Durex Ireland gets feel for ‘Love Island’

Sponsorship of reality television show on UTV was ‘perfect fit’ with global campaign

Reckitt Benckiser marketers Maria Mealiffe (left) and Hazel Roche: “The sponsorship of Love Island is a perfect fit for our target market and fits really well with our overall campaign.”

The desire for, and fear of, "digital detox" seems to be an increasingly popular topic of conversation and Durex has now cleverly tapped into it with its new global campaign.

The "#DoNotDisturb"campaign is "about the way in which technology is interfering with people's relationships", as Maria Mealiffe, senior brand activation manager at Durex manufacturer Reckitt Benckiser (now known as RB) puts it.

The difficulties of juggling a range of television watersheds and stipulations for condom advertising made the idea of sponsoring reality series Love Island, with a series of stings between 9pm and 10pm on UTV Ireland, an appealing alternative to popping up during late-night ad breaks when its intended audience has already drifted to bed.

"The sponsorship of Love Island is a perfect fit for our target market and fits really well with our overall campaign," says Hazel Roche, RB's digital and media marketing manager.

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Globally, Durex launched a branded video earlier this year that showed six real couples on holiday with no access to smartphones, tablets or any other communications technology – the idea being to show how the absence of digital distractions can boost levels of intimacy, and ideally increase the need to purchase the condom brand.

This year has already been a big one for Durex in Ireland. In February, it supplied hampers of condoms for a Late Late Show "one for everybody in the audience" giveaway on its Valentine's Night special.

"That's the first time that we have actually featured on RTÉ, " Roche says, "so it was a good one for us".

The Love Island stings promote the Durex Invisible range, which went on the market earlier this year, and coincides with a new cycle of point-of-sale activity in pharmacies and other retailers over the summer holiday period.

Laura Slattery

Laura Slattery

Laura Slattery is an Irish Times journalist writing about media, advertising and other business topics