Unilever launched a campaign with digital agency Razorfish to promote a new line of Axe body spray called Anarchy. The campaign centers around a YouTube based graphic novel that is being written in real time, which the company is promoting through its Facebook, Twitter and YouTube pages.
The campaign is targeted to 18-to-24-year-olds, said Barret Roberts, Axe senior brand manager at Unilever, via email. “With more than 2.3 million fans across Axe social channels, the brand saw the opportunity to engage fans about subjects they’re passionate about and engage them directly by crowd-sourcing ideas and plot lines,” Roberts said.
Fans can help write the novel, which is called Anarchy: The Graphic Novel, by sharing their ideas about the story on the Axe social media pages. By doing so, fans share these posts across their social networks. The idea is to spread the story virally. “Fans will vote and submit ideas across social platforms, with new panels updated every couple of days, keeping the content fresh and evolving,” Roberts said.
The new fragrance is available for both men and women. This is the first time that the brand has targeted women and the campaign was designed to speak to both sexes. “The Axe brand has been about sparking attraction between guys and girls,” Roberts said. “The launch of Anarchy For Him and For Her centers on the power of attraction created by the two irresistible fragrances.”
Aspen Comics and comic book author Scott Lobdell also participated in the effort with Razorfish, which signed a formal partnership with Unilever in September. The goal of the partnership is to drive growth for various Unilever brands including Axe, Surf and Vaseline through campaigns that incorporate new technologies and adapt to consumer behaviors.
