The Affari Edge Blog

When people think about the biggest day in advertising, they immediately think: Super Bowl. In the next 10-20 years, there may be some competition for the standard NFL Super Bowl. There is a new trend that is slowly emerging in the sports advertising scene that has been under the radar until the past couple years. What is this ‘new Super Bowl’ you may ask? Tune into FOX this Sunday at 3pm EST and find out for yourself.

Fox is eager to present the NASCAR Daytona 500 this Sunday. Considered by drivers, fans and sports writers alike as the ‘Super Bowl of NASCAR’, the Daytona 500 continues to draw attention. In fact, FOX sold out inventory for the event over two weeks ago (a record for the network).

It’s kinda funny when you think about it. If you asked the average American to list the top five most popular sports in America, you would probably expect the NFL, MLB, NCAA FB, and possibly the NBA and NHL before you would expect NASCAR. Surprising to some, NASCAR ranks second among most watched regular season sporting events.

The Daytona 500 isn’t your ‘typical’ Super-Bowl-esk broadcast in terms of audience. While the NFL Super Bowl doesn’t discriminate in terms of demographics, the “Daytona Bowl” reaches a good amount of a specialized audience. Many advertisers have been trying to tap the difficult to reach audience of M18-34. The viewership rating among this age group increased last year, and is supposed to increase again this year.

Why has the Daytona 500 become so huge over the past few years? Is it because of the increased hype from ESPN? Maybe the growing ad dollars are attracting a larger audience. I believe it has a lot to do with timing. Being a huge sports fan, I find this time of the year mostly depressing. Both NCAA and Pro football season are over, which is extremely hard for most American sports fanatics to stomach. The only major sports going on at the moment are pro/college basketball and the NHL (which are all in mid-season and experiencing declines in fan-ship).

Then, two-weeks into our Super Bowl hangover, we sports fans hear of a huge event in the American sports world. Something to hold us over until March Madness beings. The Daytona 500 Bowl. Nestled in a quiet Sunday afternoon, it poses a perfect opportunity to invite over some friends, grill out and enjoy one of America’s classic pastimes.

The numbers are there. FOX even sold out the QUALIFYING event last Sunday. Usually qualifying is aired on SPEED or some other cable station. This race airs the qualifying in prime the Sunday before. While there will always be critics who contest that the sport is one-dimensional and boring, there will also always be those die-hard fans who will continue to bring large numbers to the sport and it’s viewership.

I’m not claiming that the Daytona 500 is going to become what the Super Bowl is today. But I wouldn’t be surprised if it became something similar. With the inflow of huge dollars from major corporations, attention is sure to follow. I know exactly where THIS male 18-34 will be on Sunday with about ten other peers. The funny thing is, so do those huge advertisers…

Wow! What a game! I only remember one other game in all of the years that I’ve watched the Super Bowl that the game was more exciting than the commercials.
It’s usually more like the Super Bore! What an entertaining surprise this year!
Congratulations to the New York Giants! Incredible team played by both sides.

If you’ve followed football for very many seasons, then it probably didn’t take you long to realize that the commercials were usually where the real excitement was.

I have to say that I was a little disappointed this year in the commercial realm. There weren’t a lot of spots that really stood out from the rest. In fact, the game has been over less than an hour as I write this and already I can only remember a couple.

In fact, only two spots even came to mind until I went to myspace.com/SuperBowlAds and then could remember the others that I liked enough to mention!

They are in no particular order:

Coke commercial with James Carville and former Senator Bill Frist

Budweiser spot with the Rocky theme! The Dalmatian helps the Clydesdale train to make the team!

Victoria’s Secret – great idea!

T-Mobile with Charles Barkley. Hilarious!

Bud Light giving special abilities! I especially liked the fire starter one!

The Fox promos were American Idol were also great! Check them out if you didn’t see them.

Okay, so those are my favorites! What are yours?

As we enter a new year, I can’t help but wonder what new trends will emerge in the advertising world this year. Will we see another guerrilla campaign like the Aqua Teen Hunger Force’s invasion of Boston? Will Apple continue to WOW us with its Mac vs. PC campaign (not to mention the ever popular ipod/iphone spots)? And will Starbucks finally take over some of the TV airwaves?

There are so many questions and so much speculation already built up for this year in the biz. Who is going to be the first person to actually succeed with an online campaign? Even better yet, who is going to crack the video game ad code? Will shows such as ‘I Love New York’ and ‘Flava of Love’ get the respect they (arguably) deserve from ad pros? While the content of these VH1 celebReality programs is predictable and, well, ridiculous, they continue to create buzz among younger audiences.

It is also officially time to start getting excited for the Super [advertising] Bowl. Yes, we are just about a month away from advertising’s annual celebration. Think about it: it is quite possibly the only time viewers Tivo something to actually watch the commercials, rather than fast forward through them.

I’m really excited to see what new and creative ideas emerge this year. Hopefully Super Bowl Sunday will bring about some new trends and inspire us ad pros across the nation to develop new, creative ways of growing our clients’ brands.

You know the old saying, “Be careful what you wish for”? That saying is coming down hard on broadcast radio stations and the companies that own them in the form of Arbitron’s “portable people meter” (PPM). And I say, GOOD! This is what the money-grubbing robber-barons of the radio industry deserve! At this time I should point out after seven hard years of work at the Tampa Bay cluster of Clear Channel Radio, I was fired last September due to “budget cuts” so this post may be ripe with sarcasm. Less than two months after I was released because my paltry salary was dragging down the company’s line, Clear Channel agreed to go private with a $26.7 billion sale to Bain Capital Partners and Thomas H. Lee Partners.

In the never-ending search for more money, the radio industry (not just Clear Channel) demanded a new way of accounting for its listeners. For decades the industry had been using paper diaries from Arbitron to create ratings reports four times a year (two times a year in smaller markets). Several years ago I felt the diary method was extremely outdated, and that belief continues to this day simply because people are too busy with their lives to write down every station they listen to at all hours of the day. So several years ago Arbitron came up with the PPM, a beeper-like device that detects hidden tones in a station’s signal. The PPM basically is a live, as-is ratings report. Whether a person listens to one station for eight hours, or eight stations in one hour, the ratings can be accurately reported instead of hoping the diary holder can accurately recall which stations he/she listened to at the end of the day.

There’s no doubt about the real, underlying reason why stations wanted the PPM– MONEY! With accurate, real-time ratings stations would not only know the age and gender of the listener but the listener’s habits too. How many hours does a person listen to the radio? Exactly where are they listening at? Why does a person change the station or turn off the radio? By digging deeper in to ratings, stations could adjust their rate cards and charge more to advertisers because they would know precisely how long a listener is listening. But then an interesting thing happened… radio found out how long people were listening to the radio. And the news wasn’t all good.

In the first PPM report from Houston, Texas, the most shocking revelation was that fewer people listening to radio during the morning drive (6 a.m. to 10 a.m.) as opposed to ratings derived from diaries. The data also showed just as many people listened to nights (7 p.m. to midnight) as they did morning drive. Afternoon drive (3 p.m. to 7 p.m.) was the highest-rated drive time, while weekends were listened to more than indicated in paper diaries. If this data remains accurate, it will turn the radio world upside down in that it was commonly thought that the order of most listeners (from highest to lowest) was mornings, afternoons, evenings (weekends were typically “thrown out”, never really considered as viable data in determining rates).

In New York City, stations that ranked in the top 10 during diary days have slipped 10 to 15 spots in the rankings with the PPM. Some stations say a lack of representation in minority listeners is to blame for this. But as evidenced in an article from the New York Times, Arbitron senior vice president Tom Mocarsky cites radio listening among minorities has actually gone up 67% with use of the PPM over the diary. So what does this mean?

Well first of all, Arbitron needs to make sure they properly fill the quota for minority listeners. This is something I’m sure they will do since the future of the PPM requires extremely accurate data from all demographics. Second, it means the radio industry HAS to wake up sooner or later and realize people don’t listen to one station for a long time like they used to. With competition from the Internet, mp3 players, and CDs, radio has to give the average person a compelling reason to listen in the first place and to listen longer. Radio could also help itself out by not having so many similar formats. With so many crossover artists and tight playlists it’s hard to tell one station from another. Finally, you have to have live, local, and entertaining talent to get people to listen and to listen longer.

But these are bean counters we’re talking about, and they’ll ignore good programming while counting their beans and blaming the PPM results on some outside force. But by keeping their blinders on the bean counters are merely getting their just desserts.

* A follow-up to a previous entry of mine regarding casual dining outlets. Following Applebee’s new logo it appears other chains are also trying to pump up business in the sagging industry… with coupons! One analyst calls the move one of the worst things she’s seen in 14 years in the business. Check out the story from USA Today.

While scanning today’s edition of The New York Times, I came across a rather interesting article regarding a whole new look for casual dining chain Applebee’s. In an attempt to pump up sagging sales, Applebee’s is launching a whole new ad campaign featuring the voice of comedienne Wanda Sykes as the company’s “spokesapple”. The spots, part of Applebee’s annual $180-million ad budget, features a feisty apple convincing people who are eating alone to get together with friends and family at Applebee’s for a meal. But the chain isn’t just stopping there. The entire chain will undergo a renovation in terms of a new logo, new uniforms, new building designs, and an upgrade on interior decorating.

Now at first I have to give Applebee’s some props for this massive public relations overhaul. Their recent ad campaigns, under former agency Draft FCB (Applebee’s is now with McCann Erickson) didn’t make the chain stand out from other casual dining chains such as TGI Friday’s or Chili’s. And with the economy to blame mostly for slumping sales (higher gas prices and a shaky housing market means less disposable income for the family to eat out), why not shake things up with a new look and a new feel to remind customers you still exist.

I also have to commend Applebee’s on how it has built up to this weekend’s unveiling of the ad campaign by taking out a full-page ad in USA Today on October 9th, directing readers to a website featuring “tryouts” by other types of apples for the Sykes apple that was eventually chosen. Applebee’s then allowed the videos to spread virally through websites such as YouTube to create a buzz. With Applebee’s wisely buying commercial time during TV programs such as “Desperate Housewives” and “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition”, the chain is hitting it’s target audience– the moms of these families who ultimately decide where the family will eat.

But the biggest problem I have with Applebee’s has nothing to do with the new ad campaign or the refreshed logo and look of the place. To me, it all comes down to the food. Now maybe it’s because I’m a 30-year-old man and I don’t play on the emotional pull of “Together is Good”, but for a place like Applebee’s I’m just thinking about what I’m getting to eat. To me, a basket of boneless chicken wings at Applebee’s will taste just as good (or bad) as the same order of boneless chicken wings from Chili’s, TGI Friday’s, Ruby Tuesday’s, or Bennigan’s. With all of these aforementioned chains offering essentially the same line of food (burgers, chicken, sandwiches, fattening appetizers, and 2-for-1 drafts), there’s just no good reason for me to select one over the other. And most importantly, and this is what kills casual chains from the male point of view, I can think of several local or regional restaurants here in the Tampa Bay area (such as Tank’s Tap Room or Beef O’ Brady’s) who offer food that taste BETTER than a national chain and cost just about as much.

Applebee’s isn’t too worried about the smaller restaurants, rather it’s the fast food giants who have helped dragged down the casual dining market a bit. MacDonald’s, Burger King, and Wendy’s, now offer healthier top-end choices along with their traditional greasy burgers. Kentucky Fried Chicken (trying to wean itself from the “KFC” moniker) is trumping how their low-priced combo meals are in fact meals and not fast food. Sister company Pizza Hut claims their family meals of pizza and bread sticks, or big servings of pasta, cures all ills when it comes to cooking for the family.

So it’s going to take more than just a new look and an altered menu for Applebee’s to pull ahead of the crowded, yet lucrative, casual dining market. Bennigan’s plays up the Irish pub angle (although as an Irishman I’m not buying it) while TGI Friday’s plays up the “flair” card with wacky outfits and drink specials. Red Lobster cornered the chain seafood market while Olive Garden snagged the middle-class Italian market. Applebee’s will have to come up with something creative with their cuisine, not their logo, to really make the other apples in the casual dining bunch look like oranges.

Have you seen the new Miller High Life campaign thats been running on TV? It features a beer vendor who doesn’t deliver Miller High Life to stores and bars. Instead, he is taking cases off the shelves. Why would a Miller delivery man remove cases of perfectly good beer from stores? Well, because Miller High Life “a good, honest beer at a tasty price,” that’s why.

The TV spots are actually quite comical. I’ve always been a fan of Miller High Life advertising, but I really like the irony they used in this campaign. High Life is the low-end beer of the Miller brand, but their strategy is great. By promoting High Life as a quality, low priced beer for the working [common] man, they have really positioned themselves into a unique and effective position.

For your viewing pleasure, here are a few of the new spots:

Enjoy the High Life Americans!

As I was getting ready for work this morning, I thought about what to blog about today. I have been in a bit of a funk lately. I have started several blog posts, but about half way through them, I stop. In fact, I have two posts that are about finished, I just can’t figure out how to end them. They are good posts, they just seem to short for me to justify posting them…until now. I introduce the pilot version of Nick’s “Quick Thoughts”:

Anyway, I was trying to think of a brand or ad campaign that caught my eye lately. I am really impressed with the new Mountain Dew/Halo 3 campaign. If you aren’t familiar with Halo, it is one of the most popular video games of all time. Hundreds of thousands of people log online and play each other in Halo every day. It has recently released its third edition and is more popular [worldwide] than ever before.

Mountain Dew got together with Halo 3 and developed a new flavor, just for this game. Having worked on a Coca-Cola project for a year during my last two semesters in college, I did a lot of research on the target demo and its media consumption habits. Video games are a growing media that many advertisers are trying to crack into. Mountain Dew took a great approach by promoting this new drink as ‘gamer fuel’. I guarantee there are kids around the country at this very moment shooting aliens and drinking this new drink in between kills.

The Mountain Dew brand has always appealed to extreme, youthful individuals. The X-games were a great fit for the extreme sports drink. I believe they found a very effective way to appeal to this demo without intruding. A very simple strategy has been aligned to sell the product and promote the video game at the same time. Product placement in retail stores brought shelf space for the new Halo 3 Mountain Dew to the video game aisle (I actually witnessed this first-hand in a Target yesterday). Also, I have seen one simple, :30 spot run on TV. It shows people from different past of the world yelling at their television sets (some while laying on/falling to the floor) and dropping their Xbox controllers. At first, I thought the spot was for the newly released FIFA Soccer ‘08 game since the gamers were multicultural and didn’t all speak [scream] in English. At the end of the spot, the player who is killing all of the other people is sitting back and drinking the new Halo 3 Mountain Dew. Simple. Direct. Memorable.

While working on our Coke campaign last year, we would have killed for a major release like Halo 3 during our campaign. Unfortunately for Coke, this launch fits Mountain Dew perfectly. I could have seen energy drinks such as Rockstar or Monster try to take advantage of such a campaign - but Mountain Dew beat them to the punch.

Also, while I’m praising Mountain Dew for its timeliness and strategy, allow me to further commend the brand for picking up one of the most popular sports figures in the country: Dale Earnhardt Jr. The energy drink version of Mountain Dew will be a primary sponsor for the face of NASCAR, recently acquired after Budweiser was forced out of Dale’s contract. This is a major win for Mountain Dew. We NASCAR fans seem to develop a strange affinity for our drivers’ primary sponsors. Considering the most popular driver in one of America’s most popular sports is now representing Mountain Dew, I can definitely see a lot of people backing the brand, simply because Dale Jr. drinks it.

I guess this pilot version of ‘Quick Thoughts’ wasn’t so short after all. I decided to start this chain of Quick Thoughts for those posts that only need a paragraph or two to contribute to the blog. That put aside, I am still very impressed with some of the moves Mountain Dew has made over the last few months. Now if only they could convince me that Diet Mountain Dew was just as “extreme” as regular Mountain Dew, then maybe I could help them out and buy more cases.

I started seeing the TV commercials a couple of months ago. Slightly overweight, slightly older men, doing what men do (watching football, barbecuing, etc.). The voice-over guy comes on to say, “Gusto is back” as the beer that made Milwaukee famous, Schlitz, is back.

I’m a self-confessed beer snob. I buy those micro-brew India Pale Ales, pricey double-bocked German lagers, and spiced pumpkin ales during the winter. Quite a turnaround from my college days of ten years ago where a 12-pack of Miller Lite for $6.99 was just fine for me. I’m not the only beer snob in my family or circle of friends, but I’m one of the few who doesn’t mind a good old-fashioned blue-collar beer every now and then. And for me, now is a good time to like those beers.

Blue-collar beers are making a comeback. Born in upstate New York, Genesee Cream Ale is my poor man’s poison of choice. Further north you’ll find Black Label and Narragansett returning to store shelves. In the Midwest it’s Old Style and Falstaff joining the legions of cans of Old Milwaukee and Pabst Blue Ribbon. So why the sudden influx of these less-than-finely hand-crafted brews once thought dead in the 1980s? Well, there’s a number of reasons, and the first is money.

The cost of living is higher, and salaries and wages aren’t necessarily following the trend. What’s a beer drinker to do? If you absolutely have to have some beer in your fridge, you can’t splurge $13 or $14 every week for a 12-pack of the usual micro-brew stuff. Especially since a 12-pack of Genesee (bottles OR cans!) is just $7 after taxes. But the money aspect has more than the economy on its side. Most beer drinkers start drinking when they’re 15 or 16, or if you’re good you at least wait until college to start. If you’ve been through college you know some times you only have $20 a week to spend on groceries and other necessities, so in comes the cheap beer and that special micro-brew beer will just have to wait until you get a job. Besides, who wants pumpkin ale with Ramen noodles?

With such a young base of drinkers looking for cheap stuff, beer that’s even cheaper than the college-standard Miller Lite and Budweiser, major breweries have an incredible fan base to tap with these old names. And this generation of young folks, with their i-pods and blogs, has no shame in dabbling in historic stuff. Retro is in, as evidenced by sports teams bringing back jerseys and logos from 50 years ago or movies like Transformers getting made into summer blockbusters. So it would make sense for a tried and true brand like Schlitz, to return to the market with this new generation of consumers eager to snatch it up like all those other “retro beers”. But here lies the problem: Schlitz’s ad campaign says everything BUT that.

I passed by a billboard today advertising Schlitz. Besides the usual “Gusto is Back” campaign, I saw the line, “Gentlemen under 55 need not apply”. I nearly drove off the road in shock to the campaign. While most of Schlitz’s hardcore drinkers probably are 55 or older, why would Schlitz (brewed by the Pabst Brewing Company) go out of its way to discourage 20 or 30-somethings from drinking their product? Does Schlitz really think there is a line in the sand, daring younger people to cross to try their brew? I’m not seeing it. And maybe it’s because at 29 (and very soon to be 30) I have no desire to be my father’s age (very soon to be 65). I look forward to my older, senior years, but when I reach them! Not now while I’m still young, spry, and able to weight lift in the morning without throwing my back out.

I’m not even sure Schlitz is sure at who they’re going after. One trip to the Schlitz page at the Pabst Brewing website shows this confusing description of what Schlitz is:

Schlitz is one of the undiscovered gems of American beer and today, young adult consumers are embracing the brew because it has stayed true to itself and hasn’t “sold out”. When you’re ready to discover something new (or old in this case), reach for a Schlitz and see what we mean when we say it’s “Just the Kiss of Hops”.

First, this sounds like something painfully written by a 46-year-old guy pretending to be 16. Young adult consumers are embracing Schlitz because it hasn’t “sold out”?!? NO THEY’RE NOT! THEY’RE EMBRACING IT BECAUSE IT’S CHEAP! This curious description of the beer undercuts the current ad campaign. Young adult consumers are embracing the beer, but Schlitz doesn’t want anyone under 55 to enjoy it? This ad campaign is further undercut by the website Schlitz then sends you to.

Go ahead, click on the “advertising” link. Amongst the collection of classic and new Schlitz ad campaigns, old-timey background music is playing. Now I like classical jazz and big band music, but some of this stuff is MUCH older than 55 years old. I’d be willing to venture some of this music is 70 or 80 years old, which would make the majority of Schlitz’s target audience DEAD.

The ad campaign still confuses me, and the conflicting messages on the billboards and the websites confuses me even more. Perhaps it’s as simple as Pabst targeting Schlitz for older drinkers while keeping Pabst Blue Ribbon securely in the hands of younger drinkers. If that’s the case, that’s a smart business move by Pabst. But in terms of advertising, I think Schlitz is missing the boat here. While the baby boomer generation is growing into the largest consumer demo in the nation, a perfect audience for Schlitz, excluding the younger crowd will likely make Schlitz a dinosaur again in 10 or 15 years.

Now I have to admit, I’m not a big fan of fast food these days. At least, I’m not as big of a fan now as I was about 10 years ago. You see, I was really big because of all that fast food so I’ve practically cut it out of my diet. Now I eat fast food only when I have prepared no food and don’t plan on eating anything at home for several hours. And when I do eat fast food, it’s typically a burger with no fries and a water– something to hold me over for a few hours and not fill me up.

With that said, I am still amazed at how one of the fast food giants is missing the boat when it comes to advertising and customer loyalty. In 2004, Wendy’s, the longtime #3 restaurant chain in the fast food wars, was finally catching up to second-ranked Burger King in sales. The main reason for this increase? According to reports that summer, Wendy’s healthier, adult-themed fare was selling better than greasy cheeseburgers from Burger King. Keep in mind 2004 was the year of the Atkins diet, when fast food chains scurried to offer healthier fare in hopes of keeping carb-minded customers coming through the doors and drive-thrus.

But unlike their competitors, Wendy’s had the distinct advantage of already having salads, baked potatoes, chili, and other alternatives to the fast food menu when the carb craze hit. For years Wendy’s had positioned itself as the “adult” fast food place thanks to folksy founder Dave Thomas‘ appearance in their ads until his death in 2001. Thomas’ whole idea behind Wendy’s was to make a tastier, better, and fresher burger than McDonalds, Burger King, White Castle, and other chains that exploded in popularity in the 1960s. Even after Thomas’ death, the folksy feel and laid back atmosphere of cheap but good burgers and fries drew in older customers who didn’t like the noise or grease of a McDonalds or Burger King. Then, a few funny things happened.

The carb craze died in 2005, and fast food customers went back to their old ways of purchasing double quarter-pounders with cheese and salty grease-laiden fries from the Golden Arches. Burger King rolled out the “Enormous Monstrous Sandwich” for breakfast, an egg, cheese, and bacon concoction that amazingly was unhealthier than a Whopper. Sales at Wendy’s plummeted, and ownership panicked. So what to do? Wendy’s made the big blunder (in my opinion) of trying to go after the big boys and their 18-34 year-old consumers, while dumping the older customers who liked the folksy experience of Wendy’s.

Wendy’s launched the “Do What Tastes Right” campaign centered around the instrumental portion of the Violent Femmes‘ 1981 hit “Blister in the Sun”. That will CERTAINLY get 18-34 year-olds to buy the burgers! Eh… wrong. Perhaps it was Wendy’s selection of a song about masturbation that turned these youngsters off, but it didn’t work. Sales remained stagnant as Wendy’s went with a new ad campaign, and a new ad agency, going with the “Wendy’s, That’s Right” pitch. The pitch goes back to basics in advertising “fresh, not frozen” hamburger patties which has always been a strong sales point for decades. But the TV commercials feature a grown man wearing a red wig (like Wendy… get it?) doing bizarre things like kicking trees or playing the role of an aborigine when he realizes he wants a fresh hamburger.

In some aspects the commercial is doing well in it’s attempts to get sales going in the stores. Wendy’s recently reported a modest second-quarter gain, yet in April it announced it was looking for a buyer, and in June it lowered its earnings outlook. To me it all comes down to advertising. The new ads are quirky, and are a hit on the internet where most 18-34 year-olds gather these days. But it seems to me Wendy’s has overlooked the older consumer (we’ll just say 35+ for demographic purposes) who doesn’t want the quirkiness of a 20-something lifestyle mixed in with his or her burger. They want what Wendy’s has always given them– a better, tastier burger than what McDonalds or Burger King can offer. No Happy Meals, no goofy big-headed king dancing to his BBQ Bacon Burger concoction, just a damn good burger please. And give me some options too, such as the salads, potatoes, and chili.

Wendy’s may make a little gain in the 18-34 year-old demographic with these new ads and an upcoming new breakfast menu, but even 18-34 year-olds grow up and I’m not so sure they’ll be coming back to Wendy’s when they just want good food without the bells and whistles thrown at the younger crowd going to McDonalds and Burger King. I give credit to Wendy’s for trying to drum up sales by rocking the boat, but by doing so the older customer is getting thrown overboard. It may be best for the healthy 37-year-old business to stick to what’s made it last so long– catering to those who are the same age or just a bit older.

It seems that the notion “sex sells” is a commonly accepted rule - and it seems to be more and more accepted with each passing day. Through the years TV programming, music, movies and advertising have all followed a common trend by incorporating more provocative and sexual content.

Over the past few years, one company has really used this concept to it’s advantage. Axe has launched several campaigns that are somewhat controversial, yet effective. You know the ads - the spots where Axe body wash turns guys into chick magnets (in the most literal sense of the phrase). They realized that sex does in deed sell, especially among male teens and tweens.

Being a member of the target demo, I can honestly say that I’ve never really been convinced by the older Axe campaign. I’ve always been aware of their spots and their messages, but never have I been compelled to actually purchase the product. On the other hand, I can honestly say that I have observed that many of my peers use the Axe product regularly. Many of my guy friends use the product - and I am willing to bet it isn’t solely because they are looking for a quality body soap.

The most recent campaign seems to be leaking into college dorms and professional offices alike.
Are you familiar with the “Bom Chicka Wah Wah” phrase? Not necessarily the age-old version, but the new, ‘AXE Effect’ version. If not, prepare yourself for the new “AXE Effect” that is getting publicity and praise from various sources in multiple countries. Here is one of my favorite spots from the campaign:

As you can see, the ad isn’t afraid of encorporating the sex-appeal factor into its spots. This is just one of many controversial - yet successful - spots that AXE has run. The entire campaign can be wound at the Axe website: www.theAXEeffect.com.