There's a certain irony when a condom ad goes viral. But given that it's about remote-controlled buzzing sex pants, in a campaign that literally goes beyond the brief, it's not surprising. That was the intention.
Since slipping onto the internet on Friday, the Fundawear ad for condom brand, Durex, has notched up 2.6 million YouTube hits on the official page, and about 3.5 million in total. There's also been a flurry of column inches since the weekend. Suffice to say, it's got people talking.
Not bad for zero media spend, given Durex owner Reckitt Benckiser splashed out an estimated $80-$85 million in advertising here last year, according to Nielsen data. Developing the pants themselves though, costs hundreds of thousands of bucks. Ten pairs have been made.
But that's the trade-off and Havas Australia MD, Alex Carr, thinks that is the direction business needs to take. “People need to shift spend and not default to traditional media,” he told journalists from, er, the traditional media. Not that he has anything against traditional media, but budgets are being squeezed. “There is a new and better model out there,” he suggested, but "clients need to be brave".
Think outside the boxers
Carr said the brief was to position condoms beyond the functional, to put the fun and emotional connection back into sex, and all on a “relatively low budget. So how to make some noise?”
Vibrating underwear controlled via iPhone of course, the brainchild of copywriter Jack Nunn and digital art director Will Brown. So how to deliver it?
That's where ECD Steve Coll and digital CD Jay Morgan came in. Coll said that the project embodies where the agency is trying to go in terms of output: a blend of creativity, technology, and new and traditional services without silos.
So, after many hours crossing those silos and tapping the expertise of bio-engineers, MIT professors and other boffinish types, they hit upon a technology solution “no bigger than a Tic-Tac,” said Morgan. “We bought up pretty much the entire world's off-the-shelf stock of the 'picovibes'” to make the mini vibrator units that go into the underwear.
It's the same technology that makes mobile phones vibrate. Apt, given that's how the Fundawear is controlled. (It's iOS for now, but possibly Android to follow.)
Havas then approached tech firm Snepo, a “bunch of geeks that solve tech problems” according to director Ben Moir. They worked out how the technology and the comms would come together. It was fun, said Moir, and "when developers are having fun on a project it usually leads to something good." And in this case, some pub trivia: The resulting hardware even includes a Durex branded circuit board.
Created a monster
The first versions were “a bit Frankenstein”, so in came fashion designer Billie Whitehouse to deliver some cosmetic surgery. Several tweaks later, a real couple was found to test it (the design team denies they were the testers).
“It had to be a real couple and a real experience,” said Coll, or the bloggers would pull it apart.
So far, so good. But is it just a gimmick or will Fundawear genuinely hit the high street? Havas couldn't say for sure. Coll said the firm was “in conversation with Reckitts now” about how far to take the concept with “IP ownership” a key talking point. He said that plans are “in place” for a patent “but that will take time”.
The issue is cost. Havas would not say exactly how much each pair of underwear cost to develop, but it is likely to be five figures.
But Carr agreed that the firm's “absolute intent is to make it real”.
Either way, the campaign will be judged on results. It might be a world first, but it's got to shift product too.
“Yes, this is about [doing new things with] technology, developing revenue share models," and the rest, said Carr. "But if it doesn't sell condoms, it has failed.”
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