STOCKHOLM — Swedish designer brand LELO has been awarded its first Cannes Lions Award in the category of product design for their luxury oral sex simulator ORA.
This marks the first-ever time an intimate lifestyle brand has been honored, the company said.
LELO’s ORA was competing against global agencies and brands such as Ogilvy, Samsung, Coca-Cola and Jawbone for its Product Design Lion. The ORA was designed, developed and marketed entirely in-house by LELO creatives.
Designed as a personal massager that closely simulates the sensations of oral sex for women, ORA features a rotating “nub” that moves in swirling rotations and fast flicks from beneath a layer of smooth silicone. It received praise “for providing a solution that makes people’s lives better while aiding the communication of a brand ethos,” according to the criteria of the Product Design Lion category, the company said.
ORA launched on the market in January 2014 within a matter of weeks of the announcement that the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity was planning to honor product design at this year’s festival.
LELO’s Head of Global Marketing, Steve Thomson said: “When we heard Cannes Lions were opening a new category for Product Design, we knew this was something LELO had to be a part of. Our goal is to design stunning products that allow people everywhere to enjoy healthier, more vibrant sex lives, and ORA™ is a perfect example of that. While such mainstream recognition for pleasure products is generally overdue, we’re thrilled to be among the first brands to win a Product Design Lion - it only strengthens our resolve to keep designing for pleasure in the years to come.”
