Term paper

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TERM PAPER
THE MARKETING STRATEGY OF
AXE DEODORANT
Submitted to,
Professor Kishore Thomas John
On
September 16, 2014
In partial fulfillment of the requirements of the
course
Marketing Management
By
Nivin Vinoi
P14199
PGDM-B

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY……………………...…………………………...….3
ANALYSIS …………………………………………………..............................4
INTRODUCTION.……………………………………………………….....…..4
SEGMENTATION………………………………………………………….…..6
TARGETING…………………………………………………………………...6
POSITIONING……………………………………………………….................7
PROMOTIONAL MIX………………………………………………................9
Advertising….………………………………………………....................9
Sales promotion tools...…………………………………………………10
Interactive Marketing…………………………………………………...10
Games and mobile applications………………………………………....10
Events and Experiences…………………………………………………11
Publicity………………………………………………………………....11
Campaigns as part of promotion………………………………………...11
COMPETITIORS……………………………………………………………...12
CONCLUSION ……………………………………………………..................14
REFERENCES………………………………………………………………...14

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
This term paper is concentrated on Deo Market and the marketing strategies
implemented by Axe Deodorant, one of the personal care brand from Hindustan
Unilever Limited (HUL). And also it is one of the best-selling brand of Unilever.
Axe, the deodorantthat is considered cool, fashionable and stylish by young men
is the world leader in male toiletries. Axe has a mix that is completely harmonised
globally – from its propositionand communication to the product, as available on
the shelf. Axe has become the leading male deodorant brand in India within just
one year of its launch. A study on its STP model and its promotional model is
done here. The competition faced by axe from the local competitors like fogg,
wildstone, addiction etc. is also been analysed here.

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ANALYSIS
INTRODUCTION
Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) is an Indian consumer goods company,
headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra. It is owned by Anglo-Dutch Company
Unilever which owns a 52% controlling share in HUL. HUL's products include
foods, Homecare Products, personal care products and Water Purifier Brand.
HUL was established in 1933 as Lever Brothers and, in 1956, became known as
Hindustan Lever Limited, as a outcome of a merger between Lever Brothers,
Hindustan Vanaspati Mfg. Co. Ltd. and United Traders Ltd. Among this category
Axe comes in the personal care brand.
Axe (also known as Lynx in the United Kingdom, the Republic of
Ireland, Australia, New Zealand and People's Republic of China) is a brand of
male grooming products, owned by the British–Dutch company Unilever and
marketed towards the young male demographic. Axe was launched in France in
1983 byUnilever. It was inspired by another of Unilever's brands, Impulse. It has
been there in the market for the last 26 years and is currently the best-selling
brand ofUnilever, available in more than 60 countries around the world. By 1990s
axe becamethe leading men's deodorantbrand in Europe and was popular in India
in the Grey market (available in duty paid shops). HLL may have launched this
brand in India inspired by the volume of Axe sold in the Grey market. Axe's lead

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productis the fragranced aerosol deodorant bodyspray. The brand also includes
deodorantstick, deodorantroll-on, anti-perspirant aerosolspray(called Axe Dry),
and anti-perspirant stick (also called Axe Dry), soaps, aftershaves and shower
gels. In January 2012, Unilever launched its first axe/Lynx productforwomen in
the United Kingdom as part of a worldwide expansion of the previously men’s-
only brand. The Line of products is named "Axe/Lynx Anarchy".
Axe deodorant was launched in India during 1999. At that time, the deo market
was a nascent one with an estimated market size of Rs 72 crore. HUL had the
brands Denim and Rexona and was ruling the market. Axe was priced at a
premium above the Denim brand which was positioned as a male deodorant
brand. Axe, the deodorant has Tagline “The Axe Effect”, promoted as the
naughtiest brand in the Indian market. The brand is targeted at male aged 16-35.
All its campaigns revolve round this central theme of Seduction where girl makes
the first move. The brand assumes that Men like to be seduced and positioned as
a ‘weapon of seduction’.

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SEGMENTATION
TARGETING
Axe concentrates only on a single-segment (male 16-35). It mainly targets all
customers who are ‘Young at heart’. The competitive advantage of this brand is
its complete monopoly over this brand proposition. Through its ads, it persuades
youngster’s mind that using this deo will help to attract girls, but it is just that
they present the ad using humor and made something that attracts people very
easily. It’s rarely found that any India centric ad for Axe is aired on Television.
Usually they just import the promotions meaning, the company just ran the ads
which was popular in the Europe and other markets. They believe that Indian
consumers take the foreign commercials without any difficulty. Recently for a

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change, Axe decided to go local in its promotional strategy and roped in the
current Bollywood heartthrob Ranbir Kapoor to endorse the brand. The news
came as a surprise since Axe never ran a campaign using a celebrity in India. Axe
launched its new variant Axe Blast with the new celebrity endorsement.
POSITIONING
The company extensively uses TV ads and conducts many campaigns.
Consumers associate a lifestyle of cool clubs, cool music and cool fashion with
Axe. The youth view it as an icon which introduces many 'firsts' to their world of
music and dance – like the first "World's Longest Dance Party" and the first ever
“Axe Voodoo Island Party”. The biggest strength of this brand is the underlying
message that the brand users are high on confidence and always go for the Axe.
It also ensures that customers are constantly engaged with new fragrances. Some
latest editions they introduced are Dark Temptation, Pulse, Provoke, Peace, Click,
Apollo, Music Star, Dimension, Gold Temptation, etc. They also launches a lot
of limited edition fragrances.
Axe is a marketing phenomenon. This brand knows how to keep excitement
ticking in the market. One example is the launch of Axe 3 deo in 2009. This is a
unique innovative product where the brand asks the consumer to use two Axe
Deos together to make a new fragrance. So Axe 3 comes in a combo-packoftwo
fragrances and the consumer can make a third one by spraying the two deos
together. Axe 3 was launched in other markets in 2007 as a limited edition

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product. A typical Axe 3 packs contains two deos marked 1 & 2. These cans
should be sprayed together for a new fragrance. This is a product launched to
keep the excitement going. That is the purposeof limited editions. All those Axe
fans will try out this new productand competitors will have tough time matching
this brand. Axe has always been an unconventional brand. These seemingly
outrageous innovations are in line with the brand's core positioning. And these
launches gives enough reasons for Axe to advertise and that keeps the brand on
top of the share of mind.
The brand has started its Internet based marketing initiative in India with Axe
Land which involved a virtual trip to the Axe world using link ‘theaxeeffect.com’.
They are also effectively utilizing the social networking websites like Facebook,
Twitter, and Google Plus for their ads and publicities. Its marketing strategy is
always known as "Adventurous Marketing”, because this brand deals with girls
and seduction. Besides TV commercials, the brand also uses print ads with
Polaroid photos to its maximum impact. Axe is a classic example of global
branding effort. Through this effort of campaigning they have created a huge
global image. The axe deodorant always comes in stylish bottle, because of the
packaging, it can be easily recognized. The packaging of axe itself has created
brand image for it.

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PROMOTIONAL MIX
Promotion is an important part of marketing mix. Through promotion company
communicate with the consumers about their product. To communicate with the
consumers company spends heavily on advertisements and promotional
activities.
Advertising
To weave the axe brand into the culture the company extensively uses TV
commercials, print ads, billboards etc. Axe commercials are also a big hit on
INTEGRATED MASS COMMUNICATION
ADVERTISING SALES
PROMOTION
PUBLIC
RELATION
INTARECTIVE
MARKETING
AD
PRINT AD’STV AD’SONLINE AD’S

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YouTube. e.g.: to promote its Dark Temptation flavour they showed an ad in
which a boy who has used Axe deo is passing by the roadside and all the girls
around are getting attracted by the chocolate fragrance of the deo.
Sales promotion tools
Discount: To increase the sales the company sometimes slashes down the price
of 150ml bottle does. Through online shopping also we can get Axe deos with
discounts.
Offer: The Company also provide 20% extra in most of the varieties of Axe to
provide more to their customers. They also advertise through online gaming’s
available on their website.
Interactive Marketing
They have a dedicated website-www.theaxeeffect.com for promotion.
Advertisements of Axe are visible all over the web in relevant and web social
networking sites.
Games and mobile applications
Axe launched “THE AXE EFFECT GAMES” in 2009. They are mainly online
flash games build for their promotion. Ax also introduced “AXE EFFECT
MOBILE APPLICATIONS” for promotional functions. Some examples for Axe
mobile applications are Axe wake up service, Axe googly etc.

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Events and Experiences
AXE organizes upbeat events for its new product launches and it follows this
strategy worldwide. Axe has sponsored a wide range of other events like youth
festivals, music shows. Forexample they conducts acontestto win “A trip to Las
Vegas”. Forthat, online banner ads pushed guys to play the online game and enter
the contest. Axe also conducted “Ax Boat Party Contest” in India.
Publicity
Axe has the right storytelling element and the video reinforces the brand's
provocative and contrarian personality. It has always projected its products as
cool, fashionable and stylish. Word of Mouth Marketing is also very important.
Due to good promotional strategies by Axe have always been the talk ofthe town.
Campaigns as part of promotion
 CALL ME: Targeted at the young urban males, the cool and youthful
brand is positioned as one that helps guys get ahead in the mating game.
As part of this campaign two ads where released showing girls swooning
over Axe men and giving them their telephone numbers. Both films end
with the girls giving the boys the number 09987333333.Through a series
of ads in print, outdoors and television, viewers are being encouraged to
call this very same number.

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 CHOCOLATE MONTH OF THE YEAR: Axe launched another
campaign in November 2008 to promote its new variant Axe Dark
Temptation in India. It was undertaken in association with Yahoo. It was
24 hour online campaign in which a dark man was placed in the centre of
the www.yahoo.co.in homepage on 14th November. This campaign was
mainly used to capture the attention ofthe young internet users who visited
the Yahoo webpage. This campaign again highlights the importance of
internet as a medium of communication especially if the target audience is
young.
COMPETITIORS
The main competitors against Axe are Fogg, Park Avenue, Engage and
Wildstone.
One year back, Axe commanded a higher share of about 18-19% in Indian deo
market. But now it is relegated to No.3 position after Fogg and Wildstone. Fogg
entered into the market with a new technique called No-Gas proposition. The no-
gas segment is now growing at 30% and is already worth around Rs 250-300

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crore in the Rs 2500 crore deo market. This segment is now named as body-
perfume segment.
HUL was very slow in reacting to Fogg's entry into the market. Recently Axe
launched its answer to the competition- Axe Signature Collection Deo. It was
surprising that HUL which is supposedly the best marketing machine in India
took so long to respond to competition. Axe Signature deo demands a 3X times
more perfume. The brand has the tagline " Don't Fade Away". Axe Signature is
now running its campaign across the channels. The television commercial retains
the seduction proposition but is now subtle with that message. The message the
new variant is pushing is the long-lasting fragrance. The " Don't Fade Away "
proposition is smart because that idea is different from the current market leader
Fogg's no-gas USP (Unique Selling Proposition). So Axe is now telling the
consumers that it is better than others because other fragrances fade away. The
packing resembles Fogg Black Collection cannot be wished away as a
coincidence. Priced at Rs 225, Axe has priced this variant lower than the
competitor. The launch of Signature is expected to arrest the growth of Fogg and
Wildstone. Since this is a launch from Axe, old loyalists are bound to try it. Rest
is all dependent on the delivery of the promise.

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CONCLUSION
Through this study I came to know about various important aspects of Deo
Market and how one of the leading brand of deodorantAXE, promote its product
and tries to retain its customers through: advertisement, public relation,
interactive marketing and sales promotion, which is very important for any brand
to maintain its good position in the market. The STP (Segmentation, Targeting,
and Positioning) model described above helps us comprehend the marketing
process for Axe at a much more granular level. Through this study we find out
how HUL effectively uses the 4P approach (Productofferings, place, promotion
used, and price).
REFERENCES
1. Philip Kotler, Kevin Lane Keller, Abraham Kozhy, Mithileshwar Jha
(2013). Identifying Market Segments and Targets. Marketing Management
14e, 190-201.
2. http://marketingpractice.blogspot.in
3. www.theaxeeffect.com
4. http://www.thehindubusinessline.com
5. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Axe_(brand)
6. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindustan_Unilever

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