At EroSpain in May, one thing became obvious very quickly: some brands could explain their products in thirty seconds, whilst others needed five minutes.
That might not sound like a big difference. But in a category as competitive as sexual wellness, it's often the difference between generating interest and losing it.
Over three days, our team spoke with brands across the industry, from toys and lubricants to supplements, apps and entirely new product concepts.
And whilst the products themselves were incredibly varied, the strongest conversations had something in common: clarity.
The people behind those products could immediately answer three questions:
What is it?
Who is it for?
Why should someone choose it?
That observation reinforced something we see repeatedly when working with sexual wellness brands: the best product launches start long before marketing begins - they start with positioning.
Some brands treat positioning as something to figure out once the product is finished. In reality, it influences almost every decision that follows. It affects how retailers understand your product, how consumers discover it, and how effectively your marketing communicates its value.
Clarity isn’t a given - it has to be built.
In most categories, a product can carry some ambiguity at launch and still find its footing. Sexual wellness isn't one of them.
Retailers in this space make ranging decisions carefully. Consumers approach purchases with more consideration than they might elsewhere. Distributors, press, and partners all need to understand not just what a product does, but where it fits and who it serves - before they'll invest time or shelf space in it.
That means every retailer meeting, distributor conversation and influencer introduction is really testing the same thing: can someone immediately understand what your product is, who it's for and why it matters? If not, the conversation becomes about explanation rather than opportunity.
Many brands mistake innovation for differentiation.
At EroSpain, we saw plenty of genuinely innovative products. But innovation alone doesn't create demand. People still need to understand what the product is, who it's for and why it deserves attention. The more novel the product, the more important positioning becomes.
Positioning is a product decision, not a marketing one
Strong positioning starts with three questions that sound simple but rarely are:
What does this product actually do - not in aspirational terms, but in real ones? What changes for the person using it?
Who is actively looking for this, today? Not the broadest possible audience, but the specific person whose life this product genuinely fits.
Why should they choose this over what they're already buying? What makes it worth switching, or worth trying for the first time?
When those questions have clear answers, everything downstream becomes easier - retailer conversations, marketing briefs, launch campaigns, PR angles. When they don't, brands can find themselves spending budget on communications that are working against an unclear foundation.
Trust is the category's most valuable currency
In sexual wellness, trust remains one of the most powerful drivers of purchase. Consumers have more choice than ever before, which means brands need to be clear about why someone should choose their product over the alternatives available.
That trust can come from many places. It may be rooted in innovation, premium materials, thoughtful design, clinical expertise or a compelling brand story. Whatever the source, it should be obvious from the outset.
If customers have to work hard to understand why they should trust your product, you've already introduced friction into the buying journey.
The thinking behind the product
The brands the team came away from EroSpain most impressed by weren't necessarily the ones with the most innovative products. They were the ones where the thinking behind the product was as developed as the product itself.
They knew what they were selling. They knew who they were selling it to. And they could tell you, without hesitation, why someone should choose it.
That clarity doesn't happen by accident. It's the result of positioning work done early - before the packaging is finalised, before the retail pitch is written, before the marketing brief lands on anyone's desk.
It's also, in our experience, the single biggest determinant of whether a launch gains traction or spends its first months trying to find it.
A simple test
Before any launch, it's worth asking one question: can someone who knows nothing about your brand understand what your product is, who it's for, and why it matters - in under a minute?
If the answer is yes, you're ready to build.
If it isn't, that's where the work needs to start. Because the brands that gain traction fastest aren't always the most innovative - they're the easiest to understand.