Johnson & Johnson — K–Y
"Warm Up to Love Again"
Like other personal lubricant brands, K-Y typically speaks to a younger audience, promoting personal lubricants as a way for adventurous young couples to spice up their sex life. Given the positioning of K-Y as a way to have more fun, consumers were only buying it once in a while.
This strategy didn't translate into long-term brand growth for K-Y, and as such, sales and household penetration were in steady decline. The challenge was to turn this decline around by finding a way to get more people to buy K-Y more consistently.
Zoomers (women age 45 to 55) were identified as a large untapped opportunity for K-Y. With "dryness" being a major roadblock to intimacy, many would think this group would be interested in a solution, but in reality most women simply don't look to address the issue.
To connect with Zoomers, the brand had to speak to them on their level. Even though they're aging, Zoomers still feel young and vibrant at heart. So focusing communications on their aging bodies was not the solution. Instead, the agency focused on the one thing they know has changed: intimacy with their partner.
DDB decided to show Zoomers they could reignite physical intimacy with their partners and see them in a whole new light. TV spots depicted average-looking middle-aged guys performing an everyday task – working out, cutting the lawn and blow-drying their hair – but filmed in slow motion and with an R&B slow jam playing in the background to sensualize the moments.
Each spot is filmed from the perspective of the wife, and when it cuts to her, the viewer sees that she has been watching her partner with love and yearning in her eyes. The spots end with the tagline: "Warm up to love again. KY Touch 2-in-1 Lubricant."
The campaign initially launched in December 2013 with digital support including pre-roll and a rich media engagement unit. This unit housed the spots and also included interactive product information and tips on how to introduce K-Y into the bedroom. All online media had a strong call to action to "Reignite the Spark." In January 2014, two of the spots aired on TV in addition to the digital media, and the idea was further expanded into three 60-second radio spots.
Over the course of the campaign there were over 100,000 visits to K-Y.ca - double the site visits prior to campaign launch. Online media delivered over 19.8 million media impressions. Pre-roll resulted in a total of 10,236,269 views, and a completion rate of 64.63%, driving 42,446 clicks to site. In addition, the rich media ad unit that featured the videos delivered over 6.5 million media impressions and generated 28,861 clicks to site. Following the TV campaign the brand started to see positive gains with the sales of K-Y Touch 2-in-1 Warming Massage Oil and Personal Lubricant up by 15%.
