How do you market intimate products to women in a very conservative country? Through romance novels, of course, CreamGlobal reports:
A feminine hygience wash sold in Malaysia, which is a predominantly conservative Muslim country, couldn’t distinguish itself amongst its competitors and market effectively to married women aged 20 to 40 years old, who are its target demographic (The wash—named Sumber Ayu—promises a “tightening” benefit, so you can see how this type of marketing campaign might be problematic).
The average Malaysian Muslim woman marries as early as 16, with special licence. Muslim Malay men can marry up to four wives, which means a Malay wife has more competition. Perhaps not coincidentally, a typical Malay romance novel sells an average of 550k copies annually.
So Sumber Ayu began to market via romance novels, branding certain titles with their name and the tagline “Merapatkan Keintiman” (trans: closer intimacy). They distributed bookmarks and placed ads in the books, and the initial run sold out in a month, and Sumber Ayu’s sales took off.
It’s great to know that women even in very conservative countries can still get their romance on.
Have you bought anything because it was cited in a romance novel?
