2012 Winners & Shortlists

Results and Effectiveness

We used the power of Facebook to bypass advertising restrictions in Tunisia. The application spread worldwide via newsfeed, profile pages, comments and likes. We got our target audience to promote personally the Axe Effect by simply twisting a Facebook function. Over 5000 blog posts, 4500 news and 4000 forum mentions. Within only 6 weeks, the application had generated over 1 million web hits, becoming one of the most used digital activation tools for Unilever in recent years.

Creative Execution

We combined a typically Tunisian male characteristic – bragging about how many girls one can line up - and the famous Facebook Relationship Status. And we twisted it around to the brand's advantage by creating the Axe Effect application. A simple app which pimped the individual relationship status significantly by adding virtually tenth or hundreds of attractive women. When one uses the application, a special Relationship Status appears on his wall, announcing he's engaged to a huge number of girls instead of only one. By clicking on the status, curious friends are redirected to the Axe page where they can use the same application.

Insights, Strategy and the Idea

Our mission was to drive awareness for Axe by engaging with young Tunisian men and bring the Axe Effect to life. Considering the advertising restrictions –related to a Muslim country - and the massive uplift of Facebook accounts in Tunisia over the last 6 months, we proposed to activate the Axe Effect digitally and run the campaign on Facebook. We therefore needed to create something playful that could spread and live its own life. To do so, we brought the Tunisian 'Macho ego' to life and used curiosity to drive the viral effect.