AXE: a new branding level in men's cosmetic market

Positioning a brand in the cosmetic market normally focus on the emotion of their customer. If Nivea Men aims to your feeling, on the other hands, AXE targets to women feeling. It seems to be weird when we ignore our customer emotion but actually, they are aiming to the post-emotion which is also a purpose of man when they use a cosmetic product: the attraction to the opposite side. I could say the way AXE does branding actually an enhancement compares to their opponents.

Looking deeply in AXE's market, their potential customers are young men from 18-25, with a normal aspect, which is true for the majority. Consequently, customer insight will be the coolness, attention from women and last but not least, the price should be acceptable for most of the people. AXE mainly distributed their products through third parties or online stores to cut off the cost. Instead, they invested a lot in advertising, both money and creativity. As a young single man, I was attracted for the first time on AXE's advertisements. In most of their advertisements, the main actor was normal, neither charming nor muscling, but they are extremely attractive to women. The secret is behind AXE products. No matter how you are, with AXE, you will be the hottest.

The AXE effect: great strategy on man cosmetics

AXE is not the only one who choose this strategy but in my opinion, they did the best. Let's take Romano as an example, another brand for man. In their advertisements, a gentleman using Romano perfume will be more attractive to a lady. This could be true, could be a desire of a man, but it is a little bit far from reality. In fact, when we suit up, we have already been more manly, more attractive. In the other words, the way Romano create their character, fading the effects by themselves.

There are hundreds of way to branding and from my perspective, aim at emotion is the effective one. Do research on customer insight will have us turn on the right decision because depending on the market, the strategy will be varied. AXE is just one of the examples that I feel the effectiveness of branding.

NGUYEN Minh Duc