Maximising a media moment

Capsule Comms began working with Replens in February of this year. The brand sits within the healthcare portfolio of Church & Dwight whom Capsule has been supporting as PR and Comms agency since 2014. A unique Replens brand opportunity had presented itself which Church & Dwight were seeking to amplify to drive brand awareness through an integrated advertising and PR campaign.

Replens is named the winner of the 2021 TfL Diversity in Advertising Competition with their campaign Sex Never Gets Old. This winning advertising campaign challenged the societal views of sex and intimacy in those aged over 55 and helped to tackle inauthentic and one-dimensional portrayals of older people within advertising. As the winner Replens was to be awarded £500,00 of advertising across the TfL network. Such an accolade and brand awareness opportunity presented multiple PR opportunities which the brand had to seize upon to brand growth and media conversation.

Capsule Comms were asked to deliver a PR launch campaign for Replens. Capsule’s response to brief was swift and a campaign executed in just under 1 month. The PR campaign focused on creating a Media Moment for Replens by maximising the competition win to drive a number of PR activations. Our strategy had three key audiences: trade and business, TV and radio and consumer health & lifestyle press. The TfL win would generate press in key trade and London business titles whilst Capsule recommended a nationwide survey on attitudes to sex & intimacy be undertaken to provide valuable insight and a news hook for consumer health & lifestyle press.  The Flames of Sex & Intimacy Survey delivered valuable data which was strengthened by the professional authority of Tracey Cox, sex and relationships expert, enlisted as a media spokesperson.

On the day the TfL win was announced (15^th March), Capsule Comms actioned a comprehensive media outreach, targeting news desks, trade titles and consumer and regional press and newswires. Press coverage was secured for the competition win in key trade titles: Campaign, The Drum and Marketing Week. Press coverage was also secured in key business titles and London press including Bloomberg, Yahoo Finance, London TV and European Business Magazine.

The next focus was to deliver an impactful consumer campaign for the brand. Capsule worked closely with esteemed Daily Mirror and Daily Express Health Editor, Amy Packer to craft sector aligned narratives from The Flames of Sex & Intimacy Survey to engage health and lifestyle editors. Press coverage for the survey was generated in high circulation, on-target titles including Woman, Mr and Mrs 50 Plus, Woman & Home and the Daily Star. The survey findings were also pitched to radio and TV and a day of national and regional radio interviews set up for Replens’ campaign spokesperson, Tracey Cox. Tracey appeared on 23 radio shows including BBC Radio Scotland, FM104 Ireland, BBC Solent, BBC Radio Leeds, BBC Radio Kent and Radio Nova with a total reach of 3,800,000. All radio interviews delivered the campaign key messages – brand amplification through the Replens Sex Never Gets Old campaign and The Flames of Sex & Intimacy Survey findings. Additional advertising was also secured in The Evening Standard (foc) driving further brand engagement in London to coincide with the TfL advertising campaign.

Replens was keen to ensure their brand community was championed throughout this campaign with negative stereotypes surrounding those over aged 55 enjoying sex & intimacy challenged. Capsule Comms set up a dedicated Instagram account for Replens UK which acted as the social media landing page for the Sex Never Gets Old campaign and features campaign imagery, survey findings and insight from Tracey Cox’s radio interviews. A social giveaway is also scheduled for Tracey Cox’s Instagram to encourage widespread sharing of Replens Sex Never Gets Old campaign imagery to increase conversation around the topic of sex & intimacy. Further activations for phase two of the PR campaign include a product focused activation and further Replens community building with partnerships with menopause charities and sex & relationship podcasts.

Ali Taylor, Corporate Comms Consultant