Americans haven't seen a Durex Consumer Products condom ad on network TV because such advertising is banned on that particular medium. But they've probably learned of some of the racy results from its global sex survey that ranges from lighthearted trivia to hard-hitting behavior trends.
The brand-building survey polled 10,000 sexually active adults (age 16+) in 14 countries to report on juicy attitudes like Tom Cruise being the world's most sought after "dream lover" as well as more serious beliefs on sexually transmitted diseases - only 5% of the global population consider the transmission of STDs an important factor when having intercourse.
For a company like Durex, "PR has to create news opportunities," says Stan Grissinger, brand manager for Durex Consumer Products (Norcross, Ga.). And the Global Sex Survey has been its two-year mass media hook (launched in 1996).
But the 1997 PR push which exceeded its 1996 reach of 60 million people by more than 50% (124 million people), used high-impact media kits, a satellite media tour (top 22 markets), an aggressive print campaign (10,000 newspaper dailies and top adult magazine) and a radio media tour (top 14 markets) to unveil the survey results.
Localizing Sex Facts
Manning, Selvage & Lee (Atlanta), Durex's agency of record, used a sexy but information-rich media kit campaign as well as a localized "American" angle to trigger a major national media buzz. The media kit featured the washboard stomach of a guy in jeans to play up the tagline: "Try these sex facts on for size!" and introduces the survey's highlights. It worked.
High-profile TV programs like "CNN Headline News," "E! Entertainment TV," "Hard Copy" and "The View with Barbara Walters" plugged the survey as well as top national print like USA Today, Cosmopolitan and Men's Journal.
To "Americanize" the survey campaign, the agency created five "either/or" questions (involving 1,000 adults) to gauge American attitudes on sex.
"We were surprised at how well this was picked up by the media here," says Carla Peterson, Manning's VP of the consumer division. Factoids like "Americans would rather have sex than go shopping" allowed media outlets to have fun with the subject of safe sex.
'Light-hearted' to 'Hard-hitting'
Although the million-dollar-plus campaign culminated on World AIDS Day (Dec. 1), 70% of the promotional effort took place in October and November when the PR approach was lighthearted to build awareness of Durex as a global manufacturer of condoms and leading expert on sexual health and behaviors.
The "cute" results of the survey whet the appetites of the media for the second phase of the campaign which reported on the more serious findings that were embargoed until World AIDS Day, according to Peterson.
By teaming up with UNAIDS (a United Nations advocacy initiative), the MTV international network, and McCann Erickson (agency), Durex hammered home its hard-hitting safe sex message through an "It won't happen to me" public service announcement on Dec. 1. Here, facts on global apathy and a low-level of change in sexual behavior throughout the world were unleashed.
(Manning Selvage & Lee, Carla Peterson,404/875-1444; Durex Consumer Products, Stan Grissinger, 770/582-2163)