Projects
Astroglide: Crafting a visual story for a physical experience
Sex is like a mini vacation
As we worked to develop the 2018 summer ad campaign for personal lubricant brand Astroglide, we needed to encourage people to buy and use Astroglide products with a simple, true-to-the-core message that would hit home for a wide audience.
Services Provided
The challenge
While other brands in the lubricant space have started to associate their products and sex with loftier aims, we saw the opportunity to connect to a more fundamental human truth: sex as pleasure. To promote this insight, we positioned Astroglide as the gateway to more enjoyment.
Our Approach
Looking into the data, an interesting stat stood out: Americans were taking fewer vacations, and having less sex. It seemed fitting to use a summertime campaign to encourage consumers to think about sex as a mini vacation.
Your ticket to pleasure
We worked together to create tongue-in-cheek names for sexual destinations we’d all like to visit, evoking a desire to take time to explore new horizons and landscapes with Astroglide.
Take a Sexcation
As a personal lubricant brand, Astroglide promotes the message of open exploration in a judgment-free environment. Using that message, we developed the strategy and creative concept of their "Sexcation" destination campaign.
Other brands in the lubricant space have started to associate their products and sex with loftier aims: attaching them to self-care, self-love, sexual wellness and health, the success of relationships. All fair, admirable points. But based on what we saw in the data, there was a clear opportunity to connect to a more fundamental human truth: sex as pleasure. Pleasure is self-love, care, empowerment. It’s becoming less and less taboo, as the notion of, “it’s okay to want to like who you are, and enjoy being who you are,” takes hold culturally. It’s okay to want your own pleasure—and the primary payoff for lubricant use is that it makes sex more pleasurable and fun. With that insight, the strategy was clear: to express clearly and convincingly that, when it comes to sex, Astroglide will help you enjoy yourself more.
From there, the creative team got to work. As we developed the Sexcation campaign within the framework of the strategic direction, the numbers bore out: Americans are taking fewer vacations, and they’re having less sex. It seemed fitting to use a summertime campaign to encourage consumers to think about sex as a mini vacation, with Astroglide as their means to an even better time. Astroglide: Your ticket to pleasure.
The team drew inspiration from classic Pan-Am ads and vintage travel posters to stoke a nostalgia for exotic travel that consumers would instantly recognize and relate to. We worked together to create tongue-in-cheek names for sexual destinations we’d all like to visit.
We think the results speak for themselves, and the travel poster-style creative—with versatility for both digital and traditional out-of-home ads—evoke a desire to take time to explore new horizons and landscapes with Astroglide.