Lastminute.com signs Lovefilm partnership

Lastminute.com, Europe’s leading independent travel and leisure website, has signed an exclusive three-year partnership deal with Lovefilm, which will give the online DVD rental company access to Lastminute.com’s estimated 3 million visitors.

The jointly branded DVD rental service can be found on Lastminute.com’s UK homepage. By clicking on the DVD rental section, visitors will be able to browse more than 20,000 DVDs available from Lovefilm. They will also be able to take advantage of a four-week trial offer, allowing them to sample the Lovefilm service free.

The deal will include joint branding on the envelopes used by Lovefilm for mailing out DVDs and on Lastminute.com ticket wallets.

Lastminute.com UK head of lifestyle Paul Shaw says that Lovefilm fits neatly with Lastminute’s brand positioning and target customer demographics, and also “with our mission to offer a comprehensive service for all our customers’ lifestyle needs”.

In May, Lovefilm appointed Simon Morris as its first full-time business development and marketing director. Morris was a co-founder of online sports and lifestyle portal Football365.com, as well as marketing director of Sega and BSkyB and managing director of Chris Evans’ Ginger TV.

Lovefilm’s website allows consumers to browse more than 20,000 titles, and selections – which can be kept as long as they want to – are mailed out first class. There are three levels of service: Bronze, at £9.99 a month, allows subscribers to borrow one DVD; Silver, at £14.99, allows them to have two discs; and Gold, at £19.99, allows them to rent three.