Each year, organizations pay millions in marketing efforts. Whether it’s content marketing, video, outdoor, print ads, social media campaigns,etc., it’s clear to brands that it’s more important than ever to mold and maintain their audience’s perception. While “branding” is defined as what your audience collectively thinks of you, it’s up to the organization to provide brand messaging and create experiences or your audience will run amok. Through the internet and social media, consumers can investigate anything and everything about your brand, and they will. This is why brands who are transparent are the ones that will thrive.
One recent example of a brand taking a look at their own flaws and making a correction is Axe. With early messaging perpetuating “The Axe Effect”, or the idea that using Axe will make girls go crazy for you, Axe essentially built its brand on lust. Axe commercials typically depict an average (or sometimes above average) looking guy being pursued by above average/ supermodel status female(s).
and my personal favorite…
Despite Axe pushing its “sex sells” persona, a different connotation began to form among Axe’s audience. An article by Fast Company expressed the population’s collective view of AXE best:
“…And if Axe conjures anything in the mind of someone old enough to drink (legally), it’s that of a dive-bar meat market and a backward-hatted jock bathed in a fog of musk.”
People were beginning to associate Axe as cheap, overly pungent and quite abrasive. This connotation made a recent appearance in an episode of ABC’s Modern Family. In “Marco Polo”, episode 4 of season 6, the family is in a hotel room and Luke, the high school age son is spraying himself excessively with an Axe-like product. His sisters Hayley and Alex (college age) make disgusted faces.
Alex says, “Ugh, what’s that?” Luke answers, “It’s a bodyspray called Sex Grenade. One of the divorced dads in the hotel recommended it.” Hayley, still disgusted, says, “It’s driving me crazy.” Luke says, ”Then it’s working.”
The bodyspray then malfunctions, spraying out its entire contents. Luckily, Luke has another one and to everyone’s dismay, proceeds to start spraying it on himself, despite already being drenched in copious amounts.
Excluding the opinions of the pubescent, since “the contrast between Axe and those classy scents really has little to do with composition…”, what is it that gives Axe a bad name?
Aside: I used to know a couple of guys who liked to use Axe as if it were febreze, or the dry shampoo equivalent of laundry detergent. The Axe effect may have been backfiring, and I’m speculating here, but it could have been (probably, most likely, YES THAT IS WHY) a factor in their lack of “significant other” throughout that phase of their lives.
What gives Axe a bad name? The answer is something that would trouble any industry–overuse. In addition to anecdotal evidence, a study commissioned by Axe competitor Old Spice found that 83% of women believe that overspraying is a problem.
With this knowledge in hand, Axe set out to educate and correct through a very targeted campaign in an effort to teach consumers the correct way to use their product.
Recently I noticed these Tumblr sponsored ads by Axe:
I had never seen advertising asking consumers to use less of their product before. The ads were ingenious. The campaign allowed Axe to prove that they care about their customers through transparency. Axe pointed out one of the flaws that comes with purchasing their product and turned it into an opportunity to start a conversation about it.
Although some commenters were making fun…
…Axe’s intentions were seen. I truly believe that the age of hiding is over. Companies can’t create a product that doesn’t work well or correctly. Brands can’t make promises, not deliver and expect to survive. Consumer reviews will out you and Axe took advantage of this situation, turning it into an opportunity.
Now if only companies like Amazon would jump on the transparency trend and follow suit.
– Tara Urso
Social Media + Marketing Strategist
