Companion presentation to our academic paper on the advertising strategy employed by Axe (Unilever). Course on advertising at the University of Leuven; twitterfeed: @KulAdv. For more information, nudge me on twitter: @rozeridder Paper by Hasse Boons, Sanne Meussen, Virginie De Mey, Jonathan Huyghe and Sophie Vanden Eynden (group 12).

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

2. 1. Introduction

3. ° France, 1983
Owned by:
Known as “Lynx” in
the UK, Australia
and Ireland

4. #1
worldwide brand
men’s grooming products

5. sold in over
60 countries

6. products include deodorant,
shower gel and aftershave

7. 2. Advertising
strategy

8. the
Effect

9. the Effect
1. Buy AXE
2. Spray
3. ????
4. Sex!

10. typical narrative:

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

12. ...uses AXE...
(which clearly establishes
the brand within the narrative)

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

14. AXE campaigns are
interactive, original, and digital

15. They effectively use humor and
sexuality to attract attention, and
axe has received numerous awards
for their campaigns

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

17. 3. Threats

18. #1 Believability
(some things have even less of it than a
presentation using Comic Sans)

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

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

21. 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.

22. 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.

23. not very impressive, is it?

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

25. #2. Hypocrisy

26. Remember these girls?
(I bet you do)

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

28. guess who owns both
AXE and Dove?

29. the blogosphere already
called them out...

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

31. there is however
a bigger problem:

32. 4. Target audience

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

34. however...

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

36. This is the market share of AXE (Lynx)
deodorant in the UK (2007)
Axe Other brands
11-17
18-24
25-34
35-44
45-54
55-74
0 25 50 75 100
Unilever

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

38. There is a lot more room to grow
in the older demographics
Axe Other brands
11-17
18-24
25-34
35-44
45-54 Potential for growth
55-74
0 25 50 75 100

39. 5. Possible
solutions

40. 1. Appeal to the
30+ market too

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

42. Regular axe can be
seen as a desperate
attempt to attract
girls... whereas the
limited edition is
the ultimate tool
in the seducer’s
arsenal

43. 2. Break the mold

44. Try to mix up this formula:

45. Why not use girls with
an attitude instead of a
fetish for Axe for once?

46. 3. Add rational
appeal

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

48. Making a rational appeal can
attract older demographics
and increase believability

49. but by all means, keep it light and
humorous!

50. 6. Conclusion

51. 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