LifeStyles Condoms Launches Global Advertising Campaign

Ansell, the makers of LifeStyles and SKYN Condoms ("SKYN"), debuted "Smart is Sexy," the LifeStyles brand's latest advertising campaign designed to challenge the way people define sexiness. Launching globally across digital, social, and out-of-home platforms, the "Smart is Sexy" campaign will activate in the United States with other countries to follow.

Mainstream portrayals of sex and sexuality can be extremely clichéd, with marketing messages, film and television, art, literature and more often weighed down by outdated stereotypes, company officials say. These messages have, over time, created discomfort surrounding open and honest discussions about sex, especially for millennial consumers. according to officials. LifeStyles "Smart is Sexy" advertisements challenge these clichés head-on via banner ads and videos that at first glance appear to support some outdated concepts surrounding sexiness, but upon a closer look reveal various signs of sexy that focus on intelligence, confidence, ambition, open-mindedness and more.

"The inspiration for 'Smart is Sexy' came directly from our key demographic, the millennial consumer," says Jeyan Heper, president and general manager, sexual wellness global business unit at Ansell. "In various focus groups, millennials explained to us that self-confidence and sexiness are directly linked, and young adults need to 'smarten up' by recognizing  that sexiness does not only come from superficial beauty, physical exposure or sexual performance, but from feeling self-confident and sexy about yourself as you are."

Globally conceptualized by Hamburg, Germany-based KNAUSS Agency and executed in the U.S. by the AMP Agency, "Smart is Sexy" will debut simultaneously in the United States, Brazil and Australia, with China and Europe kicking off the campaign in early 2017.  The videos were specifically designed to be skip-able YouTube pre-roll ads and work with the Silent Autoplay Function in the Facebook timeline. Viewers who are curious to find out what turns on the men and women featured in the videos will do one of two things: either continue to watch the pre-roll ad after the first five seconds or, in case of the Facebook ad, click on the sound button, officials say. 

In addition to traditional channels, in the U.S., the campaign will also be supported by an interactive vending machine activation which prompts users to answer five questions about sexual health in order to receive a free condom sample. Questions range from stats on STIs and contraception to the history of condoms. The machine debuted as a pop-up in New York City's Washington Square Park on November 18th before moving to NYC's famed Webster Hall where it will remain for at least one month before traveling to various locations including city-centers, nightclubs and bars, and colleges and universities across the United States.