K-Y Kissable Sensations

J&J, you've come a long way baby!

If you have at all followed the lineage of the brand K-Y, you will see a brand that has had an incredible transformation over the years. The brand's new product, Kissable Sensations, is just the latest in a string of new products that has taken the equity from one of medical lubrication to one of, well, let's say sexual lubrication. And not just in the traditional sense.

I worked at J&J, and back in the day there was no acknowledgement that K-Y was used for sex. This is J&J after all, and it just didn't seem right. The product was for vaginal dryness, and that's it. Packaged in a cold medical tube, it was a brand for women who needed a little extra "something" and for medical professionals doing "procedures". Yet women (and men for that matter) were telling a different story. They were using it to make sex more ... pleasureable.

I think the turning point in the brand, probably 15 years ago, was a brave brand manager who did a print ad saying that K-Y would not break down a condom in use. Bingo ... the "new" K-Y was born.

Now, it's like the brand had a sexual liberation. There are products for her pleasure and his pleasure, in lots of varieties to spice it up. They are even talking about his and his pleasure. Kissable Sensations is for ... wait a minute ... foreplay! I guess "lubrication" means "getting things going" as much as anything. The website explains it all, complete with couple's advice and a Relationship Lab.

Take a look at the advertising here. We can debate the creative approach all day, but the strategy is bang on. Sorry.

It's amazing to see a brand better and better define itself in response to consumer behavior and pop culture norms/attitudes. And finding a need in the category, a gap in the marketplace, and filling it with an entire pipeline of products that satisfy. Literally ... in more ways than one.

Bravo! Can't wait to see what's next.

What's your experience? Jim.