AXE brand identity, BRAND CAMPAIGN, and OWNED STORYTELLING

Known for its one-note, guy-gets-the-girl narrative, AXE needed to contemporize its cultural mojo. Enter Find Your Magic: a revised brand thesis that touts individuality as the new sexy and attraction as connection, not conquest.

In a three-year program, our bottom-up, human-first effort remapped AXE’s brand DNA through social and experiential ideas that embraced a more fluid, more progressive masculinity.

The program was bolstered by the creation of the AXE Collective, a mentorship initiative led by John Legend and headlined by partnerships with the CFDA, New York Fashion Week: Men’s, the Toronto International Film Festival, and South by Southwest Music Festival. Each brand moment truly invested in communities, granting young men and women the time, space, and resources to find their magic and put it on display.

New York Fashion Week ACTIVATION

In partnership with the CFDA, we inaugurated the AXE Collective by connecting a group of five aspiring menswear designers with an esteemed team of mentors, including designer Billy Reid, Esquire creative director Nick Sullivan, and sartorial icon John Legend.

For three consecutive years, we inducted five new Collective members, each receiving mentorship consults, long-term financial backing, and the opportunity to debut their lines at New York Fashion Week showcases.

Additionally, we captured on-the-ground content featuring the attendees of each Collective showcase, bringing real guys’ sartorial prowess to AXE social channels.

EDITORIAL CONTENT

Bucking gender perception, Google search data revealed that men’s interest in hairstyling had exceeded that of women’s. Harnessing that momentum, we partnered with Google to reverse-engineer a behavioral SEO content strategy.

Disseminated via Instagram, YouTube, Snapchat, and beyond, the tutorial video series pedestals real guys, their real styles, and the AXE products that support their looks.

Toronto International Film Festival ACTIVATION

Extending the path-altering power of the AXE Collective to filmmaking, we gave three vanguard directors the opportunity to debut their original short films during Toronto International Film Festival.

Mentored by filmmaker, screenwriter, and actor Mark Duplass and Oscar winner John Legend, each new Collective member screened their work as part of the prestigious TIFF Vanguard Honours Programme.

SXSW ACTIVATION

In collaboration with SPIN Magazine, we gave five rising musicians the chance to share the stage and perform with John Legend, Rae Sremmurd, Alex Newell, Gallant, and AlunaGeorge at the annual AXE Collective #FindYourMagic event at SXSW Music Festival.

SUPER BOWL SOCIAL CAMPAIGN

Amplifying AXE’s Super Bowl TVC, we ignited a real-time conversation around the evolution of masculinity, and the revolution of the AXE brand.

Customized to niche interest cohorts and even individual people, our content drove 10.2M+ impressions on Twitter as well as millions of additional YouTube views in a matter of hours. 

owned social content

We produced 50+ pieces of creative content per month to run in organic and paid capacities across AXE social channels. This always-on content was devised in reaction to real-time cultural trends and intended to diversify the brand’s historic portrayal of men.