Sagami Original/Love Distance (Most Contagious)

17 Dec 2009

This video features in Most Contagious 2009, Contagious Magazine's round-up of the most innovative campaigns and trends of the past year. Download the PDF here.

OK, stop sniggering at the back for a second and think about how you’d market condoms. Durex and Trojan can create hilarious virals for a mostly western audience, but for Sagami Rubber Industries in Japan, that approach isn’t an option. So Sagami, which produces the thinnest condom in the world (0.02mm), told for a true love story through the medium of ‘blind branded entertainment’. Agency GT Tokyo enlisted the help of two lovers who lived apart in Fukuoka and Tokyo, and, over a month, tracked their progress running the billion millimeters which separated them... until it became just 0.02m.

Their story was told, without any reference to Sagami, through texts, GPS tracking, photos, blogs, web-chats and a YouTube channel before the brand was revealed on Christmas Eve 2008 as the couple reunited. The centrepiece of the campaign was a website, divided for male and female viewers, which attracted over 500,000 unique visitors, along with widespread media coverage. In 2009 the campaign rose to global prominence, picking up gold Cannes Lions for film and PR, as well as top honours at Adfest and a coveted D&AD Pencil.