Every year Axe launches a new fragrance. This year we wanted to use the brand’s global influence as a force for good. So we launched Axe Peace in partnership with Peace One Day, a charity with the sole aim of establishing World Peace Day; 24 hours of global ceasefire and non-violence.

To raise awareness of Peace One Day and motivate people to be more peaceful in their everyday lives, we created a campaign calling for guys to make love, not war. Axe has always been about bringing people together. So the more time people spend using Axe Peace and making love, the less time they have for violence and aggression.

To encourage guys to make love, not war, Call To Arms begins by establishing the familiar menace of war movie iconography. Tanks crush debris beneath steel tracks, choppers descend on villages, vast armies prepare for battle; the world is going to war. But love prevails as we subvert the familiar war movie tropes, flipping each for a peaceful outcome. The warmongers cast aside their weapons and turn their hands to romantic gestures of love instead.

Music plays an integral role in the story telling of Axe – Generations. The bespoke soundtrack takes us on an emotive journey from original score to re-recorded track; from war to peace; from hate to love.

The film begins with a composed track that places us firmly in the world of warfare. Blending seamlessly from this into a romantic re-record of Backstreet Boys – As Long As You Love Me was no easy task. It meant crafting a short bridge that seamlessly transitioned coarse military chanting into the contemporary love ballad.

The final section of the track featuring a male voice singing in the shower was even more challenging. It had to sound like a normal guy in the shower. This proved difficult for classically trained, professional singers. After much searching we found an Asian man with suspect pitch and bad timing. He was perfect. Once we found our voice, striking the balance between the aurally offensive and the unpolished but endearing tone of a regular guy singing in the shower required time and care.

The most interesting (and highly dangerous) technique for this recording was setting up the vocal recording in a running shower. To get a really authentic sound we had our vocalist sing along to our composed backing track stood in the shower. The backing track is our own instrumental re-record of As Long As You Love Me played through radio speakers. The vocals and the radio sound were then recorded back in and mixed for the final commercial.