Boom of intimacy care and sex oil advertising

Wal-Mart is typically thought of as a place where those bible loving, middle Americana folks like to shop for a bargain. Adage.com today reports that it might be more than just the bible they're loving. Sales of KY's "sex oils" have apparently skyrocked, specifically at Wal-Mart, with K-Y Touch Massage oils in the top 10 list of new health and beauty products of 2005, according to Jim Peterson, J&J VP of Personal Care Marketing.

It's really not all that surprising as J&J have been making baby oil for eons, so making-baby oil isn't far off their target, it's the "stepping in" product to the J&J family of brandstuff.

Not that J&J is suggesting anything kinky. K-Y's growth stems from studying its middle-American consumer base, where it found clinical problem-solution ads weren't resonating but marketing to "enhance intimacy between committed partners" could, Mr. Peterson said.

TV ads are relatively tame considering the subject and are created by McCann Erickson, New York. Which if you're speaking to middle America, I suppose they need to be.

"Part of our biggest challenge is just having the courage to talk about this in our company. It's not an easy thing to do the consumer research. We had to go into the subculture and understand the patterns and behaviors that are out there, which are more common than you'd think."

I guess the folks who want to sell this product are just as shy about sex-talk as the folks they are trying to sell it to.

It turns out getting frisky with value-added lubricants is fast becoming as American as apple pie. J&J has found warming lubricants sell well not only for Valentine's Day but also around Memorial Day and Fourth of July. "We dubbed these sex holidays," Mr. Peterson said. "And we try to line up all our promotional efforts around them."

J&J aren't the only ones to be expanding in the sex enhancement category either. As mentioned in another recent post, Durex in the UK has a line of vibrators on the market and Church & Dwight Co. is also getting in on the fun in a burgeoning business that Jim Daniels, VP-sexual health marketing, calls "intimacy care" with the launch of Elexa, a Trojan-endorsed brand for women that includes intimacy gel and vibrating condom rings (which are banned from stores in 8 states).