“What is Mobile Number?” – a typical Govinda song which had him crooning all over the place for getting Karishma Kapoor’s mobile number. Little did we know at that time, that he is asking the same damn thing that every guy wants of his favorite ‘kudi’. David Dhawan surely might not have thought of getting this thing researched and implemented from a marketing perspective, but there was somebody else who did this.
The Men’s Deodorant market is cluttered with a number of players jostling with each other for space. New entrants are getting churned out every now and then with most of them are playing around the same theme: Apply my Deodorant, Swoon the girls around you! So, in such a situation, what did the supposedly big daddy of Men’s deodorant market, ‘AXE’ do? Well, they gave people an experience that would linger on their minds forever, whenever they think of buying a deodorant.
A recurring story in small town research was that a signal of potential romance is when a girl ‘carelessly’ throws crumpled paper near a guy – a seeming piece of trash that actually contains gold - her carefully penned mobile number. Access to this private line of communication allowed the guy to have suggestive and flirtatious conversations not possible to have in public. Hence getting a girl’s number is a huge affirmation of attraction. A girl offering her number on her own makes the ultimate fantasy even more intense!
This insight lead to the idea of the campaign called - “Numberitis”
The Plan:
HUL actually made the guy experience his fantasy – ‘a flirtatious and sexy engagement with a girl’ and the mobile phone was offered center stage. The average Ramu, Shamu and Dhamu now got the opportunity to talk to a hot Axe angel over the phone. They also had the experience of waking up every morning to the sexy voice of a hot Axe angel. The campaign encouraged guys to call a number and talk to an Axe angel.
The Men’s Deodorant market is cluttered with a number of players jostling with each other for space. New entrants are getting churned out every now and then with most of them are playing around the same theme: Apply my Deodorant, Swoon the girls around you! So, in such a situation, what did the supposedly big daddy of Men’s deodorant market, ‘AXE’ do? Well, they gave people an experience that would linger on their minds forever, whenever they think of buying a deodorant.
A recurring story in small town research was that a signal of potential romance is when a girl ‘carelessly’ throws crumpled paper near a guy – a seeming piece of trash that actually contains gold - her carefully penned mobile number. Access to this private line of communication allowed the guy to have suggestive and flirtatious conversations not possible to have in public. Hence getting a girl’s number is a huge affirmation of attraction. A girl offering her number on her own makes the ultimate fantasy even more intense!
This insight lead to the idea of the campaign called - “Numberitis”
The Plan:
HUL actually made the guy experience his fantasy – ‘a flirtatious and sexy engagement with a girl’ and the mobile phone was offered center stage. The average Ramu, Shamu and Dhamu now got the opportunity to talk to a hot Axe angel over the phone. They also had the experience of waking up every morning to the sexy voice of a hot Axe angel. The campaign encouraged guys to call a number and talk to an Axe angel.
The Implementation:
The Seed Phase:
Researches were carried out in various cities and the findings were shown in the form of provocative headlines on how women give out their phone numbers to guys and how they use mobile phones in interacting with guys. This built curiosity and set the stage for the next phase.
Numberitis Phase:
A fictional disease called “Numberitis” was bought to life. PR was used to sensationalize market research findings and made the topic of exchanging mobile numbers a hot topic.
Launch Phase:
This included launch of TV ads and outdoor advertising. The ads had women giving out numbers to guys applying AXE deodorants in various ways, be it ketchup inside a loaf of bread or blowing it up on the glass window of a car. The phenomenon was catching up.
Engage Phase: Once people got those numbers and called them up, they were greeted by sexy, cool voices of Axe angels who behaved flirtatiously with them.
Re-engage Phase:
To take the experience one step ahead, the Axe angel also offered free wake-up call service, where the guy would be woken up by the angel for a week. This ensured that the consumer had continuous connection with the brand. Besides this, axe ringtones were up for grabs and there were opportunities to win I-Pods and I-Phones.
All this resulted into tremendous success for HUL's Axe. Engagement with the consumers increased in a tremendous way, leading to increased market share.
So, the next time you keep your eyes and ears open for any Bollywood numbers. Who knows, just another idea of making the consumers experience something unique might just spring up!
All this resulted into tremendous success for HUL's Axe. Engagement with the consumers increased in a tremendous way, leading to increased market share.
So, the next time you keep your eyes and ears open for any Bollywood numbers. Who knows, just another idea of making the consumers experience something unique might just spring up!
Good one!
ReplyDeleteJust shows how HUL is a step ahead of its competitors (read P&G, who may have the best brands)-but when it comes to execution and brand-building, HUL wins hands-down!!!!
BTW, i absolutely loved that fact - 87% women in Mumbai ... ;-)
Well, I don't really know about whether HUL is ahead in terms of brand building or in terms of mere titillation. "Call-Girls"? Seriously? I would be offended if my boyfriend / husband / brother woke up every morning to an AXE girl.
ReplyDelete@sowmya:
ReplyDelete207364 is the number of likes on their facebook fan page...
May be girls would not like it...but they have connected well with their target segment..