axe+brand+book

Marketing Monday/Wednesday

Stephanie Guerra

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Product/ Business Description

Business Description Our business is in the mens personal care

category. AXE has both emotional and social benefits of smelling

good and attracting girls. We use nontraditional means to attract

consumers. AXE has taken advantage of every aspect of the

entertainment media. It is movies, movie previews, on billboards,

radio broadcasts, and most of all internet advertising. AXE is an

integrative product, and tries to reach consumer on a personal

level. AXE television advertisements state that if you use our

product, you are guaranteed to attract the ladies.

Product Description

Average Price: $3.00 $5.00, often packaged with a few

different sprays in order to promote new fragrances ($12.00

packages)

Packaging: Body Sprays frequently paired with AXE styling

gels, shower gel, or dry deodorant for promotional purposes.

Location: AXE products can be found at most grocery stores

and supermarkets such as Target, Wal-Mart, Publix, CVS

Pharmacy, and Walgreens

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Market Situation

Situation Analysis

Challenges:

Deteriorating economy forces AXE to compete with cheaper

generic products.

Growing competition means customer loyalty is harder to

maintain.

Encouraging men who do not currently practice good hygiene

to change habits and begin using AXE.

Opportunities:

AXE is a cheap substitute for cologne

Large target demographic (Men ages 16-25)

Men in this age group are looking to attract people, while

feeling comfortable in their own skin.

Social benefit is easily recognized.

AXE, first launched in France in 1983, has since grown rapidly. A long-

standing secret in Europe, AXE now includes deodorant body sprays, dry

deodorant sticks, shower gels, and hair gel. AXE is currently giving guys the

edge in the mating game in more than sixty countries worldwide.

In the North American markets, where AXE was launched in 2003, the brand

has shown strong and steady growth that has placed them as a powerhouse in

its category. AXE also holds the number one market position in several

European and Latin American markets; it also has an increasingly powerful

presence in Asia.

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SWOT Analysis

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Competitive Map

Although Old Spice is on the bottom, they are becoming our biggest competition and are working on taking over our spot in the competitive map

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Brand Equity Inventory

Brand Heritage - The product that originally made the brand AXE

famous was the body spray. AXE was made to encourage confidence in

men and to make nice girls be naughty. Overtime it has evolved from

confidence for men into a spray that attracts girls sexually.

Brand Representatives - AXE body spray comes in a black cylinder

bottle, with Axe written in white vertically. It was one of the first spray

bottles for a body spray/deodorizer.

Brand Identifiers - The signals that best signifies the brand in

consumers minds today:

The name AXE written on all the products

The creative catch phrases like bow chica wow wow and The

AXE Effect which suggest a direct relationship with scent and

sexual attraction.

Artwork that supports each scent name.

Brand Domain The widest market the brand can compete in is

personal products. The kind of related product that could be offered

under the brand logo would be AXE boxer briefs or AXE condoms.

What makes these products a logical part in attaining a new target

market is, the boxer briefs relate to hygiene and the condoms support

the idea that AXE makes men more likely to attract women in sexual

ways.

Brand Essence - Brand has always stood for confidence and sexual

attraction. The AXE Effect

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Brand Personality Statement If AXE were a person he would be Mike, also known as The Situation from the MTV show, The Jersey Shore because he has an abundance of confidence,

cares about his looks, and what women think of him physically. Unlike other body

sprays, AXE gives men the confidence The Situation has naturally, to pick up

girls and make themselves more desirable.

AXE is The Situation and can be described as:

Cocky: arrogant; conceited

Metro-Sexual: a heterosexual male who has a strong aesthetic sense and

inordinate interest in appearance and style.

Horny: lustful, sexually interested

Masculine: having qualities traditionally ascribed to men, as strength and

boldness

Sexy: excitingly appealing; glamorous

Testosterone: Manly, macho, hormonal

Ladies Man: a man that girls are attracted to, smooth and seductive

Casanova

On the Prowl: single and ready to mingle

Athletic: in shape and lives an active lifestyle, cares about his body

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Target Consumer Description

Today, people who buy the AXE brand are young men between the

ages of 16 and 25. There are many reasons why young me buy AXE

body spray. First, axe helps young men to feel fresh, self-confident, and

attractive. AXE uses internet, television and various other advertising

methods to keep the target interested. There are many AXE commercials

on T as well as myriad AXE ads on the internet. The AXE brand is not

going to change its target consumer because young men make the brand

so successful.

On average, these young men between the ages of 16 and 25 are at

a stage in their lives where they are exploring their sexuality, having a

greater ambition to meet an attract women. AXE helps give young men

the ability to attract women and the confidence to do so. The chemical

composition in the aroma of AXE catches womens attention. AXE,

allows men to feel attractive as well as very manly and confident, while

giving them a scent that attracts the opposite sex.

Most men who use AXE are single and believe it will help them

attract more women. We will target AXE brand to young males between

the ages of 16 and 25 who are beginning to think about how to attract

women or be attractive to other in general.

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Positioning Statement

To young men on the prowl the AXE brand of

body spray will give you the confidence to

attract and get the girl you desire.

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Pricing Situation

Brand Name Unit or Increment Definition Price per Increment

AXE 4 oz $4.79

Old Spice 4 oz $4.33

Bod 4 oz $4.43

Brut 4 oz $5.80

Curve 4 oz $69.71

Hollister 4 oz $12.00

Current Price: The price could be raised because the products that it mainly competes with; even though Old

Spice, Bod, and Brut are all in the same price range, they do not provide all the same benefits,

These are the brands that are most competitive because they are located in the same area of

the stores. While Curve and Hollister are found in other areas, they still target the same market

of AXE, but like the other brands, they only provide some of the benefits.

Pricing Goal:

Skimming- it not good for brand building in this situation because when the prices go down, for example, when the I-Phone came out, people who bought the product at the introductory price were very unhappy.

Penetration- is not good for brand building because charging a low price may confuse customers because most people believe in what you get is what you pay for.

Status Quo-is not good for brand building because people will still buy the product at a higher price.

Value Based-is right for brand building because the customer is what is important and it seems to the customer to be a good price compared to the prices of other options.

Value Determination:

The value of our product can be very easily determined by asking customers simple question

about the brand such as: what does AXE do for them, how has AXE changed their lifestyle, is

there anything we need to improve or change. Based on their opinions, we can determine the

marketplace of the product. Customers like AXE because the customers get a good quality

product for a reasonable price. Buyers value our product because it gives them what they

desire; a boost in confidence and sexual attraction.

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Distribution Strategy

Intermediaries:

The AXE brand gets to consumers through print ads in magazines, TV commercials, internet videos and

ads, and general word of mouth

Changes and Additions:

The retailer and nontraditional channels best suit AXE and should not be modified because this allows

AXE to be readily available to consumers. Most men in the targeted age group do not like to go to the

mall/retail stores to shop, so shopping online is a huge benefit. They spend most of their day online

whether it is studying, on Facebook, looking at other websites, playing video games, etc. The internet

has created a virtual world where many of these young men reside. AXE has taken advantage of this and

has established a new method to reach their fellow virtual consumers.

Distribution:

Retail Channel By AXE being available in mutiple retail chain stores, this means that the consumer has

more opportunituies available for them. Even if they arent by a Wal-Mart, for example, and are by a

Target or Walgreens, they can go in there and purchase it. These stores enable our target market to do a

one-stop-shop, which is extremely beneficial to men who dont like to go from shop to shop to find what

they need. In doing so, AXE, is trying to convey their motive of getting more women, using the store as

the holding place where it is available, like the men who are available; so come get me, message for the

women to come after the men. Therefore by it being so available, in multiple locations, the men can

access it and attract more women.

Non-Traditonal Channel- If a store is out of a certain scent and will not be getting a another shipping for

a while, a consumer can go online and purchase it that way. Women are attracted by smell. If the man

wants to attract a certain kind of woman, they must wear the accroding scent, but if it is not available in

any nearby store, they can just as easily find it online, adding on to AXEs availabilty.

AXEGrocery Stores:

Wal-Mart, Target, CVS, etc

Males Between Ages of 16 - 25

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Distribution Strategy Continued

Nontraditional Channels

One nontraditional channel that is not covered in our book would be a vending machine; we would call

it the AXE Machine. The only thing it would hold would be different AXE products. They would be

located at schools, shops, restaurants etc. This would enable our target market to get more AXE and it

would go along with their slogan Spray More Get More.

Retailer Choice:

Common retailers where our consumers shop are Wal-Mart, Target, Publix, and Walgreens. These

retailers have easy access and are convenient stops for our consumers. Retailers that we would avoid

are high-end retailers and department stores because our target market usually does not visit these

kinds of stores every day. It is not the price of the stores, but the convenience of the stores. Our target

market has more reason to visit a Wal-Mart/Target because they need to purchase other things than a

good, whereas if they needed to purchase one thing they would go to a department store.

Channel Strategy:

Market Personal Care

Product- body spray

Producer factors that influence choice brand reputation, sexual drive and confidence

Level of distribution- intensive

Our consumers shop at lower end retail stores, they want to get the product that will attract women

and at the same time save money.

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Strategic Message Map

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Creative Work Plan Purpose of the Advertising:

Purpose of advertising is to generate brand preference and make them realize that our brand is

unique and they will not find another brand that will make them feel so confident and

attractive.

The Advertising is addressed to:

The advertising is addressed to young men ages between 16 and 24.

Major Selling Idea/ Differentiating Proposition:

More AXE = More Women

Media to be used:

We are going to use internet, TV and mens magazines. Our brand advertising is

addressed to young men between ages 16 and 24, and this age group definitely spends most of

the time on internet. So internet is going to be a medium used the most.

However, we are also going to advertise AXE brand on TV because this age group is most

likely to spend some time on watching TV as well. AXE commercials are very catchy and they

show the AXE effect which should help AXE brand to gain even more consumers.

Mens magazines are another media that is going to be used, because men are our

target, and most men buy mens magazines form time to time.

Therefore what kind of ads will you create?

AXE ads will be placed on Facebook and Twitter because these two portals are very often used by our target.

We are also going to create TV commercials. The commercials are not going to be long (around 30 second). In the commercials, we are going to show AXE effect. For example, the commercial will show a very good looking guy who feels miserable because he doesnt know any girls; then he sprays himself with AXE and he starts feeling very confident, and all the sudden, all of the girls are after him.

We will advertise AXE in mens magazines such as: Maxim, Mens Fitness, Penthouse, and Playboy. The ads are going to be on the whole page and they will illustrate a guy with several beautiful girls around him. There will be a huge AXE Effect sign and this page will also smell like AXE.

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Promotions

AXE Man competition

Purpose: Brand Building and Drive Purchase

Host events at night clubs to directly interact with our

target.

Expected Outcome: For men to see that AXE can

make them more confident and sexually attractive.

Hand out samples with coupons attached

Charity

Purpose: Brand Building

Allow consumers to vote on which charity they want

AXE to donate to, when they buy our products.

FROSTD Foundation for Research on Sexually

Transmitted Diseases

ABCF- American Breast Cancer Foundation

Special Olympics

Expected Outcome: The consumer feels better about

buying our brand over others

axe+brand+book

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