Insight
In the Middle East, condom brand Durex faced a series of cultural barriers. First, it was against religion: There is a lot of debate among religious scholars about when contraception is allowed or is considered ‘haram’. Secondly, there was censorship on Durex: No TV advertising, Google advertising (YouTube & Search), Print advertising and sponsorships.
The consumer insight was that it reduces pleasure: the main barrier across segments. There was also a lack of family planning mentality: 3-4 kids are considered normal in the region.
From a category perspective, the awareness of condoms is high at 95%. However, only 62% use condoms and 44% use Durex condoms. “It doesn’t give me a natural feeling” is the main barrier for condom trial and repeat.
Real Feel is Durex’s next generation condom that provides natural skin on skin feeling. The material is ultra-sensitive, soft and flexible, but still offers the same outstanding protection expected from Durex.
Strategy
The biggest barrier to condom usage is that it reduces pleasure. It was thus very important to make consumers aware of the new product - Durex Real Feel – a next-generation condom that provides a natural skin-on-skin feeling – and ultimately, create buzz around the product.
For Durex, the Real Feel Sensation was all about having the ability to experience the sensation and intimacy of intercourse through heightening the feeling of “Skin on Skin” contact while still remaining safe.
Thus, UM’s approach for this campaign was to emphasise the element of “Skin” through its most fundamental feature, which is texture and look. It wanted to show the target audience how their intimate experience can be transformed to emulate the same intimacy, sensitivity and connectivity of a real touch.
Therefore, the agency looked at an activation that would show the enhanced experience through a comparison of the “real” skin vs. “non-real” skin - and guide users through technology into discovering RFS (real feel sensation).
Execution
The target market for this campaign was: men between the age of 20 – 35 who don’t like to use condoms, men who are current users of condoms but are not satisfied and couples who would like to enjoy a much better sexual experience.
The campaign was centred on social media, with platforms including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google+ and YouTube.
The execution was carried out in four steps:
Step 1: Ambushed all Durex social channels and created a cyber animation look and feel of content- taking out the real skin on skin feel.
Step 2: Launched an interactive newsfeed post and revealed the arrival of the new Durex Real Feel innovation.
- The screen – similar to the TVC –only had sketches of people.
- UM prompted the users to click on the screen it to make it real (resembling a touch)
- As the users clicked on the sketched image, the outlines/drawings turn to real skin… progressing in this manner until the final frame.
Step 3: Introduced the product with product-oriented posts and a TVC.
Step 4: Sustained the momentum with real time activity.
Results
On social media, Durex saw fan growth of 234,000 (or approximately 12.3K fans per week). In its top three priority markets, it saw 56.92% growth in KSA fans, 85.79% growth in UAE fans and 64.16% growth in KSA fans.
It saw 972.9 interactions per 1,000 fans and average interactions of 28,559 per week, with 509,015 likes (93.81% of total interactions), 19,721 comments (3.63%) and 13,876 shares (2.56%).
For Facebook Online Video Ads, Durex Real Feel video was promoted on Facebook from Sep 15th to Dec 31st, targeting Males, 18+ TA across the GCC and Lebanon markets. The campaign generated 70% Unique Reach across the target audience. The average VTR generated was 17.53%, exceeding the benchmark by 54% and average CPV was optimised at $0.02, which is 50% than benchmark. Completed Views generated ranged from 26% to 42%, depending on the market, over exceeding the average performance completion rate of 12%.
With Facebook Promoted Post Ads, Durex Real Feel PPAs was promoted on Facebook from 1st September to 31st December, targeting Males, 18+ across the GCC + Levant markets. Saudi and UAE were the main focus markets. 66% budget was consumed for KSA (44%) and UAE (22%). The campaign was able to reach 45% of the target audience (18 million), achieving a CPA of $0.05, which is 37.5% above benchmark and a 7% engagement rate. The interactive newsfeed post (INF) was played 72.1K times and shared 2,000 times. The conversation rate was 48.43% meaning one out of two people clicked on play and stayed on the INF.