CULTURAL CONTEXT
In the Middle East, contraceptives can only be advertised on highly-regulated social media channels,
and any mention of sex can provoke powerful negative reactions.
The same region was going to be captivated by the 2018 FIFA World Cup, because for the first time ever
4 Middle Eastern teams would be playing – Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia and Saudi Arabia.
OPPORTUNITY
Countries playing in major sporting events tend to experience baby booms nine months later,
as fans tend to celebrate their teams, victories with sex.
From the first match to the last whistle, we turned every game into a reason to have sex.
CAMPAIGN
Beyond the match wins, fans were encouraged to “celebrate” the losses, draws, red cards, unforgettable goals and more. From the first game to the final, we were able to hijack the Twitter conversation during every match with cheeky new names for our condoms.
Planned posts that celebrated expected moments and tactical posts created on the fly during the games became reasons to ‘celebrate’ with Durex. Partnering with the region’s biggest ecommerce site then allowed us to drive themed Durex bundles for discreet purchase and delivery with every post.
Some of my favorite posts:
https://twitter.com/durexarabia?lang=en
RESULTS
While hard-line conservatives were an ever-present factor, the majority of our market loved it:
– The engagement rate smashed Twitter benchmarks by over 900% in Saudi Arabia.
– A cost per engagement at 90% below the average.
– A 128% increase in organic followership generated over 10 000 sales leads.
– Durex was one of the most talked-about brands on Twitter in the region
during the World Cup period, with no official sponsorship whatsoever.
The most important result though?
We’ll only know that 9 months after the final.
