Wednesday, March 29, 2006

'Come to Axeland'

There are a lot of hot and stinky people in the world, which is why deo sprays were invented.

India is a little behind on the deo curve - soap and talcum powder have long been the accepted weapons against B.O. (although in crowded Mumbai locals there is often little evidence even of those). But thanks to efforts by brands like Axe, Rexona and Fa, deo is now on the must-have list of a far larger number of people. And young people for sure.

Of these, Axe has created the most interesting advertising by far. Most ads in the toothpaste-shampoo-soap category have a similar theme: Use my product and attract/ impress the girl/ boy of your dreams. Axe goes a bit further by implying that using the product will actually help you get laid.

The reason it works is that the brand does not take itself too seriously. The execution of the ads is therefore crucial. Invariably Axe ads are amusing, yet somewhat sophisticated. And they are risque without being cheap. To pull that off consistently, over a period of time, is quite a feat!

The Axe 'hero' started out as a stud but over time has become more and more of a geek. However, since he's a firang model he'll always be higher on the geek pecking order than his desi counterparts.

The latest series of ads however depicts a bozo who scores an accidental goal which knocks him out on the ground. And yes, a dozen girls come running and fall flat on him as well.

Now it was one thing when the Axe man stood up in a pub and made some silly dance moves which the girls thought was a fundu dance and copied. That was kind of cheeky and kind of smart. But showing the Axe boy as a complete loser? It's amusing but I don't know how far you can stretch this. Make him an even bigger loser next time?

That's dangerous territory.

Meanwhile, the tagline has changed from the "Axe effect" to "Come to Axeland". I'm sure extensive and expensive market research must have concluded it was time for the brand to change from being 'outer directed' to 'inner directed'.

Or, the brand manager just woke up in the middle of the night with this great new line and went "Eureka". Then he woke up his entire ad agency and asked them to get to work straight away.

Creative vs clever
But seriously, if I had to be a brand manager in giant FMCG company in my next life I'd pray to work on a product like Axe. It's one of the few which strives to be fresh and creative.




In the case of the new campaign, a lot of creativity has gone into the website - www.cometoaxeland.com. I particularly liked this image of the island!

Also check out the Axeland 'subway' inspired by the London Undeground. A Brit designer has definitely worked on this. There is some amusing trivia under 'tourist info' such as 'On National White T shirt Day in Axeland, it's rained for the past 25 years.' But I'm afraid not all the humour is what you'd call subtle. Oh, not that come to Axeland is subtle either but take for example...

'National Costume' - "tight tops and not much else"
'National Flag' - "On independence day, panties wave proudly in the air"
'National Bird' - "The booby"

No, I'm not offended and I doubt Ms Brinda Karat or Ms Khushboo would take up cudgels for cartoon characters with blue hair on a website being projected as sex objects. But, you never can tell. The makers of Axe could well get into trouble for 'corrupting India's youth'. Which means a million more of them would go out and buy the blessed deo.

However I think soon enough we'll be back to the "Axe effect". Axeland is a clever idea but doesn't have as much appeal or stretchability. I could be wrong but that's my humble little prediction.

Localising a Global Brand

Indian adaptation of the 'Axe effect' taking off on the Gokulashtmi festival

Of course, even as it constantly attempts to 'push the envelope' the people who design ads for Axe do respect local cultural sentiments. It will be a long while before we see ads like the ones currently aimed at college students on spring break in America. One of which offers "rules of engagement" on co-ed showering.

And it will also be a long while before Indian women get to see something like this. Adage.com reports that an ad for Alen's XtraPine cleanser features an 'online male-striptease video'.

The risque campaign stars a sexy young guy who turns up in an American housewife’s living room - and immediately volunteers to clean the house for her. The hunk strips off his shirt to use as a cleaning rag, and removes his pants when the fascinated housewife spills coffee on them.

In the TV version, the hunk keeps his pants on. In the Web version, he takes them off. This is apparently one of the popular 'viral' ads in America right now. Check their website www.cleaninghunk.com - it's actually pretty cool.

A hunk in the house would be fantasy enough. A hunk who cares about housework? Now that's a fantasy you can live only through advertising!

23 comments:

  1. Interesting read..

    I wish you would also write more about global stuff or stuff relevant to 'desis'.. folks who r in phoren-land and cannot identify with these campaigns or other local stuff happening in bharatdesh ...

    Keep 'em coming anyways.. Been a JAM fan from college days and miss it having left college and also bharatdesh..

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  2. hmm ... naaaaaaaaaa .. didn't like it ..
    think it's silly analysing such stuff !!

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  3. hey rashmi i remember a very cool Axe ad...there was this ben-affleck type dude in a black and he sprays AXe and the all the girls in the town...completely fall for him.....i think that was predictable and still very witty........they shld probably stick to that..........my watching the cleaning hunk video...nice find.......

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  4. So . . .. ?

    whats the point? the post does not even has a take home lesson of sorts.. which other posts have!

    What a waste of time in just doing a revision of Axe ads. I thot the post starting off with Mumbai, BO, deos, themes in advertising industry, etc. would go somewhere... but seems like it ended up being another Axe ad!

    We have all seen those ads and judged them in our own, each having their own 'humble little predictions'. The post seems of no value to me.

    :(

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  5. Its good to see that ur blog gets good traffic.

    But then geocities has bandwidth limits... hosting images for high traffic webpages on such sites dosen't seem to be a good idea. Its not showing the images giving transfer limits as the reason.

    PS: flickr, imageshack.

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  6. Hahaha. I am always amused whenever I come across advertisements driven by sex. On one hand I feel disgusted by people that are a disgrace to human intelligence that they fall for such ads, and on the other I feel great admiration for the people who make them, for their ability to fool people for such a long time. You definitely need great intelligence for that.

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  7. A blog reflects the thought process in an individual's head. It is an expression of that individual's opinions and experiences. I really don't care for comments coming in which imply I have to make 'meaningful' posts. That I have to live upto certain imaginary standards because I am an 'editor'.

    When I watch a film and write about it on my blog it's less structured than what I would write in JAM or another magazine as a 'review'. Some of the questions that came to mind while watching Brokeback Mountain were just that. Questions to which I don't necessarily have an answer. Raising these questions doesn't make me anti-gay. It's not about being pro or anti anyways.

    Secondly, if you think commenting on a long-running series of ads is frivolous - so be it. I have interned with an ad agency and majored in marketing. I know a great deal of thought and strategy goes into ads like Axe and often advertising is the first to take note of certain shifts in attitude and mindset of society at large.

    There are some who believe that advertising actually creates a shift in mindsets but I think marketers carefully select platforms which already exist in our minds, but which have not been articulated. They would not want to be so radical that they offend potential consumers.

    Though in the rare case offending a few prudish customers is actually a way to get a lot of publicity and get 'noticed'. And acquire a cool sheen with young people. I don't think Axe is trying to do that (VIP with its giant hoardings showing close ups of beefy young men in tight underwear did - a couple of years ago).

    Commenting on an ad is not 'advertising'. For the record, Axe has advertised in the past with my magazine but was not in the media plan for their current campaign. In fact if it was I may have chosen not to write about the brand at all, because it may create a conflict of interest.

    So maaf kijiyega. A blog is not necessarily a medium which must provide serious and 'alternative' commentary on issues of national importance. Yours is free to be so but mine certainly isn't!

    Lastly, Ashish - thanks for the tip on geocities. I use it very rarely, when the blogger image upload does not work on my home PC. Will definitely switch to something like flickr. Have corrected problem this morning in any case.

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  8. intresting to see that we are so much used to mainstream journalism that we often forget that we are reading a blog .my initial reaction was the same as everyboby else that the topic is irrelavent...but the fact that this is a blog ,written because someone feels that way is convieniently forgotten

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  9. Rashmi, I appreciate your reaction to all the negative comments, and was led to think as to how just because you have a prominent identity as a editor, sets expectations in the mind of people reading your blog - forgetting that a blog is more like 'speaking aloud' your thoughts, rather than a being a tructured, insightful presentation of views (its another matter that some of those thoughts sometimes turn out to be like journalistic pieces, but don't have to all the time)

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  10. Now that we are talking bout thinking aloud... If this blog had an article on nike sweatshops with a nike swoosh as an image, would that be an advertising blog for nike? with underlying PR fingerprints?
    I am a communications professional and working in marketing and PR from past few years, and believe me, the industry is still not evolved enough to launch'submarine' campaigns.

    As for the blog about ads, I did my little research and found out that primarily out of the two kind of blogs( personal rants & issue based discussions) over sixty percent are review based. Reviews abouts media, movies, products, 'Brands' etc. If Ads and brands is what raises an eyebrow and keeps our mind ticking, then so be it.

    Peace!

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  11. i dont know about the axeland website. but the advertisement on tv is i think very innovative and youth-savvy.

    at a time when you have big companies ridiculing themselves with stupid adverts of stupid products like Fair N Handsome (!?!),i think the axe ads are properly connecting with the youth. i dont think there could be a single guy who did not immediately love the axe ad and envy the guy on it. for that much alone, i think these ads are successful.

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  12. I agree with Chandani. Looks like people have taken u and yr blog for granted and forget that u have the right to write whatever u would like to express on yr blog with or without a 'take home lesson'.

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  13. When an editor of JAM magazine blogs under the banner, Youth Curry - Insight on Indian Youth and posts verbiage which you have just read, it is Official, "we are a sex-starved nation".

    Also, it is not clear what Rashmi is trying to say, is she affirming the stereotypes that exist today or is she being carried away by sleaze portraying as cool?

    We sure are living in interesting times.

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  14. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  15. Babita,

    No offense but if you blog for the sake of traffic, you have problems and blogging should be the least of your "immediate" concerns.

    later
    //

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  16. A blog reflects the thought process in an individual's head. It is an expression of that individual's opinions and experiences. I really don't care for comments coming in which imply I have to make 'meaningful' posts. That I have to live upto certain imaginary standards because I am an 'editor'.

    [*] Well, irrespective of what you might want to believe, the editorial thought process and your blog output aren't coming from different sources. The source is a single person and that is you. The content in both cases will be driven by the same set of values.

    It's not about being pro or anti anyways.

    [*] Unfortunately it is, readers don't always remember the source of your writing, all they remember is the content. So it wont be prudent to imply contradictory positions based on delivery channel. If you have an opinion, stick to it.

    I know a great deal of thought and strategy goes into ads like Axe and often advertising is the first to take note of certain shifts in attitude and mindset of society at large.

    [*] No mam, Ad agencies have 2 routes one the hard way, conduct research, analysis to result in creative advertising which sells the product, promotes a brand and latches onto a hook in the viewers mind. Second, feed upon on the sentiments and sensationalism, which is the easy way out. The viewer is already at a heightened state of sensitivity when it comes to sex. If the viewer is Indian, the person male/female in this case is almost repressed. Right now, the mindset of India in Transition stands at CONFUSED.

    There are some who believe that advertising actually creates a shift in mindsets
    [*] Yes, but the goal of advertising at the end of the day is to promote and increase sales. The current ads by confused people results in more confusion. The Indian advertiser is trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. Our advertisements like our movies are based on prejudices and fantasy. Granted ads don't have to mirror reality but when one is trying to be something he/she is not, you are promoting false prestige and stupidity.

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  17. *The latest series of ads however depicts a bozo who scores an accidental goal which knocks him out on the ground. And yes, a dozen girls come running and fall flat on him as well.*---I don't think you got that right, unless you were tongue-in-cheek.I understood it as, the guy knows the affect he is going to have on girls once he uses the deo, and is practising falling backward for when they'll all come and knock him over.

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  18. hey rashmi,
    thanks for the nice post.
    as a copywriter i can understand what goes on through the creative persons mind, but this post compels me to look from the common person's point of view.
    take care.
    adi

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  19. Hi Rashmi,

    Great, as always! BTW, you should put up a "Rashmi's Disclaimer" or something, stating that the contents of the blog are your opinions and you agree with them.

    "Take Home" lesson, ha! Is this a moral science class?

    Slightly more intellectually interesting was the comment that Axe advertises in JAM, therefore you are blogging about it. My response is, "No sir/madam, the post is about the creativity shown in ads, not an endorsement of the product. If it were endorseing, then it is advertising. Even if it is, so what? This is her blog."

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  21. Nice post Rashmi,

    You might wanna have a look at my post on the AXE Effect at Tease Me ... Tease Me... Tease Me ... baiiby !

    Talks about rich media and its use in brand building.

    ~ Saumil

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  22. Hey Rashmi,

    good analysis! insiders in the system would say that a lot of what you say is true!

    There is one point you may want to consider! If one takes a step back into the world of fantasy, then perhaps every 14 year old guy would dream of a world in which every step he makes is magic!

    perhaps that world would look a bit like Axe land to some...

    cheers

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