CP+B Canada matches humour with product’s sexualized brand
Unilever Canada’s Axe brand is providing Canadian males with its own irreverent – and highly sexualized – perspective on history, social phenomena and even Shakespeare through a dedicated online channel.
Developed by CP+B Canada, the Axe Channel is housed on Facebook, Axe.ca, YouTube and Break.com (the only paid media component), all sites that are favourites of the brand’s core target of young males.
The Axe Channel consists of so-called “bite sized” content that encompasses comedic videos and photos, as well as written lifestyle content devoted to pursuits such as fashion.
“Axe is a brand that, as it moves into the social space, needs to stay very relevant, very fresh,” said CP+B president and CEO Shelley Brown in an interview with Marketing. “It needs to be in a state of continual renewal.”
Brown said CP+B’s mandate is to develop brands that do more than simply push their messages to consumers, but participate in and help shape the culture that is relevant to their target audience.
Content created by CP+B for the channel includes a video series entitled “Modern Day Phenomena Explained by Old People,” in which older people provide their take on things such as “friends with benefits” and “social media.”
Another series, “Boring serious stuff that’s suddenly strangely fascinating,” pairs verbal descriptions of things such as the Oxford Comma and the Beaver Wars of the 17th Century – all rife with sexual innuendo – with video of attractive women in various states of undress.
The channel’s content will be updated on a regular basis, said Brown. “We want it to be a social space where guys can always find something new and interesting,” she said.
Brown said a dedicated site enables Axe to determine how it presents itself to its target audience. “It really is a place where the Axe point of view can really be front and centre and where we can really make it sing,” said Brown. “For this brand, that is absolutely critical.”
The channel debuted June 29 and has reached 3.1 million views.
“It’s a testament to the power of the Axe brand, but also to the kind of work that brands need to be doing today – where they’re really engaging in the social conversation as opposed to firing messages out there that really don’t connect with popular culture,” she said.
