Page 86 - AVN December 2015

Message PLEASURE PRODUCTS
and quite another to get that product
into the hands of the consumer. And
It’s one thing to make a great product,
that path between manufacturer and
consumer is paved with one intention:
communication.
Advertising, branding, packaging,
promotion, publicity, and sponsorships—
they’re all part of that field of endeavor
called marketing communications. The
goal: Get your message to stand out amid
the barrage of advertising in all media, not
to mention the saturation from 24-hour
news cycles and ubiquitous social media.
How do you get people to listen?
Benjamin Sherman believes he can help
by putting out his clients’ messages on an
everyday object that commands attention
and makes you take notice of the product.
The name of his company tells all: Say It
With A Condom.
The story of his company’s creation is a
case study in creative marketing. While in
school full time simultaneously pursuing
a law degree and an MBA, Sherman
was suddenly struck with the notion to
create condoms with a message. “Maybe
it’s the fact that I was an ardent Obama
supporter,” he said.
Calling his company Practice Safe
Policy, Sherman dashed off to snap up
some domain names. “I thought, ‘Oh my
God, Somebody else is probably having
this same idea at this exact moment.’
… I bought ObamaCondoms.com and
McCainCondoms.com just in case,” he
recalled.
86 | AVN.com | 12.15
Man Got a slogan? Say it with a condom.
After designing the product and a website
First Amendment. If you’re vending books, periodicals,
where he could sell it, Sherman sent out a
posters, pins buttons, shirts, it’s considered First Amendment
press release in March of 2008. “I went for a
merchandise and we got that in writing from the Department
run around the reservoir [in New York’s Central
of Consumer Affairs.”
Park] and I came back to my phone ringing
The NYPD took a different view, and twice the issue was
non stop—I think it was the AP. ... And then CNN
brought before New York courts. First the condom purveyors
called, and FOX showed up. And that was on
lost, then they won. “But unfortunately, the NYPD can choose
a Thursday. That next day we were all over the
to follow the win or the loss,” Sherman said. “I just took it in
media and every web page was linking to us. …
stride and took a break to develop the concept for Say It
That was where it all began.”
With a Condom. I went full speed ahead with this concept at
Offering condoms to both sides of the
the end of 2011.”
political divide—an Obama condom with
Sherman recalled, “I always thought it would be kind of
the slogan “The Ultimate Stimulus Package”
cool if people could create their own [condoms] and share
and McCain rubbers that said “Old But Not
their messages.” When he launched Say It With a Condom he
Expired”—Sherman started with online sales
went back to his roots with the Romney condom (“Great For
but soon expanded his horizons. That year he
Any Position”) as well as a more ambivalent Obama condom
attended the AVN Novelty Expo and obtained
(“Won’t Break As Easily As His Promises”). The creativity
high volume distribution. And he also found a
sparked from there, with the addition of other themed
way to take advantage of his city’s busy streets.
condoms wrapped up in funny sayings, tag-lines and pop
culture references.
Rather than the streets of New
York, the condoms are now sold at
SayItWithACondom.com. “I love our
website,” Sherman said. “It’s a place
where you can see our latest and
greatest designs. Our condoms are
constantly being liked and shared on
Facebook and Instagram and Twitter.
We’ve got something for everybody,
whether it’s Valentine’s Day or it’s a
We’ve got something for everybody,
whether it’s Valentine’s Day or it’s a
bachelorette party ...
or people who are celebrating 420—
we’ve got a condom that says
‘Toke It Before You Poke It.’
—Benjamin Sherman,
Say It With A Condom founder
bachelorette party looking for some
animal-print condoms, or people
who are celebrating 420—we’ve got a
condom that says ‘Toke It Before You
Poke It.’ … We’ve got something for
everyone.
“We promote safety through
creativity, but I think a lot of people
who buy the funny ones are really
into it for the joke,” Sherman said.
“But the bigger part of our business
eventually showed itself: utilizing the
condom as a promotional marketing
tool.”
Now, clients come to Sherman
looking for a customized product
“For the next three years we put together a team
of 40 people who went out and told people
to “remember the election with their next
erection.” “We sold condoms on the streets of
New York in Times Square for three years.”
However, hassles plagued the team. Working
without a general vending license (“because
the only way to get a general vendor’s license
now is to be a disabled veteran—the wait list
has been shut down for 20 years”), his team
sold the condoms “under the idea that they
were political merchandise, covered by the
that serves their own purposes. “They see that the condom
is the vehicle in which they can convey a message to the
audience—whether that message is a brand, a product, a
service or an event, they see that they can get more mileage
from a condom than a postcard or a flyer or another sort of
marketing collateral.”
Last January, Sherman came back to the AVN Novelty
Expo. “I went with the idea that I wanted to relaunch my
company to the adult market and show people what I’d been
up to for the last three years, and I couldn’t think of a better
platform than ANE to do that. It succeeded beyond my
wildest dreams. There are a lot of people I’m very close with