Why an Italian Sex Toy Brand is ‘Unlocking the Institutional Doors’ of Daytime TV
Norma Rossetti founded MySecretCase in 2014 with a clear mission: to become "the first Italian sex shop dedicated entirely to women's pleasure.” Norma, who is also MySecretCase’s CEO, conceived the idea for her e-commerce business after her research indicated an increase in Italy’s sex toy market. Combining this with the feeling that existing sex shops failed to appeal to women, she noticed an opportunity. “I wanted to create an intimate space, in which women could feel comfortable and free to express themselves," she said in a 2017 statement.
At the time she said that, MySecretCase was going through a key moment in its brand journey. Working with Milan-based creative agency Cookies & Partners, summer 2017 saw the company taking an active role to normalise Italy’s relationship to sex toys by putting the country’s first commercial for them on national TV. “We want a world where women aren't sexual objects, but can have them all," said the voiceover in the ad.
Two years on and MySecretCase is continuing to break boundaries. Now Italy’s leading destination for the sale of sex toys, it’s back on TV with another commercial by Cookies & Partners, directed by famous Italian movie director Luca Lucini. But this time they pushed the frontier forward, airing the ad in the daytime on some of the most important Italian TV channels - a new first. And a timely one, maybe, considering the difficulties some sex toy brands are facing when they try to advertise on social media platforms, getting banned for being deemed ‘sexual content’.
LBB’s Alex Reeves caught up with Norma and Cookies & Partners’ executive partner and creative director Francesca Mudanò to discover more about why and how the brand is pushing at the limits of Italy’s taboos.
LBB> What would you say the average Italian's attitudes to sex toys is?
Norma & Francesca> Actually, Italians are more curious than they want to admit. They have an ambivalent nature: a public one, that is more conservative and modest, and an unprejudiced, open-minded private one. While taboos are resisted in institutions and public contexts, people are quite free in their own private lives, so they like and use sex toys but they don’t say it.
LBB> What does MySecretCase most want to change about that?
Norma & Francesca> MySecretCase wants to unlock the institutional doors and to get into the mainstream: on TV, on the radio, in the newspapers, everywhere.
LBB> What progress do you feel has been made since you aired the first ad a couple of years ago?
Norma & Francesca> We collaborated with even more relevant magazines such as Vice Italy, reached the youngest people, opened and developed our social networks, increased our engagement. And couples have shown their interest by buying more.
LBB> Why did you feel it was important for this summer’s campaign to be another first, running on daytime TV?
Norma & Francesca> Running on daytime TV was an obligatory step in order to normalise a taboo topic and to get closer to millennials and teenagers. If something is on TV, especially in the morning, it means that it is normal.
LBB> What guided the different kinds of couple you were going to present in the ad?
Norma> We chose the couples we talk to as an audience: couples who use sex toys and aren’t ashamed to take them along (restaurant scene); couples in which it is the woman who suggests their use (car and bedroom scenes); couples that celebrate sexual fluidity and universal love (bathtub scene) and finally couples that live their intimacy in every moment of their life, even during pregnancy, which is normal but never shown (rooftop scene).
LBB> All of the women shown are in relationships or with partners. What was behind the decision not to show any women enjoying MySecretCase toys solo?
Norma & Francesca> We will do. Not now but at Christmas time.
LBB> When it came to shooting it, what was it about Luca Lucini that made him the right choice?
Norma & Francesca> Luca Lucini is definitely the ‘director of love’ in Italy. He’s directed romantic movies several times and for a wide audience, too. His ‘Tre metri sopra il cielo’ [‘Three Steps Over Heaven’] was the greatest box office success of early ‘00s, a true cult movie for young girls. Then Lucini has directed other films (‘Nemiche per la pelle’, ‘L’uomo perfetto’) dedicated to couples and relationships, so he was perfect for MySecretCase.
LBB> There must have been some challenges in getting past regulations to make sure the spot could air in the day. What were the biggest and how did you beat them?
Norma & Francesca> We had to intervene on cuts and video editing in order to adapt the final scenes to the different schedules and TV channels. For instance, we could not include sex toys themselves in the daytime version.
LBB> How have people in Italy reacted to it?
Norma & Francesca> Press reactions were extremely good and people seem to love it. We did everything we could not to offend those that are unfamiliar with sex toys. One week later, there was a 20% increase in sales of MySecretCase-branded sex toys such as the Lovetto, Trottolino and Tiramisù.
