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Skyn Performed Some Dizzying Sex-Math for 'Vallentine's Day'
Sure, V-day's over. But if they can play with dates, so can we
Valentine’s Day is past, but that doesn’t mean you can’t still get freaky in any iteration you choose. For the holiday, and alongside Sid Lee Paris, Skyn gave us “Vallentine’s Day,” a stunningly SFW ad that foregoes sexual performance for some dizzying sexual-preference arithmetic.
“Valentine’s Day has always been a binary heterosexual celebration,” observe Sid Lee Paris creative directors Céline and Clément Mornet-Landa. “It was about time that a brand ended that by including everyone.”
“Vallentine’s Day” isn’t an exceptional piece on its own, but context helps. The work follows last year’s “Pleasure Is an Endless Exploration,” thanks to which we’ll never hear the song “Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes” the same way again.
Both ads tug at some childlike element of our brains that we’ve tucked away—the kids’ song, the basic arithmetic and overall nudge toward openness (including toward ourselves). It feels like Skyn’s passing on something we often forget about love and sex: that maybe at its best, it’s playful and curious, more sandbox experiments than candles relentlessly burning at both ends.
The latter can be fun, but exhausting at scale. And the world of sex post-Covid could use some high-spirited reinvention right now.
Prior to these works, in 2020, Skyn enlisted porn stars Stoya and Dale Cooper for an even steamier series of ads, focused on the importance of not skipping foreplay. Under Sid Lee’s orchestration, “play” definitely feels like the operative red thread here. And while this position is subtle and slow-burning, it’s an approach that can iterate almost endlessly, and it ultimately distinguishes Skyn from other brands.
The campaign ran in the U.S., U.K., Italy, Poland and France, locally adapted with voiceovers narrated by regional influencers.
CREDITS
Advertising Agency: Sid Lee Paris
President: Johan Delpuech
Executive Creative Director: Sylvain Thirache
Creative Directors: Céline and Clément Mornet Landa
Art Director: Olivier Bodet
Copywriter: Max Harrington
Producer: Julia Bakola
Head of Strategy: Bruno Lee
Strategic Planner: Leah Daymon
Operations Director: Antoine Ferrari
Account Managers: Paul Pieuchot
Client : LifeStyles – SKYN®
Global Marketing Strategy Director: Marta Toth
Angela Natividad is the European markets editor at Muse by Clio. She also writes about gaming and fashion, and whatever else she’s interested in, really. She’s based in Paris and North Italy, so if you’re local, say hi. She might eat all your food.
