SKYN CONDOMS LAUNCH IN JAPAN

TitleSKYN CONDOMS LAUNCH IN JAPAN
BrandANSELL AND FUJI LATEX
Product / ServiceHEALTHCARE / CONDOMS
EntrantULTRASUPERNEW, JAPAN
Entrant Company ULTRASUPERNEW, JAPAN
Advertising Agency ULTRASUPERNEW, JAPAN
Advertising Agency 2 COCOLABLE Tokyo, JAPAN

Credits

Name Company Position
Keisuke Takaso UltraSuperNew Account Manager
Hiroaki Adachi UltraSuperNew Creative Director
Tomo Murakami UltraSuperNew Account Director
Marina Nakigawa UltraSuperNew Copywriter
Jinshi Itomi UltraSuperNew Art Director
Miki Takefumi UltraSuperNew Art Director
Mayumi Shelly UltraSuperNew Graphic Designer
Masaaki Takesue UltraSuperNew web designer
Kana Sacheout UltraSuperNew Graphic Designer
Marc Wesseling UltraSuperNew Strategy director
Mike Sheetal UltraSuperNew Executive Creative Director
Ludovic Prandi UltraSuperNew developer
Malo Yamakado UltraSuperNew head developer
Takanori Iseki UltraSuperNew developer
Yuko Nakamura UltraSuperNew Account Manager

The Campaign

SKYN condoms launched their revolutionary SKYN condoms made of Polyisoprene (soft material like skin) in the competitive Japanese condom market, which is around thin latex condoms. Based on the research that 97% of trial SKYN users recommend SKYN condoms and 48% of the condoms in Japan are bought by women, we developed our strategy around targeting couples with heavy sampling for trial. To be relevant in Japan, USN changed the key visual of SKYN with a Japanese couple with the tagline ‘let’s have a softer relationship’. For the sampling we created a ‘vehicle’ in the form of a newspaper: the SKYNBUN. The name SKYNBUN is derived from the Japanese word for newspaper, Shinbun. This street-style newspaper touches on subjects for a better sex life for couples. The physical newspaper was sampled in key areas in Tokyo and was also launched in the form of a digital (smartphone) version.

Success of the Campaign

The campaign set a new standard in the Japanese market and boosted sales and brand awareness of SKYN condoms dramatically. - Sales went up 300% during the campaigns - SKYN condoms became the no 1 condom sold online. - the SKYN brand entered the top 10 of brand-awareness The sales result of the SKYN activations was a strong upturn in the online and offline sales (overall 50%+ increase in the pre-campaign sales period), and an establishment of the baseline of consumers repeat purchasing (repeat purchase reached similar numbers to competitors despite being a new product on the shelf). This indicates a strong brand affinity created and taken a key market share from the strong local players. The biggest increase was in the female buyers of the product, broadening the reach from the initial male centric target.

Describe how the campaign/entry was launched and executed across each channel in the order of implementation.

The first sampling round was about creating brand-awareness and we developed a flower-cart campaign targeting couples just before Christmas, the dating time in Japan. We created a cart and booth where we handed out roses with a condom inside to couples. The second rounds of sampling was with the physical newspaper 'SKYNBUN' which was sampled in key areas in Tokyo and also launched in an online form (desktop and smartphone). For a deeper engagement online we created a mobile game that has to be played with couples by ‘pairing’ the smartphones together and asking the couples intimate questions regarding their sexual preferences and ending in a physical matching of the phones. The campaign was supported with Facebook ads, PR through key bloggers & sex authorities. The last round was an insert of the SKYNBUN in the anan magazine 'sex edition', the immensely popular once-a-year edition with a massive circulation.

Japan has one of the lowest sex rates and sex satisfaction rates in the world. Along with SKYN condoms, we set about changing this standard by starting to open up conversations surrounding sex with your partner. SKYNBUN is an offline and online campaign designed in order for people to be more comfortable in talking about what they want in their sex lives with their partners and to help them enjoy their sex lives even more with SKYN, to create discussion surrounding sex, and to provide stimulation for more satisfying and active sex lives for the Japanese. We felt the importance of creating a physical product where couples could become closer physically through reading the paper together, and therefore become more intimate. Therefore, the size, content, and tone were carefully constructed so that it could be enjoyed by not only a single person, but with a pair of people.