MEMO To: Bob Basil From: Daniel Margarit Date: September 28th, 2012 RE: AXE Online Audit Thank you for the opportunity to respond to your request for an online audit of AXE. Upon searching for AXE product information through specific online marketing tools, I have determined this product is popular amongst online influencers who generally provide positive feedback. The main target audience being young males are receptive to the advertisements and enjoy the themes. There are also critics who are branding AXE advertisements as offensive and sexually suggestive. The AXE Background AXE products were introduced in France by Unilever, in 1983. Following early success in France, Unilever launched the brand in Europe in 1985. Following the AXE’s success in Europe, Unilever broke into the North American and Latin American markets. Due to some trademark issues though, the product is called Lynx in the UK, Ireland, and Australasia. The lead product for AXE has long been the aerosol deodorant body spray. Although this was its trademark product, the brand is succeeding with many other products available. In earlier days, AXE successfully launched annual fragrance lines. From 1983 until about 1989, AXE introduced such fragrances as Musk, Spice, Amber, Marine, and Oriental. From 1990 to 1996, AXE used geographical names for their fragrances such as Africa, Inca, Nevada, Java, and Alaska. From 1996 until 2002 Unilever worked closely with its Calvin Klein fragrances to further develop AXE. In 2009 AXE branched out with other products such as men’s shampoo, shower gels, aftershaves, and hairstyling. AXE has just recently launched products for women. Research the Brand Online A major growth initiative and strategy for Unilever has long been e-commerce. Unilever has stepped up its use of the internet throughout the past to improve brand communication and online selling. Unilever has formed many partnerships to enable a faster adoption of global e-commerce opportunities. In February of 2000, Unilever formed a new internet company and committed £130 million to e-business initiatives. AXE will surely have sufficient funding for its online marketing channels. For this online audit, the medias utilized are, Axe official website, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Google, Review Sites/Blogs and Wikipedia. Axe Official Website The AXE website is very interactive for users searching product information. The website appearance is clearly geared towards the use of sharp aggressive marketing which targets younger men. The website has links to their Facebook page, Twitter page, YouTube and LinkedIn. The main advertising campaigns are displayed on the homepage but not in much detail. The links to Twitter and Facebook is where the viewer will find further details about the campaigns. The website doesn’t provide company background or information about history. The website offers consumers the option to purchase products online. Facebook The official Facebook page is a big platform for AXE. Their Facebook page is liked by 3,648,874 people as of September 24th, 2012. There have been 224,030 people who talked about AXE products over Facebook. The content on this page, however, mostly consists of links to other contest pages without much information. The posts are mainly humorous jokes with funny pictures and some promotional details. Facebook is the largest social media platform with major potential and AXE’s official page may not be utilizing it for the best reasons, it’s mostly there to create a buzz and keep interested consumers involved. Twitter The corporate Twitter account is mostly about brand promotion. This Twitter account has 82,457 followers and generally tweets once to four times a day. Most the tweets are from AXE talking about new promos, contests, and product updates. There aren’t any real influencers on this Twitter account as majority of all tweets are from AXE themselves. This account seems to be largely dedicated to their new campaign, “Find your Susan Glenn” (Axe. 2012), which promotes using AXE products to boost your confidence so you can finally talk to your dream girl. YouTube The official AXE YouTube site is largely dedicated to promotional videos such as their TV commercials and product showcasing. Most videos are oriented around the high sex appeal a man gets when using AXE products. The “AXE Effect” (AXE 2012) promotes the product by using men who have success with beautiful women by “Staying Clean”. This page has 17,114 followers and their videos/commercials have well over 27 million views in total. The videos have many comments all ranging from positive feedback to pure criticism- but for no particular reasons. Review Sites There are many search engines that can be used to find specific Blogs, Social Media posts, and sites dedicated to reviewing consumer products. When searching the web for AXE related web pages, multiple results are available and there are some mixed opinions about the marketing style for AXE products. For instance, on Social Mention (2012) the consumer sentiment towards AXE was neutral for the most part, although, it was also apparent that some consumers and reviewers were expressing negative opinions. One of the first results from searching “Axe Unilever” was a video linked to YouTube which was created by an Executive Career Coach who is essentially “calling out” the CEO of Unilever accusing AXE commercials of objectifying women. This video has only received 233 views. The consumer audience mostly finds the advertisements used for AXE products amusing. Another search result from Social Mention is from the New York Women in Communications who tweeted, “Showerpooling is the latest craze.... follow Unilever’s extraordinary marketing! ow.ly/dO7dd” About.com which is an information super site returns with a top search result of an article called, “A review of the Axe hair line of styling products” by Dave Alexander. The article provides full details about the product lines and customer ratings for each. The AXE hair products scored well and received good overall reviews. Online Influencers A search for online influencers should determine who is creating the influence on how consumers are thinking. I am trying to determine whether the online mood is generally neutral, negative, or positive. This research is best conducted with such media outlets as Google, Bing, Facebook and Blog search engines. The determining factors will be weighed based on the importance of the influencer, the amount of followers, and if they are credible. Facebook Social media has been a major player in influencing the consumer’s way of thinking. For example, as per an article from the Huffington Post, South Africa banned the AXE commercial, “Angels will Fall”, due to complaints from Christians that the advertisement was offensive. The complaint was regarding the portrayal of angels renouncing their heavenly status for mortal desires. Axe later launched a campaign on their South African Facebook page to help get the advertisement back on air. The page has 158,351 likes and 21,543 people talking about it. The mood is generally supportive and in favor of AXE’s marketing strategies. Review Websites & Blogs There are many review websites available which include comment threads that are great for opinions and hot topics. A product review site such as ProductWiki shows the majority of internet users who commented on this page are fairly neutral towards AXE. There were also some users who loved the advertisements and some who hated them, just for the sake of hating it would seem. This trend was mostly consistent across other review sites. There were some exceptions where consumers argued the advertisements are offensive. There is a fair amount of talk regarding AXE commercials coming from the Blog world. The positive Blogs were often made for marketing reviews speaking of the success AXE has earned with its creative and aggressive campaigns. Many of AXE’s competitors have recently launched similar strategies to keep up. There are Blogs which attack the AXE strategy as well. It would appear that the TV commercials have offended some religious followers with the sexual depiction of angels. Others offended include equal rights advocates who accuse the advertisements of portraying women as objects. These influencers have created a small stir in the grand scheme of things, and aren’t necessarily darkening the mood of online participants. Recommendations After thorough examination of AXE’s presence online, it’s fair to determine that AXE has a large following and the mood is generally neutral. Most consumers that are talking about AXE perceive the brand as smart, unique, and amusing. In fact, AXE has won multiple marketing awards in recent years for their bold and aggressive campaigns. There are however consumers that are trying to criticize AXE advertisements for being to sexually suggestive and offensive to their beliefs. Two types of consumers in particular are strict religious followers and women’s equality advocates. I personally recommend that AXE do not let themselves be pushed around and recommend they continue to promote their products in the same fashion. The majority rules and its proven that AXE advertisements are a success with their target market which is youth males, and young adult males. The general opinion from their target market matters most because they are the consumers purchasing the products. AXE also receives positive feedback through marketing awards, their sales figures, and public interest. The small group that criticizes AXE’s advertisements are fairly in consequential to their success. The online presence of AXE brand is largely credited to their YouTube success. Axe also has multiple Facebook pages for individual countries which all seem to generate a modest following. This strategy shows AXE has a deeper interest in its customers worldwide. YouTube has really helped AXE’s advertisements blow up. Their popular commercials are available for internet users and have been viewed over 27 million times, (YouTube). My recommendation for AXE’s online strategy is to stay strong with their Twitter account, but perhaps work to strengthen their official website and official Facebook page. The AXE website lacks the sensation of being their online home base. There is sufficient product information but their contests and campaigns aren’t divulged in detail. The official Facebook page should have more content for marketing purposes opposed to social humour and pictures. Bibliography Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, AXE (brand) sourced September 24th 2012 fromhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Axe_(brand) AXE registered website (2012), sourced September 24th 2012 from- www.theaxeeffect.com Lynx registered website (2012), sourced September 24th 2012 from- www.lynxeffect.com AXE Newsroom (2012), sourced September 24th 2012 from – www.axenewsroom.com Corporate Watch, London UK, sourced September 24th 2012 fromhttp://www.corporatewatch.org/?lid=257 The Huffington Post Inc (2012), article by Jessica Misener 10/28/2011, sourced September 27th 2012 from- http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/28/axe-deodorant-ad-banned-angels_n_1064150.html Social Mention (2012), search Unilever Axe brand, sourced September 24th 2012 fromhttp://www.socialmention.com/search?t=all&q=unilever+axe+brand&btnG=Search Twitter (2012), New York Women in Communications, sourced September 24th 2012 fromhttp://twitter.com/NYWICI/statuses/249180452991164417 Twitter (2012), Axe official Twitter account, sourced September 24th 2012 from- https://twitter.com/AXE About.com (2012), searched Axe Products, sourced September 24th 2012 fromhttp://menshair.about.com/od/menshaircare/gr/A-Review-Of-The-Axe-Hair-Line-Of-StylingProducts.htm Facebook (2012), Axe South Africa Facebook page, sourced September 27th 2012 fromhttp://www.facebook.com/AxeSouthAfrica?sk=app_174687555953081 Facebook (2012), Axe Facebook page, sourced September 24th 2012 fromhttp://www.facebook.com/#!/axe