Condom-package design generally is viewed as rather mundane, almost as if the cartons don’t want to risk shouting too loud about the contents inside. The store environment poses other challenges for the category. Retailers limit the shelf space, and some stores display condom packages from inside locked cases that are inaccessible to consumers without a store clerk’s assistance.
These could be potentially formidable marketing challenges for any brand, but in evolving its LifeStyles brand, Ansell Healthcare Products, Red Bank, NJ, is aiming to move beyond the generally understated design in condom packaging. Ansell has intensified the design impact of the carton for the new X2 subbrand.
Lifestyles X2 advances the category with its Excite™ gel/lubrication inside and outside each latex condom, and Ansell is focusing the package graphics on product performance.
Ansell worked with CBX (www.cbx.com), a branding consultancy, to design eye-catching, black cartons with graphics in red, yellow, and white swirls to project dynamism and also give the brand a high-definition, performance-driven look. The design builds a high-octane brand identity to capture the attention of young men eager for both satisfaction and safety.
Silver foil on each 12-pack carton conveys the premium nature of both the product and the brand.
The timing is right for the condom category to introduce a product with a distinctive and attention-getting branding approach, says Rick Barrack, CBX’s chief creative officer. Barrack cites recent numbers from The Nielsen Co. showing that the condom category is robust. Sales of condoms in the U.S. rose 5% in the fourth quarter of 2008 and a stellar 6% in January 2009, compared with the same time periods the previous year.
“This condom delivers double the pleasure of heightened sensitivity and sensation,” says Carol Carrozza, Ansell spokeswoman. “Its purpose is to make sex a lot more intense and exciting. The name, X2, and the packaging work together to project this message to the consumer.”
