Title	SOUNDS OF LUST
Brand	RFSU
Product/Service	RFSU SENSE ME
Category	A02. Healthcare
Entrant	RADON CREATIVE Stockholm, SWEDEN
Idea Creation	RADON CREATIVE Stockholm, SWEDEN
Media Placement	SCREAM Stockholm, SWEDEN
PR	RADON CREATIVE Stockholm, SWEDEN
Production	RADON CREATIVE Stockholm, SWEDEN
Production 2	STUDIO BARNHUS Stockholm, SWEDEN
Post Production	RADON CREATIVE Stockholm, SWEDEN

Name	Company	Position
Magnus Klang	Valtech Radon	Creative Director
Hampus Fernström	Valtech Radon	Project Manager
Nathalie Folkeryd	Valtech Radon	PR Specialist
Sarah Turner	Valtech Radon	Copywriter
Gustaf Anker Söderman	Valtech Radon	Art Director
Frida Karlsson	Valtech Radon	Account Director
Marcus Lundin	Valtech Radon	Director
Agnes Ahlstedt	Valtech Radon	Producer
Leo Köhler	Valtech Radon	Motion Design
Petrus Lidbeck	Valtech Radon	Edit & Grade
Carl Åborg	Valtech Radon	Composer & sound design
Niklas Panthell	Valtech Radon	DOP
Kornél Kovacs	Studio Barnhus	Music Artist
Andreas Almkvist	Freelance	DOP
Daniel Kieth	Freelance	Gaffer
Johanna Nordlander	Freelance	MUA
Sofi Rönnerstrand	Scream	Project Manager - Media
Cecilia Nyström	Scream	Social media specialist - media
Åsa Sohl	Scream	Innovation - Media
Nathalie Smeds	Scream	AVM Specialist - Media

Why is this work relevant for Brand Experience & Activation?

This work represents a new level of immersive brand experience: a campaign centered around an auditory sensory experience scientifically designed to turn the audience on. This creative experiential activation solved two major challenges: RFSU is strongly limited in social media by “sexual content” restrictions and the media budget was very limited. The activation was orchestrated with multiple touchpoints to create a multi-layered brand experience. For example, we created shareable social media content including an engaging Snapchat lens and a library of sounds where people could test and share what sounds turned them on.

Background

RFSU is a Nordic organization promoting access to sexual and reproductive health and rights, both nationally and internationally. They also sell condoms and lubricants to fund their mission and are the market leaders in both categories. Our task was to launch a new series of lubricants that could enhance your sex life. The lubricant category is relatively small in the Nordic countries and lubricants have mainly been positioned as a way to treat a problem, rather than to intensify sexual pleasure. With the launch of this new product line, RFSU needed to change this perception in a target group more likely to buy products like sex toys than lubricants to enhance their sexual experiences – 25-35-year-olds. They also wanted to maintain their position as a market leader and reach a category sales growth of 8%.

Describe the creative idea (20% of vote)

The creative idea focused on the fact that the products stimulate all of the senses. All but one: hearing. Thus, we set out to create the sexiest piece of music ever made – based on science. We delved into neuroscientific research that showed music could activate the same pleasure centers of the brain that respond to sex. This insight led us to conduct a large study with 3,000+ Nordic respondents on what sounds turn them on. We also commissioned music professor Martin Ljungdahl Eriksson to conduct a meta-study on what frequencies and BPMs awaken pleasure centers. Drawing from this research, we let acclaimed Swedish music producer Kornél Kovács create a unique musical experience with a single mission: get people into a sexy state of mind. We released these scientifically sexy sounds for everyone to enjoy and combined them with a steamy visual world that introduced the Sense Me products.

Describe the strategy (20% of vote)

We defined the target audience as all gender identities between 25 and 35 years of age in the Nordics. Among this group, research shows that almost 80% think good sex is necessary for a good relationship – but about 60% are dissatisfied with their sex life. Why this large gap? Well, sex starts in the mind and is connected to all of our senses – a touch, a taste, or just a scent can turn us on. The problem is our minds are constantly distracted, affecting our ability to pay attention to our senses, both in our everyday lives and in bed. The Sense Me products help with this problem, by stimulating all senses – except hearing. We saw this as an opportunity: what if we could awaken the fifth sense to make the launch of Sense Me a complete sensory brand experience, inspiring people to tune into their bodies?

Describe the execution (30% of vote)

This was a Nordic activation with two main challenges. Firstly, RFSU is strongly limited on social media platforms by restrictions of “sexual content.” Secondly, the media budget was very limited. We needed to be smart around execution, releasing our sensual auditory experience through multiple touchpoints in innovative ways. First, we created a website with a library of sounds where people could test themselves on what sounds turned them on and share with someone special. We also created shareable social media content, including an engaging Snapchat lens. The artist collaboration let us reach the target audience’s headphones through Spotify, for example by getting picked in “hot music right now” lists. Teaming up with an acclaimed artist also opened up great media opportunities that were leveraged in several segments, supported by results from our pan-Nordic survey. This was complemented by online TV ads in reality TV shows, and banners on youth websites.

List the results (30% of vote)

RFSU crushed their ambitious 8% sales goal with a 19% increase in sales (YTD August 2020–2021) – surpassing their goal by almost 150%. In the countries where RFSU ran the campaign (Sweden, Norway and Finland), they also showed an incredible 21.2% increase in market share, now holding 82% of the market. This can be compared to a 5.5% increase in Denmark, where the campaign did not run (source: Nielsen). The Snapchat lens gained over ​​220,000 earned impressions and became the most successful Snapchat lens in Sweden 2021 (so far). Despite the hard restrictions of sexual education content on social media, we reached over 2.5 million unique users. We gained a PR reach of more than 2.7 million people on the small Nordic market, resulting in a PR value of around US$ 200,000 – well over the total media budget for all other channels combined.