Durex Sensations
Designing a campaign that doesn’t get in the way of the feeling
Agency
CATEGORY
SERVICE
Durex Sensations is built around one promise: thinner material, more feeling, less between you and the moment. But the category has sold that promise the same way for decades, all anonymous, soft-lit bodies and sterile product shots.
The agency’s brief was to put that feeling on the page without falling back on cliché. Mine was the hands-on craft of it: bringing the chosen photography to life, and finding the frame that lets each key visual hold the moment instead of crowding it.
Working alongside the creative team, I made the photography and type work as one. Rather than distort the letters, I let a bold, confident lockup wrap around each scene, so the words and the image share the same space instead of competing for it, while the grade pulled the four heroes into a single warm tone.
Setting the tone
I retouched and colour-graded the four heroes into a single tonal world: warm but quiet, intimate without becoming literal. The before-and-afters show how much of that mood is built in the grade, not just caught on the day.
Letting the type breathe
My first instinct was to make the type do all the talking. I worked through dozens of treatments, taking the letters as far as they would go. The breakthrough was realising it didn’t need to: together with the team, we decided to pull back to a clean, simple lockup and let the idea live in the relationship between the words and the image.
Where the type meets the scene
Whether it’s a couple in low light or a row of packs on blue, I wanted the type to do what the product does: stay close without getting in the way. Building FREE THE FEELING into the frame instead of over it puts the words and the people in the moment together, sharing the same freedom a thinner condom is there to give.
Public displays of feeling
Out of home only gets a passing glance, so I let the cheeky headline take top billing and promise the feeling first. The packshot stays bold enough to close the sale and the tagline signs off underneath, so the joke lands, the product seals it.
More selected works
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Bigger product and web projects are where I want to go next. If you have one of those, a role, or something else entirely, chances are I can help.
