The condom brand battle-call: who is the thinnest of all?
Condom brands in the Indian market are fighting a new battle - of being the thinnest. Taking this interesting battle to the next level, TTK Healthcare-owned condom brand Skore has launched India’s thinnest flavoured condom, appropriately called ‘Nothing’. The Drum speaks to Vishal Vyas, head of marketing, TTK Healthcare on what went behind launching this product innovation and the plans to push it to the Indian consumer in a tough-to-penetrate category.
Skore jumps into the 'thin' battle
The backdrop behind the innovation
The condom category has some interesting consumer insights. For a large segment, while there is awareness about condoms and why they are necessary, there is still hesitancy owing to the belief that it reduces intimacy and pleasure.
Vishal Vyas, head of marketing, TTK Healthcare, explains “Skore identifies this need for a condom that doesn't feel like a condom.” The solution, the brand has come up with is to ‘uncondom’ the condom. "In our quest to take away the condom from the condom, we got ‘Nothing’", says Skore’s marketing head.
Skore is among the top five brands in India in a category that has been on a slow-growth track for various reasons. Other players include the leader of the pack Manforce, KamaSutra, Moods, and Durex.
Telling the condom story with gender-lens
Condom marketing is always loaded with action, mostly of the risqué kind. For the new product launch, Skore has introduced a new ‘WearAnUncondom’ campaign that talks of giving consumers a renewed impetus to use condoms with a product that is so thin, it’s like it’s not even there. The new range is available in chocolate and strawberry flavors. The campaign has been conceptualized by McCann India.
The brief to the agency, says Vyas, was two-fold: “to let people know about Nothing’s USP and make it synonymous with thin condoms.” The other part was around disrupting the notion that condoms are a male product only, when the reality is that women are equal stakeholders in pleasure, he adds.
Making sense of the ‘thin’ battle of the category
After battling it out over textures and flavors, condom brands are now trying to outdo each other in the thinness quotient. Vyas believes that this is a battle that will drive product innovation, remove usage barriers, and help grow the category. Currently, we are the thinnest flavored condom in India, and we expect competition to respond and keep us on our toes, he adds.
Not too long ago, Durex had launched its first-ever ‘made for India’ innovation with Durex extra-thin flavored condoms in three flavors: chocolate, strawberry, and bubble gum.