AXE SMELL READY
Agency tasked by Axe to create a slate of content for 2020 to shift perception & move the cultural needle for the brand particularly to support a wider poly cultural expression for what American Gen Z males find funny & engage with that could accompany global advertising creative.
RV cast a US based Axe 'creative team' comprising a range of content creators with successful &interesting takes on humor & online culture, working across Instagram and TikTok. Cast took in a wide net of diversity including black, latinx, trans & gay. Agency also introduced women into the casting to widen the viewpoint.
Creative team were signed on to create a range of activity around advertising, product & cultural moments, with the first wave linked to the global TVC. The team included King Bach, Salice Rose, Donte Colley, Kenny Knox, Efrangeliz, MyTypoLife, Aydian Dowling, Mo Khan and Nick Colletti. To add further interest, agency cast NBA superstar Russell Westbrook to join the content and work with the creators to widen out reach and equity.
*The campaign was forced to shift due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the creative strategy was pivoted from the original messaging of “Don’t Overthink It” to helping guys adjust to the new normal in a “Smell Ready” campaign narrative, with wave 1 content re-edited & re-purposed.
This was the first time Axe used a hands-off approach, allowing the Creators to apply creative tactics & nuances to resonate directly with their audiences & sense of humor, resulting in 14 pieces of content with extremely high engagement of 9.72% - showing that the content had high relevance for a Gen Z focused audience.
