Analysis of an Advertisement Campaign of Axe Body Spray - Case Study Example

ANALYSIS OF AXE BODY SPRAY ADVERTISING CAMPAIGN Introduction Several companies have run advertising campaigns across different media this year in the United Kingdom in the bid to attract more customers to their products to increase their market share. Advertising campaigns involve a series of messages relayed to customers across different media in a specific period that have a common idea and theme. The integral part when making an advertising campaign is the campaign theme, which is essentially the central message of the advertising campaign that sets its tone. It should be enhanced in a way that will make the advertising campaign be appealing for a substantial period that will have an impact on the targeted market. A good advertising campaign is one that considers the consumer buying process1 as its campaign theme as it will be able to tackle all the levels, from the need recognition, information search, evaluation of alternatives, purchase decision to post-purchase behavior. The customer buying process highlights the various stages that a customer has to go through before he makes a decision to buy a product and even after buying the product. A company needs to understand its customers’ buying process in order to align itself with the best sales and marketing strategy. This will enable it to develop an advertising campaign that will avoid factors such as competition in the marketplace and ineffective market conditions. One of the advertising campaigns that have taken the general public attention is the new Axe campaign that advertises the re-launch of the new Axe Body Sprays such as Axe Peace, Axe Black Chill, Axe Apollo and Axe Matte Effect Styling. The campaign is based on a battle for a boy to get his dream girl and Axe helps him transform his fortunes to achieve his mission. It adopts a progressive take telling a story of two Soul mates and their journey and struggle through years to be together and finally Axe allows him to make his own fate by getting his girl. Axe teamed up with BBH London to create this campaign, a poetic, epic and classic Axe Effect story. The integrated campaign was launched in April through the company’s website and then it is expected to be rolled out across TV, cinema, OOH, print, mobile and digital medias. Target Market Market segmentation strategies can be important in identifying the target market as well as in providing information for positioning in the market to achieve an efficient marketing plan. Selecting the correct market segment to target and applying the correct strategies in that market segment will enable a company to succeed in its performance over its competitors. Axe has selected its target market based on demographic segmentation, more specifically based on gender and age. In a market of cosmetics and toiletries where many companies are targeting women because of their large population and continued use of these products, Axe has overcome these odds to target men. Almost all of the products produced by Axe are targeting men in the view to move from the tradition focus on women. In particular, the new Axe Body Spray - Soulmates advertising campaign is targeting men in their youth giving them an edge in the mating game. Axe has identified a gap in the body sprays market and is seeking to take advantage of it fully by ensuring it allures a large number of youths to their products. Brand and its benefits Branding does not entail ways to make your target market choose you over the competitors but rather is positioning yourself in a way that customers will view you as the only one who understands their needs and provides solutions to their problems. A strong brand is a valuable tool to an organization. Proper branding can boost the sale of not only one product but a range of products that are produced within that brand category. In the early nineties, Axe was fairly on well in terms of performance but the brand was not strong enough to retain customers beyond their teens. It appointed BBH (Bartle Bogle Hegarty), a branding agency offering companies brand strategy, visual identity and user experience design, in 1995 that turned around the Axe brand to a confidence-enhancing tool. It achieved this through “The Axe Effect” campaign that has seen the brand grow over the years to an internationally recognized an adored youth brand. Ever since, Axe has been one of the top global youth brands with multi awarded and highly effective integrated campaigns executed across a range of channels including iAds, microsites, social media and mobile as well as the traditional media disciplines and which have amounted to several soundtracks reaching number one in the music charts. The new Axe Body Spray – Soulmates campaign is part of this strategy that aims at a continued brand strengthening and improved sale performance. The re-launch of the Axe Body Sprays came with new benefits and additional features. It has a new can, its packaging design has changed and it has upgraded the fragrance quality. It has switched from focusing on quantity to quality in the bid to position itself with customers who are in search of a spark that ignites their love story. The power of the new upgraded Axe fragrances has been brought to life by the epic film that dramatizes the love story. This campaign in essence shows a more improved and grown up approach to relationships and romance, so to say, in a bid maybe to attract another range of customers, mature men. Seasonality of the advertising campaign Axe is not a seasonal product but rather a product used throughout the seasons of the year. This new Axe Body Spray – Soulmates campaign was not made for any season but for every season. Its aim is to improve the way customers perceive the Axe brand not to improve sales for a certain season but to improve general sales of the product in the long run through investing in the brand. The idea arises from the insight that the worst experience is letting go a missed opportunity. Instead of regretting, keep on trying and with a few help you are going to make it happen. Therefore, this advertising campaign is also motivational as well as avoiding the rand from becoming outdated. Positioning of advertisement 2Positioning in advertisement is very essential because it is a way through which companies form in the mind of their customers concepts about their products or services. It involves comparing the features of a product to something that the customer is already familiar with in order to show how the product is beneficial and useful to them. The Axe advertising campaign is positioned in a manner that attracts me to it because it has something more than the other competitors do. It brings the gist of love offering a fragrance smell that attracts girls to you, especially your dream girl that you have been after for a long period. Positioning is usually conveyed through words and image to create a good and fast communication of the service or product. The Axe advertising campaign has done this superbly by showing the relationship of securing your “love” and how Axe Body Spray will help you achieve this. Proper positioning increases the chances of a company to increase its sales by creating a good and favorable impression about your products and services. The importance of a clever and creative positioning is to enhance a quick impression on customers and advance them towards buying your products. Reasons for the advertising campaign Customers are usually more aware of products of companies that have aggressive advertising campaign strategies. In the case of Axe Body Spray, although it is a globally recognized brand, continuous advertising has helped people to familiarize with its products. Any new product released by Axe or any new features introduced to their products have been made known to the general public by their aggressive advertising campaigns, more especially the “Axe Effect” campaign. Potential customers are usually out there and always have not planned on when to purchase a certain product and as such aggressive advertising campaigns can help them make a decision to buy a company’s products. In addition, an advertising campaign can help a company be in a unique position to redefine and redesign its own corporate identity and how the people views it. It is important to understand that a company’s brand is very dependent on the overall corporate identity employed in the various advertising campaign of that company. Axe is using its adverting campaign to highlight its strengths over its competitors. The aim of this Axe advertising campaign is to support the re-launch of the new Axe product range such as Axe Peace, Axe Black Chill, Axe Apollo and Axe Matte Effect Styling. This has had positive impacts to its sales volume as well as increased brand value by 20 per cent each year. Perception When reviewing the Axe advertising campaign, the strong points of this advertising campaign points to its creative storytelling and innovative nature. It is a revolutionary and many columnists are saying that Axe Body Spray – Soulmates advertising campaign has set the stardard in terms of value-based advertising. The emotional elements of the advertising campaign is also amazing as it outlays the impact that the producer wanted to bring to the customers attention on what effect the Axe Body Spray can bring about. It has brought about a mixture of intense feelings with an awesome story making it appealing to the customers. The 90-second film was shot by Tim Godsall through Biscuit Filmworks, and is set to Order of Era’s version of the track ‘One’ originally by Harry Nilsson. The exceptional use of colour in showing the different seasons and different times that the main actor goes through is appealing and catches the attention of the viewer and at the same time makes him to continue viewing till the end. The music also enhances the theme of love and separation as the main teams and at the climax of it how Axe Body Spray brings them together. This correct correlation of music, colour and an epic story enables the company to relay its message across to their customers. The main aim of this advertising campaign comes at the evaluation of alternative in the customers buying process. This is because it shows why you should choose it rather than its competitors, giving reason as to why it is more superior to the rest. The fact that it the campaign adopts a progressive take on the ‘guy meets girl’ fable showing the tale of two soul mates throughout the ages and the guy’s struggle to finally get his girl through the help of Axe Body Spray. A factor that heavily influences this stage is the customer’s attitude through involvement in the advertising campaign to make them see that they are part of the Axe community. In the end, the penultimate decision to buy a product lies on how well the product has appealed by thye advertising campaign. Marketing mix elements The marketing mix elements are essential when setting up an advertising campaign strategy as they give companies a broader picture of what should be included in the campaign to make it effective and efficient for its purpose. It has four elements that include the product, pricing, place and promotion. If a company gets any elements wrong it can spell as a disaster to the whole process of selling its products and thus each element should be considered with equal measure and importance. The product that this advertising campaign is promoting is the Axe Body Spray. It involves a re-launch of its with new features such as new can, its packaging design has changed and it has upgraded the fragrance quality which will help it to boost its sales. The price is fundamental because it influences sales revenue and should be determined from how the customers value the product. A company’s pricing policy will vary depending on time and circumstances. The advertising campaign does not indicate the pricing policy of the Axe products simply because it is not introducing a new product and the customers are already familiar with the prices of the Axe Body Sprays. The place considers how the product should reach the market place, transportation methods and storage facilities. Its primary focus is to avail the products at a place at the right time through use of a good distribution system. Also, the place is not disclosed in the advertising campaign but since we know this is an globally recognized brand we can assume that it is targeting the entire global market. The promotion part entails the business of communicating to the customers on providing information that will help them when making buying decisions. The cost associated with promotion or advertising goods and services often represents a sizeable proportion of the overall cost of producing an itemThe Axe Body Spray advertising campaign is exceptional because it has achieved its purpose of capturing the customers attention and introducing new features about the product. They have used several media to advertise simply because they aim at getting a wider coverage. Conclusion It is a battle against fate and Axe allows guys to overturn their fortunes and make their own path of destiny by achieving what was previously impossible. It is not all about the looks or talent what is worthwhile in the end is the complete and utter confidence that is brought about by the Axe effect. . Its pitch-perfect and manages to convey a multitude of stories with the simplest of scripts. It shows the romantic renaissance that Axe Body Sprays have and capture the customer to want to run to the shop and get some. The Axe advertising campaign has a simple message that it relays effectively thanks to the dramatized poetic play and good music. Nonetheless, it should need to consider other factors such as will the advert make an impact to the targeted audience and will they get the message. There should be more text to help explain to the customer a lot more about what the message of the advertising campaign. However, complex advertising campaigns may bring about additional problems. Therefore, the advertising campaign should be made simple but at the same time aesthetically pleasing and effective. Bibliography Anderson, W. Thomas, and CUNNINGH. WH., 1972. Gauging foreign product promotion. Journal of Advertising Research. Axe Website. The Axe Effect.2014. Retrieved from: http://www.theaxeeffect.com/#/axe-campaigns. Broniarczyk, Susan M., and Joseph W., 1994. The importance of the brand in brand extension. Journal of Marketing Research (JMR). Cairns, Laurie. Method for product promotion. 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