2015 Winners & Shortlists

The Campaign

Television in Egypt has become overrun by talk shows, the movies are bland and tasteless and music is increasingly becoming the best medium for people to express themselves. Youtube music video binges are a norm. For a brand like Axe, their content is usually not that suitable or accepted on television. Religious and social norms constantly cause us to work extra hard to ensure no one is offended by our ads. This is especially hard due to Axe being a brand that mainly talks about the mating game and how we help people hook up. Utilising the mainstream channels would lead to backlash and be completely misrepresented. That's why when creating a campaign we knew that we had to focus on the online and digital markets populated by our target.

Results

Axe was launching an all-new can with an upgraded formula. While this was a very important issue for the brand, for our target the can looked smaller. So, we had to shift the focus to the fact that it was an upgrade with a longer lasting scent. The other main issue was that a sudden change like this could often times be rejected by the target and lead to a decrease in brand recognisability and awareness. It was our goal to make people not only accept the change but be excited by it. The last time Axe changed its look was 7 years ago. To some, that's not a long time, but for our target, it's the greatest change of their lives. Many have left their adolescence behind and grown into young men. The way they eat, dress, talk and communicate has evolved, and naturally, so have the rules of attraction. A lot has changed over the last 7 years... including how we hook up. Thanks Tinder! We kicked off with a catchy online video showing how hooking up had changed in the last 7 years. The video was backed by a catchy tune created in collaboration with 2 of the best underground musicians in Egypt as well as the famous DJ NEOBYRD. Striking a balance between a typical ad and full-length song was key here and after countless trials we managed to create a piece of branded content that proved extremely memorable, sharable and only a minute and half. The song was an instant viral hit and demand for it led us to release the stems on Soundcloud. As a result, countless memes and remixes were created by fans cementing the song and Axe forever in Egyptian popular culture.

Our audience was instantly attracted to our content because the music sounded like what is currently on trend. It made it seem less like an ad and more like a music video. It was catchy, it had pop and the visuals made it all the more appealing. The lyrics played on such memorable insights that people couldn't help but watch, share and comment on how much it related to their life.

The campaign got amazing traction within our target. Our Twitter followers grew 22%, we gained 3,260 Youtube subscribers (a 200% increase) and our music video got over 3.5 million views across Youtube and Facebook. We also had over 1,500 fan made videos on NewAxe.com, were sent dozens of remixes from fans, as well as seeing numerous parodies across the net. On the client side of things the trimester 4 sales grew at 17% (2.4 times YTD average 2014). Axe also gained 50 bps Market Share which is outstanding. The two numbers that Axe really wanted to hit on was to be known for the best fragrances and that they are cool and trendy. For those numbers: Axe’s “Are known for having the best fragrances” attribute reached 60% (+6%) and Axe’s “Are cool/trendy” attribute reached 60% (+3%). The client is thrilled and Axe is now very well positioned to have a great relaunch of their cans.