For the last fifteen years, AXE, known as Lynx in the UK has become famous the world over for giving guys the edge with girls. This promise of seduction has been underpinned by great fragrances and a compelling brand idea – The AXE Effect.
To grow the brand, AXE must launch a completely new fragrance, packing and communications campaign annually, replacing a cohort of guys that naturally graduate from the brand. To ensure consistency and to maximise commercial efficiencies, all communications ideas and assets are created centrally. The constant challenge is to bring The AXE Effect to life in a way that is fresh and relevant to the federation of 100 markets and the guys within them.
Changing the brand's fortune
In 2008, AXE launched its most successful new variant of all time, the chocolate-scented ‘Dark Temptation’. However, two subsequent variant launches, ‘Twist’ and ‘Instinct’ had drastically failed to perform. The brand had lost its way and was losing relevance with its global audience, the confidence of its federation of markets and risked a lost generation of guys not experiencing The AXE Effect that would leave a hole in the brands fortunes for year to come. The brand needed a ‘global hit’. Turning the brand’s fortunes around meant moving away from the product-focused strategy inspired by ‘Dark Temptation’ and finding a fresh expression of the brand truth at the heart of The AXE Effect – Seduction.
In 2011, AXE Angels descended into all 100 AXE markets. Our campaign took a globally recognised, iconic representation of male fantasy and made the biggest claim possible: ‘AXE Excite is so irresistible, even angels will fall’. The result was the biggest uptake and activation of any creative idea in AXE’s history along with increased sales, increased brand relevance and a significantly profitable return on investment.
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