Advertising Media Plan Project "Axe"

Advertising Media Plan Project Fall 2012 Axe University of North Florida

MEDIA PLAN
PROJECT
FALL 2012

Team:
Álvaro Casado
Jerron Granberry
Leslie Montalbano
Clémence Paul

2


INDEX
1. Executive Summary............................................................................4
2. Situation Analysis...............................................................................6
3. SWOT Analysis.................................................................................14
4. Marketing Objectives.......................................................................18
5. Advertising Objectives.....................................................................20
6. Creative Strategy..............................................................................22
7.Media Objectives
a.    Target................................................................................25
b.    Overall Media Budget.......................................................27
c.    Target Coverage...............................................................29
d.    Regionality........................................................................31
e.    Seasonality........................................................................31
8.Media Strategy
a.    Media Mix..........................................................................33
b.    Scheduling........................................................................36
c.    Reach, Frequency, Media Weight.....................................36
9.Implementation and Evaluation
a.    Recommended Vehicles for each selected Medium.........39
b.    Media Flowchart................................................................40
10. References......................................................................................41

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EXECUTIVE
SUMMARY 4


The Axe brand is second to none when
it comes to men’s fragrance and grooming.
Although, first considered an international
phenomenon in countries such France and the
United Kingdom, Axe made its first appearance
in the United States in 2002 and since then has drastically increased its
market share while still maintaining its success in the global deodorant
and men’s grooming market.

Using clever and borderline explicit sexual material axe has seen
much success in their targeted consumers in males of the ages 18-49.
With great success we believe Axe has the potential to increase its reach
and share by marketing to females and exploiting their other products. In
doing so Axe must take a different approach from it sexual desire for
men to a classier and lady-like approach to our female audience.

We recommend that Axe stays with it usual approach to target its
younger male audience, but offer women something different when it
comes to their product such as nicer smelling products, damage control
shampoos and sense of beauty whenever the product is used. The goals
are to increase market share, profits and awareness of new products.

With a campaign centering around the summer 2013, Axe will try
to become the essential brand to accompany both men and women
during this hot period. The budget is about $18 Millions through the use
of television, internet and magazines for men and women. The campaign
will start on May and last through the end of August.

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SITUATION
ANALYSIS

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I. COMPANY OVERVIEW

HISTORY:
The ﬁrst launch of Axe was in 1983 in France
by Unilever with a usage of 150 millions users per
day. It was inspired by another of Unilever's brands,
Impulse, a feminine aerosol (Axe, 2010). Two years
after, Axe launched in Europe a wide range of
deodorants, shower gels, after shave lotion, eau de
toilette and hair products. After that, Axe had a great
success in Latin America and moderate impact in
Asia and Africa. Unilever were unable to use the
name Axe in the United Kingdom and Ireland due to
trademark problems so it was launched as Lynx (Axe,
2010). This year, Axe launched, with a big
deployment marketing its ﬁrst Axe product for
women, Lynx in UK.
The company has also consolidated its
deodorant portfolio by migrating other overlapping
male deodorants into the Lynx brand such as South
Africa’s Ego brand (Unilever, France).

Since 2010, Axe, like the big names in the
perfume market, works in collaboration with Ann
Gottlieb, a, nose expert, to develop new fragrance,
new juices and new sensations for new conquests. It
was only in 2003 that Axe enter in United States and
Canada markets. It was a great success. In 1994,
Axe saw its sales drop, so decided to focus on young
adults and adults (Unilever, France).
Today, Axe is has now become a global and
an iconic brand with men. Axe is the undisputed
leader in Deodorant for men. It sold in 60 countries,
and Axe is the leader on the European and Latino-
American markets. Axe remains after almost 30 years
of existence, a brand of our daily lives,
accompanying us every morning and every
evening .It is still part of our history because Axe has
evolved to meet the new aspirations of young men.
Axe continues to create wants and desires (Unilever,
France).

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PRODUCT LINES:
Axe had developed a wide range of products:

- Deodorants: deodorant aerosol body spray, deodorant stick, deodorant roll-on,
antiperspirant aerosol spray (called Lynx Dry), and anti-perspirant stick (also
called LynxDry).
- Shampoo
- Shower gel (usually to accompany shampoo and deodorants)
- An annual fragrance : a key part in the success of the brand by offering
something new each year. The type of fragrance variants have evolved over time.

From 1983 until about 1989, the variant names were descriptions of the
fragrances and included Musk, Spice, Amber, Marine, and Oriental.
- Aftershave
- Colognes
- Skin care
- Hairstyling products

From 1990 until 1996, geographic names for fragrances were used, such
as Africa, Alaska, Java, Nevada and Inca. From 1996 to 2002, Lynx took
inspiration from Calvin Klein fragrances, also owned by Unilever at that time, using
the same fragrance consultant, Ann Gottlieb, to develop the scents to launch
variants, such as Dimension, Apollo, Dark Temptation, Gravity, and Phoenix. In
2009 Axe launched their ﬁrst 8-centimeter container called the Axe Bullet.

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SOCIAL MEDIA

The axe effect is also present in social media and creates
the buzz. For example, ¨the "Showerpooling" campaign on
Facebook and YouTube, done with typical Axe irreverence, asks
fans to take a pledge to share a shower with a like-minded
acquaintance or attractive stranger.¨ (Advertising Age 2012) In
2010, Axe launched its official page in Facebook. Äxe has more
than three million fans, while more than 18 million users have
viewed Axe’s advertising and video games on the official Axe
YouTube channel¨. (Unilever 2012).

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II. PRODUCT REVIEW
Axe is a well-known brand of grooming products specifically designed for
men. The brand is owned by the British-Dutch company called Unilever. Axe itself
was originally launched by Unilever in France in 1983 (Unilever.com). This may
seem surprising as the product did not make the market scene in the United
States until the early start of the millennium. The brand wasn’t always called Axe. If
you lived in the United Kingdom it was known as Lynx because of branding rights
and issues that were already in place in the UK. Axe provides a wide range of
products. Axe includes fragranced aerosol deodorant body sprays, stick
deodorant, anti-perspirant aerosol spray, and roll on deodorants. It wasn’t until
1996 to 2002 that Unilever worked on making Axe more appealing by smell with
more options. Unilever claims that they were inspired by their other brands like
Calvin Klein fragrances.

Later in 2009 the Axe brand launched out the new container called the “Axe
Bullet” which exploded with popularity across the nation. From there they began
branching out to body washes/shower gels, aftershaves and colognes, skin care,
shampoo and hairstyling products all aimed with the marketing idea that if you use
this product you will become irresistible to women. Ads would comically show how
the product would give geeky guys the confidence to approach women followed
by other ads of women simply jumping into the man’s arms the moment he applied
the product. The ad campaign content brought about an adverse opinion. The
Campaign for Commercial-Free Childhood disliked that the advertisements
encouraged sexism and sexual promiscuity. They stressed that it was degrading
and undermined a girl’s healthy development. (Unilever, press relase).

Despite this, the product remained on the market and the ads still remained.
Axe had seemed to go unnoticed in the United States until the 2000’s but since
then has been one of its biggest market driving countries since its creation. The
brand’s underlying idea is that the product will bring about self-confidence to a
man if he simply uses it. The distinct and aromatic smells that go along with the
wide variety of products not doubt make this product a sure fire best seller on the
shelves in stores today. (Wolfollins.com)

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III. COMPETITIVE REVIEW AND ADVANTAGE

Dove is one of the nation’s most popular personal care brands in the
world. The company’s main focus is about boosting women and young girls’ self-
esteem, but also has undertaken men’s products as well. The company’s products
consist of body washes, lotions, facial cleansers, shampoos, conditioners,
deodorants, and other hair products (Unilever Dove 2012). Having diverse and
plentiful products have helped Dove reach about 8.5 million people since 2005.
The company’s mission for the future it to help 15 million girls by 2015 (Unilever
Dove 2012). Unilever has a vast variety of brands, including Dove and Axe that are
available all over the world such as Rexona, Sunsilk, Lipton, Tresemme, Ben and
Jerry’s, St. Ives, and many more (Unilever Brands 2012).

According to Forbes, Dove is ranked No. 4 on a list of 10 brands liked by both
genders. Dove has been a hygiene product that has been in the homes of men
since they were young children, even without a specific men’s product (Forbes
2012). Being one of America’s most favorite brand Dove’s global sales in the last
decade were above 2 billion dollars (Advertising Age 2011). Regardless of this
increase in sales the brand did slow in sales regarding hair care. In about 52
weeks, though, sales increased to about 687 million (Advertising Age 2011). Dove
Men + Care and Body Wash have increased sales because of the revamping of
the brands advertising.

Dove Men + Care developed a deodorant and started a “Journey to Comfort” ad
campaign that features a variety of celebrities and sports figures. This expansion
of the brand towards men’s’ products has a diverse ad campaign. A current
commercial is called Cowhide vs Manhide, which focuses on stating that Dove
Men’s Body Wash will not dry out your skin. Its main slogan for this commercial is
“Cowhide dries out, and so does your manhide. Dove Men + Care is clinically
proven to fight skin dryness.”

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Degree deodorant is considered as the fastest growing brand in the
deodorant category. Also manufactured by Unilever, it offers the required
protection against wetness with anti-persperants and top odor deodorants for
men, but also for women and teenage girls. Also known as Sure, Rexona, Rexena
or Shield in other countries, Degree deodorant provides an affordable, convenient,
and travel friendly solution to fighting sweat and odor and is better than relying on
a bulky stick or spray deodorant as it is designed to refresh and keep sweat and
odor free when there’s no time for other traditional solutions.

The Degree brand name was founded by Helene Curtis and adopted by Unilever
in 1996. It is the first deodorant brand in the deodorant world and It is constantly
growing with constant innovation and communication. It offers its product to the
different needs of men, women and adolescent girls. The company´s products
consist of stick, gel and spray forms of antiperspirants. To provide specific efficacy
for each type of person, the range is divided into DegreeMen, DegreeWomen and
DegreeGirl and it is possible to find a huge variety into its product line as Dry
Protection, NatureEffects, Fine Fragance and Clinical Protection deodorants.
Designed for healthy people, actives and worried about their fitness.

Degree deodorant antiperspirant is the best-selling in the world through its
continuous research, invest, develop and innovate in products, introducing new
varieties and advanced technologies in the segment of antiperspirants with $70.10
million dollars based on 2010/2011 sales, according to a grocery Headquarters
survey.

Degree has created an extensive portfolio of interest commercials seeking
greater the emotional bond with consumers. It has focused his speech in sports
and what they represent: passion, action, welfare, pleasure, self-imposed. The
association of a brand with the sport is not an action novel, many have already
done. However, Degree has interpreted magnificently generating their particular
aesthetic codes absolutely in tune with the values of their consumers and bringing
this essence on its slogan: “Degree, it won´t let you down”.

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COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE

As compared to Dove, Axe has a large advantage when
comparing to their target audiences. Dove strictly targets women in
their new Real Beauty Campaign. This campaign which focuses on
believing you’re beautiful regardless of what size or skin color lacks
the interest to men. Although Dove does have some men’s products
there are not enough to compare with Axe’s product line.

Axe on the other hand has countless commercials where there are
both men and women. In Axe’s campaign “The Axe Effect”, men are
shown to be caring about their hygiene and attracting the opposite
sex.

The men have great hygiene which makes the women want to be
around them or even want to buy the product for their special
someone. While Axe is targeting the strong heterosexual males
there is also “some traction from the product-oriented "metrosexual"
segment (that) has helped build sales. And women buy Axe, too -
for their boyfriends, signiﬁcant others, and
husbands” (DailyFinance).

Axe has just recently launched a product for women. The product is
called anarchy, a spray for women. This is a great decision on Axe’s
part because now they have another product that women and men
will buy for one another.

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SWOT
ANALYSIS

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STRENGHTS
The strengths our product owns are the following: our
fragrance is also one of our strengths. The smell of our
product stimulates your senses and stay reassured all day
long. Our fragrances are different from the rest and are very
well-known for everyone, staying in their minds and becoming
unforgettable. We have a range variety of product with a very
wide portfolio.

Our positioning is one of our best strengths. Axe is the brand
which has one of the greatests growths in the industry and it
is positioned as one of the best for our male consumers. Also
our international reach -our product is worldwide known- and
our advertising communication are very well-know not only by
our customers but by the whole public, with an original and characteristic tone that
make the difference from the rest. Finally, our availability: our deodorants are
available everywhere, not just worldwide but also in almost all possible points of
sale.

15


WEAKNESSES
While Axe might be widely known and used by every young male who is
seeking female attention. Axe’s biggest strength and somewhat arrogance could
also be considered its biggest weakness against other competitive brands.

Axe only targets a certain “urban market” in their commercials, the dirty bad
boy (who seems maybe middle class) who doesn’t use upper echelon cologne but
the quick and easy spray on Axe to seem more eloquent than what he really is.
While targeting this demographic their price range is a little expensive for their
target audience. While young men might ﬁnd the “sex sells” approach catchy, it
often leads the company into bad mannerism with countries and cultures who
believe that should stay in the bedroom.

From a product standpoint, they have numerous scents and aromas to
choose from but unfortunately they really don't last all that long unless you spray
large amounts on your body. This of course creates an immediate impact that is
incredibly painful to inhale. Axe has grown by expanding their products to body
wash, shampoo and hair gel but still is only recognized only for the body spray
(Because thats what they advertise). Since hitting the markets in 1983 axe has
used the same unrenovated design of packaging with the false existent of the
subliminal message “The Axe Effect”. With that said, the axe brand can come off
as arrogant or chauvinistic in the public eye.

OPPORTUNITIES
The biggest competitor for Axe is Dove. But this competition can be an
opportunity too. Indeed, Axe had a totally different positioning, because it’s for
men, while Dove is more for women. So, dove is not in its brand territory. Even if
Dove has launched new products for men, “Dove men”, the product line of Axe is
larger than the product line of Dove Men.
Regarding socio-demographics criterias, there is a behavior change in the
under developed countries (India, Asia, Latino-America). In fact, hygiene becomes
more and more a concern and its represents a huge market for Axe. Moreover,
there is a large proportion of the world population active, and women more and
more, and many people of the target. So, for them to have a good deodorant is
essential.
Sports are a passion all around the world, so it is good for Axe to be a
sponsor or to have its brands associated to the sport, it is preferable for the brand
image, and it becomes a good opportunity to show the name of “axe” during sport
events for example. To ﬁnish, social media has exploded in the last years. Axe’s
target has the biggest amount of consumers and have more and more
participants. To maintain proximity between the consumer and company the brand
has to be in different social media.

16


THREATS
Axe has a large variety of competition in the hygiene department. Old
Spice is booming in sales and new and improved commercials, Degree with
increasing products, and Dove with a self-esteem edge on beauty are all in the run
for best hygiene company.
Also, Axe tends to focus on sex appeal towards men, which is dissimilar
from Dove who is a primary competitor within Proctor & Gamble. This has caused
many critics to question Proctor & Gamble’s true purpose for consumers. Many are
concerned how one product of the same company can be extremely focused on
selling sex, while another is about loving yourself regardless of weight, shape, or
color (Jezebel).
This also raises another threat of Axe: being focused on sex. Countless
commercials show very skinny models with large breasts normally in bathing suits
or minimal clothing. This will sometimes turn consumers away from this product
because they believe it degrades women and shows them as only a sexual object.
The last main threat focusing Axe is its lack of “going green”.
The main selling product of axe is a spray deodorant, which many say is
damaging the atmosphere. Also the packaging of Axe products are made out of
tin metal cans, while other products are using recyclable materials for their
packages (Marketing Master).

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MARKETING
OBJECTIVES

18


Axe is currently the number two brand deodorant in
the United States, just after Dove. Our goal is to
become the leader on this market in 2013. We will
focus on the new limited product “Axe Anarchy”.

Indeed, this product is the ﬁrst for women and men in
our brand. This is a new market and a huge opportunity for Axe to increase
the sales because of this new target. Women can become buyers and
consumers. For that, Axe Anarchy has to be distributed in places where
women make purchases as Target, Wallmart and also the beauty supplies,
and the price has to be the same.

The sales of this product has to increase about 15%. For that, we will
advertise during the summer of 2013, one year after the launch, to boost
consumption.

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ADVERTISING
OBJECTIVES

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Top-of Mind-Awareness
When you think of Axe, you automatically think of body spray and
deodorant. This means that we most certainly need to keep that identification of
the brand. Also, the public is unaware of the different scents that Axe provides for
women as well. It no longer is a men’s brand, but has branched out to women as
well. The reason for this is that Axe usually has commercials that are aimed at men
being desired by women because they use the product. People immediately think
it is a male brand. We must reverse the roles to market the feminine side of Axe
(McGraw Hill, Objectives).

Increasing Consumer’s Understanding
of the Brand Benefits
Axe is typically not known for it’s other products such as dandruff shampoo
and after shaves etc. In order for the public to understand the benefits, they must
show statistics and examples of how these product benefit the consumer other
than “getting the girl”.

They need to do this through their advertising and compare the results with other
brands. Also to maintain brand loyalty, Axe needs to offer discounts or rewards for
everytime that consumer purchases that particular product. An example would be
a point system that you can earn free products, gifts or a cash amount off your
next purchase of the product.

Lastly when creating brand preference, as a company, Axe needs to make bundle
packs, (deodorant, body spray, shampoo, hair gel etc.). This way it is convenient
for the consumer to purchase Axe products as well as giving exposure to other
products from the Axe brand. Celebrity endorsements should be used to promote
the product and Axe should sponsor sporting events. (McGraw Hill, Objectives).

An example would be the Old Spice Classic basketball tournament that is held as
Disney each year, featuring the elite Division I programs in the United States, no
doubt bringing a surplus of revenue.

21


CREATIVE
STRATEGY

22


Axe has great advertising objectives for each
product it offers to consumers. Each product for
example has their own theme for a commercial,
including Axe deodorant. The deodorant commercials
which are very well known to consumers theme is “The
Axe Effect”. Axe has decided to attract their target
audience, mainly males, by showing in their ads what
effect the deodorant will have on them when applying it.

One famously known Axe
Effect commercial starts by
hooking the audience by showing
very attractive women in bikinis
running through a forest. The
women start to multiple and are
all running towards a speciﬁc part
of the location they are at. Near
the end of the commercial women
are running from all side of the
f o re s t , o n t h e b e a c h , a n d
swimming toward the beach from
the ocean. On the beach is one
man, looking quite dorky in
stature, who is stunned and
excited to see all of these
beautiful women running towards
him. He has Axe deodorant in
each hand and begins to spray it
all over his body, not stopping.
The women ﬁnally surround him
and words read across the
screen “Spray More Get More,
The Axe Effect”. This explains to
the audience is you spray and
use more Axe deodorant then the
women will be chasing after you,
giving you more.

23


Another recent commercial run by Axe is Fear No Susan Glenn. This
commercial is not solely focusing on Axe Deodorant, but rather all of Axe products.
This commercial categorizes every man’s perfect women as Susan Glenn. In fact it
states in the commercial “Sheʼs not a girl, sheʼs THE girl”. The ad continues to
discuss how she is perfect in every way; she even can float in the sky with
fireworks. Because of her perfect nature, Axe explains that many men would fear
this woman.

The very end of the commercial shows a man in front of a mirror saying how if he
got the chance again he would do it all different; meaning he would be brave and
talk to this dream girl. The entire commercial doesn’t say a word about any
particular Axe product except for the ending: showing the Axe logo.

This ad has a subliminal message that if the man in the commercial would
have used Axe when he first encountered “Susan Glenn” then he would have
been brave enough to talk to this dream girl. Another unique way Axe is using this
ad to reach many audiences is “declaring their Susan Glenn”.

On www.theaxeeffect.com there is a section on the site where you can take over
Time Square why typing who your dream girl or Susan Glenn is. The name you
type will then be broadcasted in Times Square.

24


MEDIA
OBJECTIVES:

Target Selection

25


The Axe consumer is a very well-defined.
This consumer is primarily a young man, with an
age range between 18-49 years, with features and
a very definite lifestyle. Axe has just begun to target
women with their new product Anarchy, from ages
18-49. Adults looking for a sexual attraction, which
takes care to keep in shape, but does not care too
much skin care, they are mostly nocturnal and athletes, looking for more than a
deodorant protection.

We could divide the AXE target audience in two groups:

The first of these are the youngest group, aged between 18-30 years. It is
an audience that has just entered the market of deodorants, is an undecided
public, since it seeks no specific deodorant. This is the time to take them away
from competitors. They are men and impressionable teenagers, and are seeking
social recognition among women. Therefore Axe deodorant is appropriate for this
audience, because it offers more than just a deodorant either.

Within this same age group, between 18 and 30 years, they are looking for
recognition and distinction within the young of the same age. Furthermore, the
idea haunts them grow up and stop acting like children. Axe gives them a sense of
masculinity and this is reflected on our advertising, through success with women.
An independent youth that takes responsibility as an adult would do.

At the other extreme is the target audience of 30 to 49 years, men. This
audience has different objectives but share common characteristics. This group
focuses on ideals and lifestyle completely different from the other groups of the
same age. They seek the distinction of men and for that turn to the values of
masculinity and success with women. Their lifestyle is based on the nocturnal and
body worship. Axe deodorant for them is perfect, because their advertising is
directed at a man who likes the personal care of his body to attract women.

Women are also included in our selection although not as heavily as men because
of their new introduction into women products. Women in our target selection are
buying mainly for their special someone or buying the new product, Anarchy, to try
it out. These women range from teenagers all the way to adulthood, looking toward
a great scent. In general the public that we have chosen is reflected in Axe ideals
that they would like to be part of his life. The product is for them an object of desire
and an aspirational level resource. They are adults living in a way, as young and
active love life and risk.

26

MEDIA

OBJECTIVES:
Overall Media
Budget

27


Axe does a lot of its advertising through the
media of television, such as the commericals of
“Susan Glenn” and newly directed of their Dandruff
shampoo. Sticking to the vechile of television
broadcasting and narrowing our target audience to
adults ages 18 to 49, we need to plan accordingly.

Studies from The Hollywood Reporter show that there are 3 main vechiles that
men of our demographics tune into to ESPN, TNT, Comedy Central. Two of these
stations show sporting events on the regular so not only would we be able to
advertise to males with our narrow demographics but males in general. If we were
to go the high route the price range for a 30 sec commerical on these stations
would be nearly 4000 dollars a piece through network companies.

If we approach our consumers from a non-sports target our best vehicles would be
FOX has nearly one million or more viewers when it comes down to males. A no
brainer of which vechile should be broadcast our commericals on. Since we are
buying in more than one state Sports Illustrated has given us a rate where our
CPM would be roughly 100 dollars but the cost of one full page ad in color is
130,500 with a reach of 50% of SI circulation. Fox is charging around 290,000 for
prime time slots between shows of the simpsons, Sunday night football and Family
guy in a 30 sec slot period.

Twitter would be the bulk of our advertisement because its free to make an
account and advertise our brand. Through Google we would use their new product
ADwords where there's no minimum amount that we have to spend. we set the
maximum amount we’re willing to spend each day and choose how we'll spend
our money.

Magazines are a large part of Axe´s media plan. The main reason behind this
decision is from the quintile analysis from the SMRI data. Consumers of Axe are
shown to read magazines quite often. The plan, focusing on both sexes, decided
to use both men and womens magazines in order to reach both audiences. The
two magazines the plan will be advertising through are Cosmopolitan and Sports
Illustrated. The costs of these two magazines ranges to about $660.

Our budget is 20 million with a 2 million emergency deposit just in case we may
have miscalculated our numbers.

28


MEDIA
OBJECTIVES:
Target Audience
Coverage

29


During the introductory periods of
the media plan which will occur during the
months of June through August the company
plans to reach 70% to 80% of the target
audience.

In order to reach this audience the company will
use promotions during these summer months,
print advertisements, and online advertisements.
Since the target audience are composed of vast
ages using these various vehicles will help reach
as many consumers as possible. Using these
many vehicles also allows the company to reach
people in more than one way.

In fact we plan to for the advertisements to be
viewed on an average of 2 to 3 frequent times.
It is believed that running the media plan during
the summer time, when people use the most
amount of deodorant, will boost sales from the
amount of consumers reached.

30


MEDIA
OBJECTIVES:
Regionality
&
Seasonality

31


REGIONALITY
According to SMRB “Deodorants used in last 6 months”, South region in
the United States uses deodorants more than the rest of the country. Indeed, they
are 85,319,000 in the South and 42,073,000 in the North.

The South region includes 16 states : Alabama/Arkansas/North Carolina / South
Carolina/Delaware/Florida/Georgia/Kentucky/Louisiana/Maryland/Mississipi/
Oklahoma/Tenessee/Texas/Virginia and West Virginia. (Le guide du routard,
Floride, Philippe Gloaguen, Hachette 2012).

Considering it a large area to cover, we want to put the majority of the weight in the
media plan in the regions of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and
Florida. The north area of the South region will not receive as much weight, but it
should still have a good amount because many places are extremely hot during
the summer period.

SEASONALITY
The Axe media plan will be held through the
summer. In fact, during this period Axe can emphasize
on the message of “hot summer of attraction” to be relevant with the brand’s
positioning. It is moreover the period of holidays for all our target and deodorants
are more used during this period.

The months concerned by this plan are May, June, July and August and the
weight of the plan is the same for all these months. Indeed, the brand want to have
a huge impact during all this period, to create a new consumer behavior and to
remain in the customer’s mind.

32


MEDIA STRATEGY:
Media Mix 33


TARGET AUDIENCE’S USE OF MEDIA CLASS
(QUINTILE RANKING)
Our target audience falls into the first quintile for Internet. They are quite
young and they used a lot this medium to get informed and to be connected with
their friends and companies through the social media. That’s why we want to
emphasize the campaign in this medium because it’s essential for the brand to be
present in vehicles as Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Google. Our target reads
also magazines because it falls in the second quintile that’s why a big part of our
budget are allocated in magazines such as Sport Illustrated and Cosmopolitan.

For the TV, our target is in the last quintile, but the numbers in different quintile are
very close. It seems important for the brand and for the successful of the
campaign to use the TV medium, especially TV prime time because our target
audience watches TV. Our campaign believes that television is still a positive way
to reach our target audience, relating to our decision to keep television as a
medium in our plan.

ADVERTISING OBJECTIVE

Regarding our main advertising objective, being at the top-of-mind
awareness and increasing consumer’s understanding of the brand benefits, our
selected media mix is the perfect combination to achieve our goals. Our selected
magazine vehicles are suitable for reaching some specific localization and
specialization so they reach an audience potentially segmented and interested
specifically in some preferences as our audience. Also, magazines allow to have a
perfect quality on the advertisement and the final reproduction is better than in any
other vehicle.

The Internet is also one of the best medium we can use so with it the user selects
product information and they become partners of an interactive relationship.
Furthermore it also permits us the direct selling and it is the most flexible platform
to show our message. Finally, television is important because of the mass
coverage but also the high reach of its impacts. It also has a high prestige
between the public and it helps us to get the attention because of the impact of
their sight, sound and motion. It also has a low cost per exposure compared to the
others.

34


CREATIVE CONSTRAINTS
Regarding the clients current creative tactics, internet promotions and
advertisements are used a majority of the time. This is because it is shown that a
majority of these consumers is the Internet more than any other medium. For
example, recent advertisements and promotion have been shown on Youtube. In
the past couple of years the internet has been a growing way to advertise
products. Axe has caught onto the trend and is beginning to use promotions on
widely used websites. Axe has also used television to reach consumers. Axe is
known for popular television advertisements that consists of women who are
very beautiful who are attracted to the nerdy guy because he uses Axe. These
advertisements have proven popular to the public explaining why they continue to
use these themes in their ads.

BUDGET CONTRAINTS

Our media schedule calls for us to place ads in three mediums of
television, internet and magazine print. We plan on advertising in all social
media especially twitter because of the advertisement we can explore with
creating our account and having followers to broadcast our product too.

A lump sum of of our budget will go to advertising via television due to the mass
coverage and high reach we can achieve through prime time stations such as
FOX (mostly for our unisex audience) and ESPN (mostly male audience). Through
print magazine we will take the expensive route of advertising through magazines
such as Sports Illustrated and Cosmopolitan because of various facts. Sports
illustrated is one the highest consumed magazines by males and has a high pass
along readership while cosmopolitan vice versa for females.

Lastly, Internet will be where the majority of our media plan budget is allocated
towards. The reason for this decision is that, according to SMRI data, our target
audience is shown to use the internet more than any other medium. We noticed
that football specials such as NFL playoffs and and special event games are our
most consumers at nearly 16 million we are able to reach more of our target
audience than any other sports channel according to the SMRI data. As of now we
can’t, but we would like to expand like our competitors to national scene and
become the ofﬁcal sponsors of athletic programs such as old spice does with their
collegiate basketball tournament in Disney’s sports complex. We are only doing
heavy dose of advertising in south region of the united states and in the summer
time because these are the place and times when the weather is at the peak of hot
and would require hygene through this sweaty season.
35

MEDIA STRATEGY:

Scheduling,
Weighting,
Reach &
Frequency.

36


SCHEDULING
Based on the seasonality, Axe will use the Steady Pulse pattern
which is the easiest type of schedules to prepare. It consists of one ad
per week for 52 weeks or even one ad per month for 12 months
(drypen.in). On this, ads run during the whole year but heavy
advertisements are preferred at the peak time or certain times. Our
Steady Pulse is speciﬁcally preﬁxed for a schedule in 4 summer months.

There is some spending during all periods of the schedule, but there are
periods in which the spending is notably heavier than others.This pattern
is used because that pattern requires there to be spending during the
entire scheduling period, but there will be periods that require heavier
spending. In Axe’s case, there will be spending during all months of the
media schedule and higher spending during the summer months.

WEIGHTING, REACH AND FREQUENCY
The media plan for Axe will promote products before and during the
2013 Summer. The selected vehicles are television and Internet. The
weight of the plan will be during the months of May, June, July and
August and the selected regions will be those from the south-east.

During the months of our intense plan, May and June, Axe will try to hold
a reach at least over the 80% of the targeted consumers and a
frequency of 2.9. Using the mediums, as television and Internet, the
overall message weight of the media plan will be mainly used for
Internet.

For Internet, Axe will insert ads in popular sites, such Youtube, Google,
and Facebook, but it will also use the social media channel in order to
promote our campaign during the selected period. This is an opportunity
for reach more of our targeted consumers, because it all will be
concentrated into the same channel. It is also considered as a direct but
cheap channel on advertising.

37


IMPLEMENTATION
‘N’ EVALUATION:

38


RECOMMENDED VEHICLES
The most effective media depends on characteristics of the target market as
well as the purpose of communication.

• Our target market consists of a very large number of customers so a mass
communication channel such as TV and Online vehicles are likely to be more
effective. To reach a widely distributed market it may be necessary to use a
channel with a wider channel such as those having national or international
product. The purpose of communication is also important. If the communication
is just to inform the customer, then non-personal and non-interactive channel
such as TV and Online Vehicles advertisement may be good enough.

• Internet is a medium which is now becoming increasingly popular. It is cost
effective for a small customer base as well as a big customer base irrespective
of the location or extent of dispersion of customer.

• Magazine and printed media are recognised for their potential on public
segmentation. They have multiple readers and are a really good medium
because of their high information content and longevity. Also, they permit a high
quality reproduction on their ads.

We can consider in our media plan some speciﬁc vehicles:
Print: Magazine: Mens and Womens magazines (Sports illustrated, Cosmopolitan)

Television: Fox, ESPN, Comedy Central.
Internet: Youtube, Facebook, Twitter, Google.

39


MEDIA FLOWCHART

40

REFER

ENCES

41


Axe brand website. (2012). Retrieved from http://www.theaxeeffect.com/

Axe. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.unileverusa.com/brands-in-action/detail/
AXE-/298199/

Axe brand body spray - marketing analysis. (04 A). Retrieved from http://
www.docstoc.com/docs/33437214/AXE-Brand-Body-Spray---Marketing-
Analysis

Belch, G., Belch, M., & Angelo, M. (2005). Consumer behaviour and target
audience decisions. McGraw Hill Ryerson. Retrieved from http://
highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/dl/free/0070974284/605841/
sample_ch03.pdf

Guthri, M., & Rose, L. (2011, 08 11). Testosterone tv: What shows are most
watched by men?. Retrieved from http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/
television-shows-men-watch-222356

Kad , A., Malhotra, A., Yadav, C., Goel, M., & Sabarwal, S. (2010).
Communication campaign: Axe deodorant. Retrieved from http://
www.scribd.com/doc 27164264/AXE-Report.

JEZEBEL. (2007). Dove versus axe : Is unilever hypocritical ? . Retrieved from
http://jezebel.com/310320/dove-vs-axe-is-unilever-hypocritical

JEZEBEL. (2007). Axe anarchy . Retrieved from http://jezebel.com/axeanarchy

Neff, J. (2012). As more marketers go green, fewer consumers willing to pay for it .
Retrieved from http://adage.com/article/news/marketers-
greenfewerconsumers-pay/237377/

No Author. (2012, August 4). Retrieved from http://www.frankwbaker.com/
thirtysecadcosts.htm

Plan marketing axe. (2010, February 17). Retrieved from http://www.slideshare.net
anafts/plan-marketing-axe

The sports illustrated source: marketing and sales center. (n.d.). Retrieved from
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/adinfo/si/ratecardframe.html

Unilever. (n.d.). www.unilever.com. Retrieved from http://www.unilever.com/brands-
in-action/detail/Axe/292063/

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Advertising Media Plan Project "Axe"

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