THE STINK OVER DIRTY BALLS: AXE & ANARCHY
Feb 16th, 2013 by haileyrae
Unilever’s wildly successful, research driven and slightly scandalous marketing campaign has thoroughly captured the novice male consumer and promoted a sexy brand that has not only secured a halo effect for future brand buying with the males of this generation, but is now winning over their girlfriends.
Axe quickly became the No. 1 male brand in the total antiperspirant/deodorant category, earning Unilever $71 million in sales…($50 million more than its closest rival, Tag) and $186 million (excluding Walmart sales) in 2007, an increase of 14 percent from a year earlier — which was leagues ahead of its nearest rival.1
But has Axe done too good a job at ‘tapping’ the market?
Research confirmed that young males are basically horny-nothing new here-but the Unilever market researchers also ”…isolated six psychological profiles of the male animal — and the potential Axe user…”.1 Equipped with this intelligence, Axe set about exploiting the ultimate guy fantasy of being irresistible to not just one adoring female, but a flock of sexy, mesmerized women. An unassuming waft of tantalizing Axe body spray can secure scrawny neophyte males mobs of oober attractive bikini clad Amazonian women, as long as the winds were favorable.
Axe’s early ads were so funny, so evocative and so successful at transforming the nerdy college dweeb that the brand took a sales hit because Axe essentially became the brand for ‘losers’. The nimble team at Unilever managed to broaden its pitch however, enabling them to win over the larger college male populace.
However, having so thoroughly grabbed the attention of its consuming male audience, it has also grabbed the attention of a few girlfriends screaming sexism.
From washing dirty balls to headless busty caricatures, Axe has pushed a few limits. Objectifying women has become a negative for Axe but the dexterous marketing team are again adapting. With a 74% share of the male deodorant and body product market, Axe is now going after the girlfriends.
AXE’S NEW ‘ANARCHY’ COMMERCIAL
Axe recently launched ‘Anarchy’ for men and women. The hilarious pitch has men and women wreaking mayhem as they roam the streets, randomly setting trees ablaze with their pheromone heat and triggering multi-car pile ups. It seems anything men can do, women can do better and this approach seems to be calming some of the sexist uprising.
Sex does continue to sell, and so does humor, and it would seem that the stink over Axe is the sweet perfume of marketing success.
Commenting On Another Blog
Maha Atal. “Axe’s Super Bowl Ad Fail: When Sexism Doesn’t Sell”. Forbes. February 4, 2012.
1Martin Lindstrom. “Can a Commercial Be Too Sexy For Its Own Good? Ask Axe”. The Atlantic. October 24, 2011.
Hey Hailey,
Extremely interesting post. Axe certainly knows it’s consumer segment well, and sex definitely DOES sell. However, I was wondering if you’d heard about the Unilever controversy? It was the whole deal about the hypocrisy in that Unilever presents an image of sex for Axe, while the dove campaign promotes ‘natural beauty’.