The brand that AI started citing.

The brief

Lighting Legends launched in 2020 from Derbyshire, building a reputation for quality outdoor lighting that — quietly, without much fanfare — ended up adorning National Trust properties, Windsor Castle, the Tower of London, and the garden of Cristiano Ronaldo. The product was exceptional. The brand profile wasn’t yet.

When they came to Motive, the objective was clear: build the kind of authority that would make Lighting Legends the name people think of — and that journalists call — when they need an expert voice on garden and outdoor lighting.

The approach

We positioned Lighting Legends as genuine experts — not just a retailer, but a brand with genuine knowledge, opinions and insight on outdoor lighting. That meant developing a sustained programme of expert-led content: seasonal guides, security lighting advice, product round-up pitches, trend commentary, and practical features like how to make a garden look expensive without spending a fortune.

Products were pitched consistently for inclusion in gift guides, seasonal features and reviews in titles including House Beautiful and Good Housekeeping. Competition placements reinforced brand awareness with exactly the right audiences. Within twelve months, the pattern of consistent, credible presence in the right publications had done what sustained PR always does — it built authority.

The result nobody expected

The media coverage delivered what it was designed to deliver — brand awareness, category credibility, expert positioning. But something else happened alongside it. As Lighting Legends’ media footprint grew, so did their presence in AI-generated responses.

When buyers began asking ChatGPT and Google AI to recommend premium garden lighting brands, Lighting Legends started appearing. Co-founder Jon Saeed confirmed what the data was showing: £2,000 per month in direct sales now attributable to AI referrals — a channel that simply didn’t exist for the brand before the PR programme began.