My favourite brand growth story – Axe/Lynx

This is the last story to catch up for the WTS? book. And its my fave story of brand growth…

Anyone can grow a business by launching a new product or service, at least in the short-term. After all, there is what Jane in WTS? calls "the gift from the God of Marketing called ‘pipe-line fill’": this is the sales you get from stuffing the supermarket shelves full of product when you launch something new. It gives you good early sales results.

However, what about growing the brand when you can change nothing. Nada. No new products. No change to the packaging. All you can do is better "activate" what you have. Now, that needs creativity.

The Axe/Lynx story comes from Latin America. The team saw that consumption per capita in one market (Argentina) was much higher than another (Brazil). When they dug into this, the reason seemed to be young guys spraying their whole body, not just under their arms. This led to a campaign called "Spray More, Get More" which encouraged all-over usage with the promise of, er, more sex.

The brilliant ad has a bloke spraying Lynx/Axe on the coatstand, and
his girlfriend pole dancing round it as a result. He then sprays it
down his chest towards his, er, private parts. And the girl follows.

This built the business quite significantly, making the core business stronger. Much better quality growth than that from adding new products.

Some inspiration from this:
– Make sure every brief for communication starts with a business issue
– Specifically, What are the opportunities to increase consumption, or get new users?
– And what are the "triggers" that will drive these changes in consumption?
– Then, find an impactful and entertaining way to deliver this message