2022 Winners & Shortlists

DUREX EVERY DAY

BrandDUREX
Product/ServiceCONDOMS
EntrantHAVAS MIDDLE EAST Dubai, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
CategoryHealthcare
Idea Creation HAVAS MIDDLE EAST Dubai, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
Production HAVAS MIDDLE EAST Dubai, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

Summary of the work

While Durex is the market leader in both KSA and the UAE, growing sales is a multi-faceted challenge. As consumers navigate cultural, societal and religious barriers to the use of condoms, the category penetration continues to be very low with 7% in KSA and 12% in the UAE, where growth only comes through the frequency of use. To grow sales, we needed to attract new consumers to use condoms. But, the category communication is as restricting as the tobacco industry. In the region, sex is a taboo topic and can’t be spoken of openly to the public. We can only communicate online and what can be shown is extremely limited. Unlike other markets where Durex operates, in this region we cannot show or allude to touching, kissing, “suggestive exposure” or clothing that could be regarded as inappropriate. The only way we can show the brand is through the packaging, making it our only brand moment. We needed a socially-led campaign that would appeal to the audience, but beyond regulatory barriers that limit our chances of communicating, people are culturally, socially and religiously disposed to not engage with the topic and the category. In the region, sex is not a part of everyday conversations, even between partners. There is a disconnect between the reality of sex and reservations around discussing it. Having sex is normalized while talking about sex is stigmatized. For sex to be discussed, we needed to provide a permissible context for such discussion – away from territories that could be regarded taboo. To normalize conversations about sex, we injected Durex and sex into everyday conversations online. Since we couldn’t talk about sex directly, we focused on everything else happening in life. To get Durex into everyday conversations amongst our audience, who are among the most socially active in the world, we made conversations about Durex and sex as natural as conversations about anything else – sports, TV shows, pandas, etc. And showed people that there is always a reason to celebrate sex with Durex, every day. By piggy-backing a wide range of events and occasions, we shared our wit and attitude about the everyday relevance of sex with Durex: special dates, news stories, trending topics, hashtags, sports events, you name it. Through real-time reactive content, we sparked conversations about Durex condoms and ways of buying them. Over a period of 4 months, we created and aired over 100 original posts on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. We continuously drove traffic to the brand’s website, collecting data and creating a database of consumers interested in the brand, which allowed us to retarget them with different conversion messages that directed them to e-commerce, normalizing it as a key channel for Durex. With almost no production budget and minimal media spend (total $150K), the "Durex Every Day" campaign created brand momentum that led to an uplift in sales and drove e-commerce growth. We didn’t break any taboos and didn’t even talk about sex. We just got everyone thinking about it, every day.

Credits

Name Company Role
Fabio Silveira Havas Middle East General Manager
Joao Medeiros Havas Middle East Executive Creative Director
Mark Fiddes Havas Middle East Executive Creative Director
Michele De Iuliis Havas Middle East Art Director
Nadia Karim Havas Middle East Art Director
Romanas Orlovas Havas Middle East Art Director
Mohamed Rifky Havas Middle East Art Director
Deanne Hofhuis Havas Middle East Copywriter
Christina Yepremian Havas Middle East Copywriter
Justine Dib Havas Middle East Account Manager
Abdelnabi Alaeddine UM MENA Digital Lead
Lara Faraj UM MENA Associate Media Director
Tony Sarkis UM MENA Media Manager
Stewart Lees Reckitt Marketing Director
Yara Dib Hajj Reckitt Brand Manager, Durex
Links
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