Sultan is Finland’s only domestic condom brand. Despite the brand’s long history, its preference among younger consumers was dwindling. In 2017, the brand wanted to celebrate its 50th year with a birthday campaign that would boost sales and re-introduce the brand to consumers. Theirs wasn’t the only big birthday of 2017: Finland itself would be celebrating 100 years of independence. How could a condom’s birthday stand out from the flood of messages and campaigns celebrating an entire country? Furthermore, Sultan is marketed by RFSU, a non-profit organisation focused on sexual rights and education. Their limited marketing budget directed the campaign towards digital platforms, where rules on sexually suggestive content set strict limits on condom advertising. We needed a creative idea, which would allow the brand to stand out next to Finland’s big birthday, get around social media’s strict advertising rules and get the most out of a limited budget.

The campaign was implemented in two stages. The launch of the month-long campaign relied heavily on PR, both to boost the authenticity of the idea and to create momentum for the campaign and the paid visibility in the second stage. The campaign site detailed why Finland’s sexual culture was the best in the world. A special edition of Sultan packages featured Finnish reasons for having sex. The campaign film was launched through a popular FB page, in an unsponsored post and without any call-to-action. After it became a hit on social media it was picked up by major news outlets that continued to drive traffic to the film and the site. The PR push featuring the Finnish Sex Box detailed the reasoning behind the campaign and appearances by the client’s representative on Finnish media. After a week, the story was amplified through advertising on Facebook, YouTube, Spotify and in cinemas.