Jackie Hooper
MKGT 3162
Spring 2011
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Company Description
Axe (or Lynx in some countries) is a brand of male grooming products that are owned by
a company called Unilever (The Axe Effect). Axe deodorant was first launched in 1983 and after
28 years on the market, Axe is Unilever‟s bestselling brand (AXE Deodorants). Since the initial
launch, Axe has expanded its product line to include different fragrances of deodorant sticks,
shampoos, conditioners, hair creams, shower gels, and deodorant body sprays (The Axe Effect).
Target Market
In today‟s society, being attractive and able to attract the opposite sex is becoming more
essential to consumers at increasingly younger ages. Young males are coming to an age where it
is just as important to them to have clear skin as it is to have good hygiene. These males, roughly
14-25 years old, are who Axe aims their products towards. These young men are image
conscious, trendy, avid television viewers, impulse buyers, and give careful consideration
towards advertisements (Stonewall). They want to be seen in the right places doing the right
things, especially by the opposite sex. The males that make up the target market are interested in
womanizing, partying, and having sex and lifestyle that is associated with it. If the target market
doesn‟t already possess this lifestyle, they wish to achieve it by using Axe products.
Psychographics
Axe does not primarily advertise its products to men for the purpose of hygiene. Axe is
advertising a lifestyle of sex, women, and partying towards consumers. However Axe is a
product for hygiene, not a product directly associated with sex (Stonewall). According to
Stonewall, by Axe “establishing a correlation between sex and hygiene, Axe has positioned
itself as the facilitator of the need for sex, making the product a necessity rather than a want for
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consumers; the first thing that comes to mind when you think of Axe is not hygiene, but sex.”
When a consumer purchases Axe off the shelf, they want the experience that has been associated
with the products. Consumers want to experience The Axe Effect. Whether consumers wish to
maintain that specific lifestyle or wish to obtain it, choosing Axe will help them achieve their
desires.
Competitive Market
The competition for Axe includes many other lines of deodorants and body sprays. For
example, Old Spice, a similar male grooming brand owned by Proctor & Gamble, has increased
their product line to include a body spray with an array of fragrances. With advertising its
products with tag lines such as “I‟ve lost my man smell” and “My soap isn‟t manly enough”, Old
Spice has created a brand image of pure masculinity (Old Spice). However, Old Spice does not
target the same male audience as Axe does. Old Spice targets males that are a bit older than
Axe‟s target age group (ages 17-34) and more often males that are in a relationship rather than
single (Stonewall).
BOD man body spray is a more direct competitor to Axe. With a tagline of “She‟ll be
saying „I want your BOD!‟” it appeals to the same target market of males that are single, young,
and wanting to appeal and attract the opposite sex (Parfums de Coeur). BOD man body spray
uses similar advertising of showing women flocking to a man that wears their body spray, as
shown in the advertisement below. Proctor & Gamble created a product to be more in line within
the same market as Axe body spray called Tag. Tag appeals to the same target market of males
that are single, young, and wanting to appeal and attract the opposite sex.
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Product and Brand Personality
Consumers often give brands specific personality-type characteristics to differentiate
them, which is a concept known as brand personality (Schiffman and Kanuk). Although Axe has
a variety of product lines, such as shampoo and deodorant sticks, the company is most
recognized for its deodorant body sprays (AXE Deodorants).
Axe deodorant body spray‟s exterior consists of a smooth and sleek black aerosol can.
Along the front of the can is a colorful simple design for each fragrance that allows consumers to
instantly connect with the products‟ brand. The brand name of Axe is printed alongside the
design in blocky, industrial and clean capitalization lettering. By choosing to use this type of
letting, Axe is showing consumers that the product is masculine and it denotes power
(Stonewall). The letting of the brand is printed in white to create a stark contrast against the
black background. The name of each specific fragrance is visible in all capitalization in a much
smaller font than the brand name Axe.
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Each fragrance of body spray has its own custom design on the can to differentiate it
from the others. Axe body spray comes in a variety of 11 different fragrances for consumers to
choose from such as Excite, Twist, Phoenix, Dark temptation, Instinct, and many more. On the
exterior of an “Excite” can, the white brand name is accompanied with a custom design in purple
and white. However on the exterior of a “Twist” can, the brand is shown along with a different
design in yellow and green. By using different designs for each fragrance, Axe creates a way for
consumers to differentiate and connect to the fragrances before they ever smell them. A
consumer may choose to only test the fragrances that are his favorite colors or possibly the colors
of his favorite sports team.
The container is constructed differently than most other colognes or body sprays.
Traditionally, colognes come in glass bottles with a small circular top that the consumer must
press for a single squirt of cologne. Most body sprays consist of a squeeze top bottle that only
emits a single spray at a time. Axe body spray, however, is packaged into an aerosol can. This
allows the consumer to produce a continuous stream of cologne instead of one squirt or spray at
a time. Using an aerosol can is an added convenience for consumers who choose to wear a lot of
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cologne by allowing them to simply hold their finger on the aerosol trigger and spray until they
are satisfied.
Each fragrance is formulated differently to compose an individual scent. The “Rise”
spray is citrus fragrances that help consumers emerge from a groggy state or a deep sleep. Dark
Temptation‟s scent is the smell of chocolate that encourages consumers that wearing it makes
them as irresistible as chocolate. Axe‟s Instinct scent is infused with rare leathers to arouse
consumers‟ animal instincts. Most of the other fragrances of body sprays are woods and fruit
scented combinations (The Axe Effect).
Promotion and Brand Personality
Axe uses media sources of television, print, and internet for their advertising campaigns.
Their spending for these sources averages to roughly $80,000 per advertisement on cable
television and $170,000 per one page color advertisement in magazines (Stonewall). Although
the spending includes products other than body spray, it is easy to assume that Axe spends an
abundance of money each year to advertise their deodorant body sprays.
All of Axe‟s advertising campaigns revolve around the same central theme of girls
making the first move towards seducing the male wearing Axe. This theme is most commonly
known as “The Axe Effect”. This slogan conveys the message that by wearing this product, men
will feel more confident, more powerful, and have women instantaneously attracted to them, as
seen in the figures below.
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Axe uses advertisements to connect with every member of their target market by a single
common factor: sex. The advertisement above creates a connection in the male mind between
wearing Axe body spray and sex. By creating that connection, Axe has subliminally embedded
the association of their products and sex into their target market.
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In their advertisements, Axe does not advertise the products. Instead, they are advertising
“The Axe Effect”. Axe is marketing their products not for hygiene purposes, but rather essentials
for every male in order to be desirable, successful, and to be lusted after (Stonewall).
Axe‟s advertisements are occasionally considered too raunchy for the public. There
aggressive advertising campaigns have occasionally been humorous, such as the “Bom-ChicaWah-Wah” campaign; however some of their campaigns have been considered to cross the line
from pushing boundaries into going too far. For example, Axe‟s recent “Even Angels Will Fall”
campaign involves angels falling from the sky and choosing to throw away their halos, which is
meant to be interpreted as their innocence, for the man wearing Axe. An example of the
advertisement is shown below.
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Place and Brand Personality
Axe is available to consumers through a variety of convenience stores and supermarkets.
The variety of each product depends on the location of the store and the consumer demand (The
Axe Effect). The placement of Axe is all about convenience and accessibility to its customers.
Most of Axe consumers will not be the ones making the actual purchase of the product. Instead it
will most likely be a parent picking it up for their son, therefore convenience is essential.
Convenience stores and supermarkets that Axe can be purchased at include Wal-Mart, Target,
CVS, Kroger, and many more. Axe also has made a product locator available on their website
that allows consumers to choose what product they are searching for, enter their zip code, and
receive a list of local stores that carry their products.
Axe deodorant body sprays will not be found on the shelves of specialty fragrance stores
or in department stores. If Axe was sold in these places the price of the spray and the target
market would shift dramatically.
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Price and Brand Personality
Axe deodorant body spray is generally the same price regardless of where it‟s purchased.
Axe follows a penetration price strategy, which involves setting a relatively low price to
discourage competition from entering the market (Schiffman and Kanuk). Typically a 4 oz
container will sell for around $4 and competition such as Old Spice Swagger and BOD Man
Fresh Blue Musk both sell similarly at 4 oz for $4 (Walmart.com). The low price is affordable to
anyone, therefore making income an insignificant factor within this target market. Consumers
will make a purchase decision based on their brand preference and brand loyalty.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Axe has positioned itself within the industry as formidable competitor
among young men. They have successfully established a brand personality portraying the
irresistible man that every teen desires to be. Their careful utilization of the marketing mix has
not only made Axe products readily available, but has created a market that craves them. With a
brand personality like that, Axe may just be the naughtiest brand on local stores shelves.
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Works Cited
The Axe Effect - Men's Hair, Deodorant, Body Spray and Shower Gel Products. Web. 14 Apr.
2011. <http://www.theaxeeffect.com/>.
Kad, Aayush, Anisha Malhorta, and Chitra Yadav. "AXE Deodorants - Communication
Campaign." Web. 14 Apr. 2011. <http://www.docstoc.com/docs/68168927/AXEdeodorants---communication-campaign>.
Old Spice | Deodorant, Antiperspirant & Other Man Fresheners. Web. 13 Apr. 2011.
<http://www.oldspice.com/>.
Parfums De Coeur. Web. 12 Apr. 2011.
<http://www.parfumsdecoeur.com/Catalog.aspx?SC=174>.
Schiffman, Leon G., and Leslie Lazar. Kanuk. Consumer Behavior. Upper Saddle River, NJ:
Pearson Prentice Hall, 2007. Print.
Stonewall, Jenny. Writing - Axe. Web. 13 Apr. 2011. <http://jstonewall.com/writing.html>.
Walmart.com. Web. 16 Apr. 2011. <http://www.walmart.com/>.