What the public wants, the public gets, and, in this case, the public is demanding lube. Specifically, the Wal-Mart shopping public. The apparently dry genetalia of shoppers is currently undergoing regular moistening, thanks to conservative marketer Johnson & Johnson. Almost overnight, the company has doubled sales of its once-sleepy K-Y brand for the second time in four years, thanks to the blockbuster summer rollout of a new line of massage oils. And nowhere has that success been greater than at Wal-Mart, where K-Y Touch Massage oils have hit the list of top 10 new health and beauty products of 2005, according to J&J VP-Personal Care Marketing Jim Peterson.
Now that it’s at full distribution, the massage line is selling ahead of the rest of the K-Y brand, Mr. Peterson recently told a workshop at the trade show HBA 2005 in New York. That follows a three-year stretch in which J&J doubled K-Y sales with such products as warming lubricants and new marketing approaches that include a cartoonish promotional booklet titled “The Modern Girl’s Guide to K-Y.”
Still, Middle America isn’t quite ready to let it all hang out. Vibrating condom rings are banned from stores in eight states, including Texas, though they’ve become popular at Amazon and other online retailers.
