Episode 176 - Axe Power of Sweetness - Baby Ad Reviewed by Expedia and PUMA
We know Axe / Lynx for their old-fashioned, hypersexualised ads where women throw themselves at men who’ve sprayed the deodorant. But, with the Power of Sweetness campaign, Unilever turns that image on its head and introduces some unexpected, humorous twists to the well-known brand story.
In this latest episode, we review the Baby clip, chosen for us by Contagious. How successful is this brand repositioning exercise, is the creative as effective as it should be, and what audiences will it connect with?
Tune in to hear from our guests Perla Bloom (Global Senior Comms Planning Manager at Expedia Group), Nathalie Bojkow (Digital Transformation Consultant), and Ricardo Amaral (Head of Marketing at PUMA Group) and see the ad yourself.
Episode 176 - Axe Power of Sweetness - Baby Ad Reviewed by Expedia and PUMA
Transcript
This is automatically generated, so it’s not 100% accurate.
Tom Ollerton 0:00
Hello and welcome to Advertisers Watching Ads. This is a weekly show where brands watch other brands’ ads.
My name is Tom Ollerton. I'm the founder of Automated Creative, the creative effectiveness adtech platform. And I firstly would like to say thank you to our sponsors, Contagious, who have been partners with us for years now and helping us spread the word. So thanks to those guys. But before we see this week's ad, let's meet this week's guests.
Perla Bloom 0:46
I'm Perla Bloom. I'm Global Senior Comms Planning Manager at Expedia Group.
Nathalie Bojkow 0:51
Hi, I'm Nathalie Bojkow, and I'm a Digital Transformation Consultant specialising in marketing.
Ricardo Amaral 0:56
My name is Ric. I work for Puma Middle East, based in Dubai as Head of Marketing.
Tom Ollerton 1:01
So this week's ad is for Axe. Fairly short. And it's weird. And I think you're going to enjoy it. So let's see it.
On a scale of 1 to 5, give this a vote with your fingers. Three, two, one...
Okay, Perla, what is your take on this ad? I'm very keen to know.
Perla Bloom 2:21
Obviously, it's a very memorable ad. Just like, first and foremost, you don't often see... I mean, I've seen different iterations of this ad. But, you know, you don't often see kind of a baby beating up a grown man. So, like, you do remember it. It sticks in your head. Maybe that's fine. I think in terms of like, its link to "sweeter than the sweetest"... I did have to take some steps to understand why, what is going on. I felt like I was kind of at a museum seeing, an interesting exhibition where I had to really think about it, and I'm not sure if that's the ideal execution for an ad. I feel like it should kind of hit you in the face. Well, not hit him in the face, hit you in the face on what they're trying to say. And I did feel like I had to sit and interpret it a little bit, but it was memorable.
Ricardo Amaral 3:05
It's kind of a long shot for you to actually digest how they're trying to position the brand like it’s humoristic, yes. You get it at first. Memorable. It's very hard to forget because it's very, very different. And I think that's bold in a way. Right? But as in terms of messaging, if I was to look at it in isolation, I would be a little bit lost in terms of, okay, what do they actually want to convey? What's the message apart from the advertisement is very different from other deodorant brands and whatsoever.
Nathalie Bojkow 3:29
If you see it as a product ad, I understand the perspective that it's not a clear message, but I see that more as a brand repositioning exercise from Axe, and I find it really great for that. It starts out setting that expectation of having the classic and a bit cringe hypersexualized hormonal teenage horny ad, which they have a big history of, and then it turns into something completely different. So it plays with that expectation. Really... Weaponizes their own legacy and bad history of bad ads or not so good ads and uses that. And I think that's really, really good. It puts the brand more into our times and kind of helps them out of that image that they've had. I really like it.
Tom Ollerton 4:14
I think there's a lot to salute about this. It is not following a category trope. It's jarring, it's funny. So what would you guys do differently?
Ricardo Amaral 4:23
I think from a creative standpoint, I quite like the way it's been positioned. I think it fits the brand really well. The only red flag or kind of yellow flag I would probably have is just maybe a little bit, eventually, a bit more context, just in case someone doesn't land on this and be like, what the hell, what they're trying to say and what is this about, you know? On the other hand, I think if this is targeting Gen Z, millennials, it could be very well perceived the messaging, you know, so honestly, for me, no red flags. And I think it's a nice one, especially bearing in mind the industry where they're at, right? It's very competitive. And at the end of the day you're selling a deodorant, right? You can't do much more. You know what I mean? So I think from a creative standpoint, it's quite cool how they’ve reinvented the wheel, if this makes sense.
Tom Ollerton 5:05
Yeah. Because I love the whole like messing around. And I think Unilever, they’re kind of the sort of the masters of emotion on that. You know, you think of so many of their big campaigns for Dove or, so on and so forth. You know, you've done that like, wow! Another thing, this isn't like a heartstrings ad, but its comedy is I think it's quite funny. But I think what's kind of missing here for me is like, this is the point to say this is an Axe ad, right? It's not associating that strongly enough with Axe.
Nathalie Bojkow 5:29
Isn't that the standard Axe format that the story they've been telling since the 90s, where you have a guy that puts spray on himself and then the ladies come forward towards him and rip off their clothes, and then in the end, you see the product. I think it's the kind of formula that they've had, at least as I see it. As it breaks that pattern of the ladies going crazy and all of that, and instead the baby acts out. I think it's really brilliant. I think everyone knows it's an Axe ad. When you start seeing a guy who sprays himself, isn't it?
Tom Ollerton 5:59
That's the interesting thing, Nathalie. I think it's like... You guys really helped me understand what the joke is here, but actually a lot of the people they're selling to here wouldn't have even been born when you're talking about those ads, you know, like... You talked about ads that I saw when I was the equivalent of Gen Z, like, and as you say, oh, that's how all Axe ads start. Someone sprays it and then a female goes crazy. Yeah, I know that. And yet I'd even forgotten that at the start of this.
Perla Bloom 6:23
The spray thing is very typical to Axe or Lynx. However, I don't think the way they executed it made that as clear as it could have been. Like, I just think that they could have played on the trope a bit more. I didn't recognise it. And I, you know, I did see those ads way back when, like what, the early 2000s? Yeah. I think they needed to be in too much cultural context. I felt the execution didn't show off the hook as well as it could have. If that came on my desk and I saw it and I'd seen the strategy, I'd be like, “Great. Love this. So funny. Can we bring out the hook a little bit more, or can we add more cultural context to the ads that you're trying to replicate and make a change to?” That would be my big thing. And can we pull that up to sooner in the ad?
Ricardo Amaral 7:03
I just think that there's then obviously the thin line of where we're trying to push it too far from being more of a story which, which indeed has to portray and sell ultimately to actually being a commercial. It's a very thin line and we're going to all have different opinions. But what I like the most about it is that they were brave enough not to, you know, emphasise a lot on that initial phase or let's call it first six seconds or so to a point where you don't quite understand, indeed, you know, it’s an ad, but it's not that it seems an ad, you know what I mean? Just the bit I kind of like about it because it's bold.
Perla Bloom 7:36
Yeah. Especially on YouTube. You know, where people are watching entertainment, they want to break out of that entertainment. So I like the fact that they're maintaining that. Again, it is an ad. So it's like, how can we... Not so much bring the logo forward, but like how can we be a bit more obvious about maybe who we are as a brand, I guess, and the behaviour.
Nathalie Bojkow 7:53
In my perception, it’s a very strong story. Also, the whole video is so... There's nothing too much. There's a lot going on, but it's not too much. It's a well-structured and clear. It's a story that you can remember too, and as it's so surprising, it will stick. And so I think that for the execution on other channels, it's really sufficient to have a reminder of that, whichever element it is, I wouldn't be too worried about that because I just find the whole strategy brilliant. And I think all the details are so well thought through and very intentional. And, I would run it.
Tom Ollerton 8:31
Would you sign off on this ad in its current form? Thumbs up or down? On a count of one, two, three? There you have it. Perla, Ric, Nathalie, thank you so much.
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