Durex's Discreet Condom Service
Credit: SOS CONDOMS by DUREX by soscondoms
"If you thought buying condoms at a supermarket was a bit embarrassing - try doing it in the conservative Middle East," said Thomas Granger, general manager of Buzzman, the creative agency behind Durex's new Dubai ad campaign.
For the second time, the Paris-based agency has put together a racy campaign for the condom giant in a region where open sex talk is taboo.
"We've come up with the perfect way to market the product and sell the product that no one is allowed to talk about," Granger told ABCNews.com.
Introducing SOS Condoms, a location based condom delivery service. Starting this week in the glamorous city of Dubai, $15 will get you a dozen Durex condoms delivered to your door within the hour.
Available now in the iTunes App Store, you can order on your smartphone or online, between the hours of 4 p.m. and 4 a.m. SOS Condoms promises privacy, advertising a "discreet and professional delivery team." As the promotional video shows, your condom deliveryman will be in disguise, dressed perhaps as a pizza delivery boy or maybe a lost tourist.
Buzzman's first successful Durex campaign took the form of a video of a fake company, Digital Love. The company claimed to invent a new way to have sex "using your mind through a computer." After walking the viewer through the steps to initiate sex through a computer screen with the help of fake user testimonials, the video comes to a screeching halt to break the news that the only way to have "safe fun" is by using Durex condoms. (Dummy.)
Credit: Durex 'Digital Love' from Agile Films on Vimeo.
The video went viral, garnering more than 4.5 million views and boosting regional sales. The Paris-based agency sees opportunity in the Middle East, and has just opened its first office in Dubai, looking to produce similarly provocative ads for alcohol, tobacco, airline and telecom clients.
Granger told ABCNews.com that Dubai is their test market for SOS Condoms, the first city of many. After 24 hours, the response, mostly from men, has been overwhelmingly positive.
What if you can get condoms delivered like a pizza? We want it in Paris!!! Go and vote on sos-condoms.com#soscondoms#durex
- Maite Orcasberro (@maitxou) January 30, 2013
One of the coolest ideas I've seen around ad land recently from Durex adverblog.com/2013/01/31/dur…
- Josh McCarthy (@josh_mccarthy) February 1, 2013
At last a truly useful app -SOS Condom by Durex… via @ gregfromparis
- alaindamond (@alaindamond) January 30, 2013
From Vancouver to Mumbai to Tokyo, people have already taken to the company's Facebook page to vote for the next city. After 24 hours of voting, Paris leads and Granger says other major European cities have already expressed interest in Durex's date-saving deliveries.
