Men will not say any of this out loud. They type it.
A large Indian CPG player was deciding whether to enter men’s sexual wellness. Asking men directly does not work here: these are questions nobody answers honestly to a stranger with a clipboard. So we read the category through what men searched for when they believed nobody was watching.
searches a month across this category in India — a real, sizeable market
more search demand than five years ago, and still climbing
separate sets of words for the same worry, split roughly north and south
The Hindi-speaking north
- Describes it as weakness and lost strength — a whole-body problem
- Trusts oils and herbal preparations; thickness reads as strength
- Believes the traditional healer
- Learns from long Hindi videos
The south
- Describes it as a named medical condition
- Trusts tablets and clinical formats
- Believes the doctor
- Learns from English-speaking clinicians
The same worry. Two sets of words that do not translate into each other.
Three findings that changed the entry plan
The problem is the doorstep, not the shelf
Ten-minute delivery solved speed and created a new fear — the handover at the door, in front of family or neighbours. Men describe wanting packaging that is not just discreet but impossible to identify: no branding, no tell-tale shape, and nothing on the card statement that names the category.
One country, two categories
The north talks about a general loss of strength and reaches for oils and traditional remedies. The south talks about a specific medical condition and reaches for tablets and a doctor’s backing. A single national campaign would fail in one half of the country.
The fear is getting hooked, not being let down
The question men ask most is not whether a product works. It is whether starting it means never managing without it. That one fear explains why anything described as natural is trusted, and why medical options are treated as a last resort rather than a first one.
Demand was never the problem — it was already large and growing. The problem was the last three metres: the moment the package changes hands at the door. That turned the question from what to launch into how to get it to people.
Men’s sexual wellness · India · what people search for, buy and write about online. Search figures are counts of real monthly searches and how they have moved over five years. Consumer language is described, not quoted. Client name withheld.
URCHIN INTELLIGENCE · THE SCIENCE OF REVEALED REALITY
Start with a brief.
A finished question, a half-formed idea, or just a category you want to understand.