2013 Winners & Shortlists

AXE FOOTY

Short List
BrandUNILEVER
Product/ServiceAXE
EntrantDIGITAL REPUBLIC Cairo, EGYPT
CategoryUSE OF SOCIAL MEDIA
Entrant Company DIGITAL REPUBLIC Cairo, EGYPT
Advertising Agency DIGITAL REPUBLIC Cairo, EGYPT
Media Agency DIGITAL REPUBLIC Cairo, EGYPT

Results and Effectiveness

With a digital media budget of less than $1000 during the 3 weeks of the Euros, over 40,000 unique users shared stories on Facebook Axe Footy. We recieved thousands of mentions on Twitter and Youtube, and free coverage on more than 47 blogs around the world. The campaign generated more than 20 million impressions on social media, with a significant amount purely viral. But the best news came after the campaign, when Unilever’s market share in the deos category in Egypt reached a whopping 50%.

Creative Execution

We created our own Axe Footy tournament on Facebook to coincide with the Euros; but instead of asking fans to guess the score, we asked them to vote for which country had hotter women. We got 16 beautiful ladies to represent the teams, and every morning during the Euros we would post statuses on Facebook showing the day’s matches. Voting was open on Facebook and Twitter until midnight, and after every match, we would post the actual scores, but remind people that in Axe Footy they decided the fate of the matches. Based on people’s votes, Axe Footy had its own knockout stages. And although Spain also reached the Axe Footy final, it was the Swedish women who were voted champions of Axe Footy. To support the campaign and further engage our fans, we decided to create videos on YouTube of women asking silly football-related questions. We asked our fans to reply to the videos and awarded the wittiest comments with Axe goodies.

Insights, Strategy and the Idea

With the start of Euro 2012, brands tend to jump on the bandwagon in similar fashion. Axe wanted to create a buzz on social media about the games, making up for the fact that they weren’t part of any sponsorship deals like the other bigger brands. Because our media budget was almost non-existent, we knew we to spend smart, and that the idea had to be viral. So we combined the two things men love the most; women and football, in a never-before-seen-way in Egypt. Our fans wanted to know about all the matches taking place, so the plan was to give them that but with an Axe twist. We also thought it would be great if fans could control the outcome of the matches. Another insight we noticed was that many women get caught up in the games just as much as men. However, during the matches, they do something else: ask men silly football questions.

Credits

Name Company Role
Karim A. Yusuf Digital Republic Creative Director
Mohamed Ghazy Digital Republic Copywriter
Karim A. Yusuf Digital Republic Art Director
Ismail Ternawly Digital Republic Head Of Accounts
Hassan Daoud Digital Republic Senior Digital Media Consultant
Ahmed El-Sadek Digital Republic Senior Social Media Consultant
Ahdab Badr Digital Republic Digital Media Manager
Mostafa El Faramawy Digital Republic Director/Executive Producer
Heba Elkest Digital Republic Motion Designer
Perry Moataz Digital Republic Camera