Condom and lubricants maker Durex has launched a playful, pro-foreplay marketing campaign, created by Havas London, for its Pleasure Gels lube collection.

Foreplay Forever, which runs across multiple European markets, aims to normalise lube usage for pleasure – not just for problems – while simultaneously busting the myth that only penetrative sex is good sex.

Lube issues

Two-thirds of sexually active adults don’t use lubes – with the most common reason being a belief they don’t need to.

Yet despite the fact lube is viewed by the majority as a solution to a problem, not as something that enhances pleasure, sexual satisfaction is higher among those that use it.

This, coupled with the fact that 70% of people have tried to improve their sex lives, sees Durex reprise the message ‘Sex feels better with lube’, first introduced earlier this year in its Ladies, Let’s Lube campaign.

Havas London’s Foreplay Forever concept centres around a playful TV spot depicting a couple caught in a never-ending loop of foreplay passion.

Each time, they grab a different lube from Durex’s Pleasure Gels range, including massage, warming, flavoured and tingling varieties; each time, the scene glitches and the couple end up back where they started, bemused, slightly flustered, but excited to do it again.

Reflecting the different experiences provided by the different lube variants, the film ends with the line ‘With so many new sensations to try, you’ll never want to finish getting started’.

It was directed by Simon Cahn through Pulse Films.

European launch

The campaign launches on TV across Spain, Portugal, Russia, Poland, Italy, Hungary, Germany, Austria and Switzerland, and is supported by an extensive range of digital and paid social activity.

It aims to get non-users of lubes to consider Durex Pleasure Gels by helping them realise the added pleasure it can give to “anyday sex” – challenging the convention that lubes are just for people who experience problems with natural lubrication or for those whose sex life is dull and needs spicing up.

It also attempts to remove the stigma around pulling out lubes during sex, normalising the conversation around the category and making people unashamed to say they love and use lubes on a regular basis.

“At Durex, we know sexual satisfaction is higher for those that use lubes” said Domenika Praxmarer, Spain’s Marketing Director at Durex.

“Despite this, a certain stigma persists around the category – which is why we’re seeking to attract a new, younger audience, both single and in relationships, who haven’t used or considered lubes before; 25-34-year-olds who are confident and comfortable in their sexual preferences, but open-minded and optimistic that their sex life could always get better.

“And with our Pleasure Gels range designed for extra stimulation during foreplay, it felt like a great area for this campaign to play in.”

Lynsey Atkin, Creative Director at Havas London, said: “This work is about dragging flavoured (and tingling, and lots of other things) lubes out of the dusty drawer of ‘let’s-spice-things-up-shall-we-dear?’ and reminding people of what they actually do – make sex better.

“As every advice column will tell you, foreplay can be the most fun part, so we wanted to heighten this and make a film about what it might feel like for it to be so good, you wanted to do it over and over again.

“Like a sexy Groundhog Day.”

Simon Cahn, who directed the film through Pulse Films, said: “One of the crucial elements in this Durex film for me was to capture an authentic couple.

“We did an extensive search and finally found the perfect real-life couple in Jane and Eliot.

“They have a distinctively cool glamour and an iconic feel that I was looking for in this campaign.

“It was really fun working with them and I hope they continue to play forever and ever.”