Axe : The Axe Effect

Brand : Axe
Company : HUL
Agency: Lowe Lintas
An Icon for sure Axe is a success story
that is so difficult to emulate. One can
only marvel and enjoy.
Axe has got every thing perfect for its
success, It got its segments correct, the
targeting was exemplary and Positioning :
something to drool for. And more over
Luck was on its side.
Axe was born in France in the Year 1983.
24 years later, this brand is Unilever's
Best selling brand worldwide. It has an
iconic status in whichever market it has
entered. It is also one of the rare brands which can boast of replicating its entire marketing mix
across geographical boundaries. The campaigns that you see in India is what the entire world is
watching. For those who propound Glocalisation , AXE is an exception.
Axe deo was launched in India during 1999. The brand launch was very quiet and theoretically the
brand was having the strategy of Slow Skimming i.e High Price Low Promotion. Axe at that time
was the leading men's deo brand in Europe and was popular in India in the Grey market ( available
in duty paid shops) .HLL may have launched this brand inspired by the volume of Axe sold in the
Grey market. At that time, the deo market was a nascent one with an estimated market size of Rs 72
crore. HLL had the brands Denim and Rexona and was ruling the market. Axe was priced at a
premium above the Denim brand which was positioned as a male deo brand.
Axe initially was launched in the fragrance Java, Alaska and Atlantic. HLL did not bother to fine
tune its Promotional mix to Indian market but just imported the promotions .... meaning, the
company just ran the ads which was popular in the Europe
and other markets. At that time , the product was also
imported from Europe. And IT CLICKED.... rest as they
say is History...
Axe in 2002 was having a market share of over 35% and
soon HLL phased out Denim brand to concentrate on this
Star.
Axe is the naughtiest brand in the Indian market. The brand
is targeted at male aged 16-25 . Internationally this brand
targets male aged 15-25. I personally feel that it targets all
'Young at heart" naughty guys. The brand has its brand values of Cool, Fashionable and Stylish.
And world over, the brand sticks to its core values. The biggest strength of this brand is the
underlying message or the DNA which is that the brand users are High on Confidence and always
for the Axe users, Girls Makes The First Move. The biggest competitive advantage of this brand is
its complete monopoly over this brand proposition. All its campaigns revolve round this central
theme of Seduction where Girl makes the first move. It has lot of subliminal implications. The
brand assumes that Men wants( Likes) to be Seduced . That feeling ( of being seduced) gives a big
boost of self confidence to a man. Although many brands take this proposition, Axe just made it
perfect.

There are a lot of ads where girls are seen drooling over Hunks in Motorcycle or in Readymades, or
even in Innerwears, but in most of the Axe ads, there are no Hunks, only very ordinary or even
skinny kind of people getting assaulted by beautiful girls. That makes the brand more approachable.
Had Axe used a Hunk, the promotions couldn't have been so effective. The brand managers were so
wise that when they used a celebrity like Ben Affleck, they ensured that the brand is made
approachable.
Having said that, the males seen in Axe commercials are not Losers: the ads are careful to show
them as confident ( in one way or other) or a better term will be self assured. That is ultimate
execution.
The power of this Big Idea has ensured that Indian consumers lap up the foreign commercials
without any hitch. There is hardly any India centric ad for Axe especially in Television. And Indian
consumers are not complaining either.
Along with these , the brand also ensured that customers are constantly engaged with new
fragrances and campaigns. In 2005, Axe had a high profile launch of its new fragrance CLICK and
before that there was Axe Land campaign and followed by Axe-Academy then Axe Voodoo and the
latest one Phenomenon.
Axe is one of the rare brands that has embraced new media to the maximum extent. The brand has
started its Internet based marketing initiative in India with Axe Land which involved a virtual trip to
the Axe world. Globally also this brand has lot of online initiatives which are almost always
naughty. In UK the Axe is marketed as LYNX. Checkout the cool web initiatives of this brand :
Axe- feather
Axe Effect
Axe Phenomenon
and also a blog called Evan and Gareth
Not only the brand uses TVC's to its advantage, the print ads of Axe won several accolades in
various ad events. The creatives run amok with the kind of flexibility that they get from the
positioning. Besides Print, the brand also uses outdoors to its maximum impact. Axe is a classic
example of 360 degree branding effort. Now Axe has a common message in over 70 countries
where Unilever sells this brand. Iconic in a real sense.
One of the reports term the marketing strategy of Axe as " Adventurous Marketing". That is true
because its risky because the brand deals with Girls & Seduction. Not always every one may like
the theme or the campaigns. In India especially there are self styled Cultural Policemen/Women
who cries foul for anything and everything. It is really surprising that so far, Axe has escaped their
AXE. That also shows that the ad agency is also careful about the concepts put across the Indian
media.
While in a more liberal markets, Axe tests new levels of " Adventures", here the brand plays really
safe. It also ensures the campaigns run in Indian media is accepted because most often its the entire
family who watches the TV.
For the axe fans, check out a blog dedicated to Axe at Axeads