Revenge of the Axe Effect

Revenge of the EffectPaper by Hasse, Jonathan, Sanne, Sophie and Virgine for @kuladv. Questions? Tweet @rozeridder

1. Introduction

° France, 1983 Owned by:Known as “Lynx” inthe UK, Australiaand Ireland

#1 worldwide brandmen’s grooming products

sold in over60 countries

products include deodorant, shower gel and aftershave

2. Advertising strategy

theEffect

the Effect1. Buy AXE2. Spray3. ????4. Sex!

typical narrative:

a male protagonist...(not very hot, so young men can identify with him)

...uses AXE... (which clearly establishesthe brand within the narrative)

...and gets the girl(we’ll get back to these girls later)

AXE campaigns areinteractive, original, and digital

They effectively use humor andsexuality to attract attention, andaxe has received numerous awards for their campaigns

does this mean all is well with the AXE brand? we think not...

3. Threats

#1 Believability (some things have even less of it than a presentation using Comic Sans)

Everyone knows you shouldn’t take the AXE eﬀect literally, right?

using deodorant does make youmore attractive to the other sex, even if they can’t smell you:

These are the average ratings for men given by a panel of women, after seeing a video introduction they made 7 5,25 Attractiveness 3,5 1,75 0 Placebo Deodorant S. Craig Roberts et al.

These are the average ratings for men given by a panel of women, after seeing a video introduction they made 7 5,25 the “AXE eﬀect” Attractiveness 3,5 1,75 0 Placebo Deodorant S. Craig Roberts et al.

not very impressive, is it?

But these guys don’t think so... (well, we’re guessing really, we found them on the internet)

#2. Hypocrisy

Remember these girls? (I bet you do)

They’re not exactly Dove’s idea of ‘Real Beauty’:

guess who owns both AXE and Dove?

the blogosphere already called them out...

if Unilever increases the focus on their overall brand, more people may notice it too

there is howevera bigger problem:

4. Target audience

AXE wants its core group of users to be young adults (these guys)

however...

Axe is most popular among high school boys (these guys)

This is the market share of AXE (Lynx) deodorant in the UK (2007) Axe Other brands11-1718-2425-3435-4445-5455-74 0 25 50 75 100 Unilever

We believe Unilever needs to expand the target demographic for AXE products

There is a lot more room to grow in the older demographics Axe Other brands11-1718-2425-3435-4445-54 Potential for growth55-74 0 25 50 75 100

5. Possible solutions

1. Appeal to the30+ market too

We suggest a limited edition of AXE products that appeals to the 30-45 demographic

Regular axe can beseen as a desperateattempt to attractgirls... whereas the limited edition is the ultimate tool in the seducer’s arsenal

2. Break the mold

Try to mix up this formula:

Why not use girls withan attitude instead of afetish for Axe for once?

3. Add rational appeal

Axe stays vague about its actual function (which could use improvements as well)

Making a rational appeal canattract older demographicsand increase believability

but by all means, keep it light and humorous!

6. Conclusion

Axe needs to grow up: the Axe eﬀect has won over teens,but to attract older segments a change of strategy is needed. Axe needs to avoid being cast oﬀ as a brand for kids and high school boys

Revenge of the Axe Effect

by Jonathan Huyghe

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