces of video content we have created. This then in turn opened a lot of door to us which prior to this we would not have had, like the collab with Diesel, but also led us to be copied by other brands and artists.

What is something you’re still looking forward to achieving in your career?

Personal pleasure has never been more widely discussed than it is now and accepted worldwide, so the pleasure industry can only get bigger and better as the discourse on the matter becomes broader and more inclusive. This will open more and more opportunities for us and I find that titillating. The future will undoubtedly involve the same technologies as many other industries. Digital, wifi and mobile technologies are already taking over and driving pleasure technology forward, offering greater connectivity for couples and exciting new ways to express their sexualities.

We at LELO are pioneers. We are on the frontline of the march towards progress, showing the world that they can enjoy pleasure and luxury at the same time. Our pleasure products show that personal massagers can be as beautiful and as innovative as any other luxury product on the market. Perhaps even more so.