An Example of How Marketing Can Sell Almost Anything to Almost Anyone

Marketing is supposed to present a product, service or company to it's target market in such a way as to be appealing right?

The basic specifications of a product or service are boring and undesirable, so it's the job of marketing to tell the story of how those features become benefits and ultimate what positive difference the product or service will make.

I came across a pearl of an advert recently and had to share it.

Here it is:

The 'Axe' brand is what we call Lynx in the UK, the men's personal hygiene and deodorant lines. 'The Lynx Effect' in the UK is 'The Axe Affect' in the USA.

I came across this advert in XXL magazine, an American hip hop magazine, the perfect place to promote a product that sells itself as helping you attract women the more you use it.

This advert appears to make the assumption that you are already using Axe products, have experienced the effects and now need this product next.

Looking at it and without reading my analysis or the marketing spin you'll see that the advert has a picture of what I would have previously referred to as a 'bath or shower scrunchy'.

I.e. a delicate sponge type product for ladies to wash themselves with.

The typical representation of a scrunchy is unlikely to appeal to the core market of males Axe targets.

So what did they do? They made the scrunchy into 'The Axe Detailer Shower Tool'.

Absolutely brilliant if you ask me. And just look at it, you can see it's really just a scrunchy but they've put this rough surface on one side and made it in the most manly colour scheme imaginable (red and black).

You'll notice this same colour combination on car interiors designed to target men too.

The fact that they have used the words 'Detailer' and 'Tool' to name the product, conjure up images of polishing metal, a construction site, cranes or a car garage, all very manly.

So using the Axe Shower Tool on your body is like detailing a car or fixing some heavy machinery, again very manly indeed.

Look at the two labels pointing to either side of the product. On the right where it points to the soft scrunchy side it says 'Washes lipstick off your neck' and the other side is labeled as 'Scrubs candle wax off your chest hair'.

The advert promotes the idea that 'Axe' is effective without question and now they have come up with a product to help you deal with the aftermath.

The labels referencing lipstick on the neck and candle wax also suggest a kinky image, which if you've seen the TV adverts, fits in with the dominating sexual theme.

Finally at the bottom they top it off with those two lines of text which I (as a marketing professional) interpreted as shots aimed at personality traits.

The Axe Shower Tool is almost like the perfectly rounded guy that will have the maximum appeal to women.

It has 'a rough side for your tough guy parts', suggesting women like a man who can protect them and 'a soft side for your sensitive guy parts' suggesting that the ideal man has some sensitivity too.

I don't know if you think this is over analysing but this is what we do as marketeers, we help you sell more of your products and services by dressing them up to have the maximum appeal to the market you want to sell them to.

I just thought this was an excellent example of a product which is really just a sponge, which no one has any urgency to go out and buy, into a concept of sex appeal that has a much higher chance of attracting buyers.

Hats off to them.