Axe’s brand had passed its sell-by date
The lads’ mags had died and men had changed from sex-obsessed cavemen to cultivated gentlemen. It was time for Axe to change with them. The aim was to hold on to some of the wit they were famous for, but do it in a more refined manner. Basically, the smut had to go.
Out with the old, in with the new
They knew their new voice was a big shift and they needed a hand getting it to stick. We helped train Axe’s people and their agencies on how to use it, but the job went further than that.
With over 50 new products ready to go out into the world and more to come in the future, how could they make sure the names of those products stayed consistent? A new naming system was just the ticket, and meant their product claims and packaging always came out sounding distinctly Axe.
What happened next?
We could brag about results. But we’d rather let our client do the talking. The year of the rebrand, Unilever sounded perky in their annual report:
“Brand performance has improved in a number of geographies and brand equity was stronger.”
The industry press put numbers around that claim. In a feature about the AXE rebrand and “Find your magic” advertising, Campaign reported:
- a shift in brand perception, with overall positive sentiment for Axe surging by 26%;
- an increase in purchase consideration, with men in the US being 4% more likely to buy.
The Guardian quoted Joel Windels, vice president of marketing at Brandwatch, as saying, “The positivity we saw [for this campaign] is incredibly rare."
The moment was ripe to grow up, glow up and make magic. And like most magical transformations, the change really got going after we uttered the right words.
