Scent, storytelling & strategy: the genius behind Axe’s latest campaign

There’s a moment in a recent Power of Sweetness Lynx ad (as the deodorant brand is known in the UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand; Axe elsewhere) that shook me out of a slump of feeling dispirited about the state of ad creativity. It’s an occupational hazard, but it’s been a dusty long while watching ads that are, at best, fine. At worst... well, I don't want to be downer, so let's just leave that there.

And then I saw Dog. In the spot, a sweet-looking Lassie takes against a Lynxed-up young man who’s courting its owner (who veers from comical sniffs of her suitor’s clothes to making small talk). As soon as she’s out of shot, the animal goes for the lad. Okay, I’m thinking, I get this, I like this, this is a funny premise… and then… something magic happens. 

 Seamlessly, suddenly, the real dog is now a man in a dog suit, and the dog-man is wrestling the poor schlub and smacking him about the face. You can clearly see the dog-man’s human legs in the hairy suit. It’s so silly. It’s so sudden. It’s so odd. It’s so perfect. There are two other ads in the series that play wonderfully with the same comedic conceit, where a baby turns violent in a ball pit and teddy bears stage a miniature coup d’état.

Re-finding the funny

Now, I once was a grubby little teenage boy, so the waft of Lynx is a Proustian sense memory of sweaty changing rooms, the jostle for status… and shame. Oh the stink of shame. This was the 90s, and for me it had to be Java – Voodoo and Africa were a little bit too punchy for a forgettable inbetweener such as I. The promise of the Lynx Effect, and over a decade’s worth of iconic and memorable advertising made quite a mark. Richard Huntington wrote in 2016 of the long-running Lynx Effect ads, as ‘quite simply one of the greatest campaigns in advertising history – testament to the genius of Bartle Bogle Hegarty and to the culture of British creativity that conceived it’. He then concedes that the ads ‘ended up saying too much about its audience. If you bought Lynx, you were a randy little boy who couldn’t get laid for love nor money. Not to mention that the work had a nasty habit of objectifying women.’ As the Overton Window shifted, so did Axe/Lynx, but lost its way in the process. As Caroline Gregory, global brand director for Axe, told me in a recent interview, the brand had ‘struggled to find the humour’. 

But now, in partnership with LOLA MullenLowe and IPG, they’ve not just found it; they’re diving headfirst into the gloriously absurd. Importantly, underneath the absurd scenarios lies a fundamental understanding of the target market. Axe recognised that young men still grapple with self-doubt in moments of attraction. As Gregory revealed, what they discovered was that while they might feel unsure of what to do, even a small gesture of effort, like using fragrance, can be significant – an insight that underpins the Power of Fragrance brand platform that launched so strongly last year with the Robbery and Funeral spots.

Follow the joke Creatively, the team has embraced a philosophy where, as LOLA Mullenlowe ECD Tomas Ostiglia puts it, ‘when we laugh out loud about an idea, we all follow that path’. This is everything. This is why the ads are so great: they choose the funny over the safe. Idiosyncrasy wins. And it isn’t just slapstick; it’s comedy born from a deep understanding of human emotion, amplified to ludicrous extremes. As David Ogilvy himself preached, ‘You can’t bore people into buying your product.’ 

It’s a hoary cliché at this point, but I’ll mutter a version of it here to lead to my next point: ‘Ooooh, it’s ever so hard marketing to young people these days, what with TikTok and Roblox and Taylor Swift’. Gregory herself acknowledged the challenge of reaching a young male audience, stating they are ‘not interested in advertising, exceptionally difficult to reach, and cutting through with them is difficult’. 

For many brands, striking the right chord with this target is a real struggle. However, Axe/Lynx's confident embrace of surreal, off-the-wall humour indicates a brand deeply attuned to its target audience's preferences and makes effective engagement look like second nature. I can't wait to see what the creative team behind Dog/Baby/Bear come up with next.

Read an excerpt of the interview here. The full Insight & Strategy interview awaits all our IQ subscribers here.

Adam Richmond, Deputy Editor, Contagious

Campaign of the Week /

New Zealand pharmacy brands Unichem and Life Pharmacy (part of Green Cross Health, a primary healthcare provider) are brazenly playing up the ‘awkward’ to promote their delivery partnership with Uber Eats. 

The outdoor ad campaign, launched on 4 March, uses real-time purchase data to power location-based digital billboards – with each digital ad showcasing Uber Eats orders for laxatives, anti-gas pills, condoms, and other too-mortifying-to-mention health items.

What makes Awkboards particularly interesting is how they transforms everyday purchase data into engaging visuals that feel immediate and relevant. Knowing that someone nearby has ordered diarrhoea pills or the like makes the ads eye-catching while reinforcing the message that customers can discreetly order their pharmaceutical goods for delivery without embarrassment. 

The campaign, developed in collaboration with FCB Aotearoa, has already seen impressive results, with an 82% increase in sales of ‘awkward items’ through Uber Eats since its launch.

 Read the full Campaign of the Week article here. Contagious.

Anderson bids farewell Loewe /

The rumours were true – Loewe's creative director Jonathan Anderson announced his departure from the luxury fashion house this week after a revolutionary 11-year tenure.

The clues were there for those who were looking: there was no traditional runway show at the last Paris Fashion Week and the creative director was noticeably absent from Instagram before recently uploading a series of pictures to the platform reflecting on his best moments at Loewe, titled ‘Past present future’ (Parts 1-5). In the morning of 17 March, Anderson posted a statement making his exit official. ‘They say all good things must come to an end, but I disagree,’ he concluded. ‘While my own chapter draws to a close, Loewe’s story will continue for many years to come and I will look on with pride.’

Since his arrival at the Spanish brand, the Northern Irish designer has turned what was still a relatively niche and dusty heritage label (whose name most couldn’t pronounce) into the hottest fashion brand in the world. 

 Under his creative stewardship, Loewe has become a fully fledged cultural brand, synonymous with modern craftsmanship, viral designs and eclectic while always tasteful collaborations with artists ranging from small Japanese ceramicists to famed film director Luca Guadagnino. Connecting with both pop culture and highbrow art, Loewe is a great example of how to be different things to different people while retaining a strong coherent identity.

What Anderson’s departure means for Loewe remains to be seen, but its future will likely depend on whether his successor can maintain consistency. Loewe’s ascent wasn’t the result of a quick-fire strategy – it was a decade in the making (or 178 years, depending on how you look at it, as the house was founded in 1846). When Jonathan Anderson took the helm in 2013, it took time to refine Loewe’s voice and artistic output before it acquired the cultural stature it holds today.

As the fashion industry undergoes rapid changes and unpredictability, brand consistency will be crucial yet not guaranteed. Let’s hope Loewe doesn’t lose its vision meticulously crafted by Anderson, a true designer-curator with an impeccable eye.

 Manon Royet, Senior Researcher, Contagious

Enter this /

There's still a chance to win prime ad space across the TfL network, with two weeks of exposure to millions of commuters.

The deadline for entry to the Look Ahead competition has been extended and is now less than one week away (26 March), so don't delay submitting your ad campaign pitch to have your work showcased in some of London’s most iconic locations — Bond Street, Tottenham Court Road, and Farringdon Elizabeth line stations.

Whether your idea fits in Look Ahead OOH or the inaugural Creativity for Good category, we want to see work that makes an impact — something that moves people and drives change.

Plus, with some of the most influential names in the industry on the judging panel, this is your moment to shine. For insider tips on mastering the competition, catch the write-up of our How to Win webinar from 5 March here. Don’t let this opportunity pass you by.

Submit your entry by 26 March and make your creative vision a reality — whether it’s a game-changing OOH activation or a campaign that sparks real change. Enter today.

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