AXE was launching a new, premium line of fine fragrances: Golden Mango, Blue Lavender and Aqua Bergamot in the USA. However, GenZ guys perceived AXE as cheap and overpowering. To shift their perception, we needed to position the collection as a premium fragrance. The ultimate goal was to drive sales at Walmart through an omni-channel, high impact, strategy.

To appeal to GenZs, we needed to understand their shopping behaviour. Young shoppers lack loyalty with only 16% of them shopping at a single store. They desire more than just a typical retail experience. 83% of Gen Z views shopping as an immersive experience.

We then delved deeper into what "premium" meant to Gen Z. It is not just about buying or using a product; it's about accessing exclusive experiences and purchasing products based on their representation or emotional impact. 67% of 13-39-year-olds believe luxury is a feeling, not a thing.

We know this generation expects more out of brands and products – it’s about exclusive experiences, buying a product for what it represents, and not just for the functional benefits of smelling great.

Our goal was to bring the fun wow factor, elevating the mundane shopping errand from a dull transaction to an engaging, immersive experience.

Manga is incredibly popular among our guys, and we know how much of a manga fan Lil Baby is. So AXE and award-winning artist Lil Baby launched a fresh new manga titled “Shonen Baby” - the story of the rapper rescuing his Atlanta hometown from evil using AXE scents to “power-up” and bring the city back to life. Co-produced by Lil Baby, the digital art experience is accessed through purchase of an AXE product from the Fine Fragrance Collection at Walmart. The manga was available via download during an exclusive invite-only virtual launch event.

Our strategy was to tap into the power of culture x technology x commerce.

We turned AXE’s new premium fragrance can into a key that unlocks that premium feeling, offering those who purchased our new product exclusive digital content and experiences in a way that no other fine fragrance can. We wanted to bring fans closer to the Lil Baby universe, scaling up our presence in the metaverse through a fresh & interactive digital experience.

Knowing our audience’s key passion points of Anime and Music, AXE created the ultimate collab of cool in culture, teaming up with Lil Baby, the famous American rapper and an anime fan, to co-create an interactive digital manga with the rapper himself.

AXE hosted the WebXR experience as people explored an interactive virtual world that dove deeper into the eclectic artistic universe of “Shonen Baby” and AXE’s new Fine Fragrance Collection.

Through an exclusive partnership with Walmart, shoppers who purchased a can of AXE's new fine fragrance received an access code on their receipt. On launch day, Shonen Baby manga dropped online at the invite-only virtual launch party hosted in a bespoke AXE virtual world, accessed using the code. People could interact with the characters and other fans, and watch exclusive, never-before-seen Lil Baby interview content in 3D, where the rapper talked about his life and inspiration for the manga, for 72hrs.

Paid media ran across relevant fan-focused channels in Anime, Rap and Lifestyle spaces like Crunchyroll, Adult Swim, UPROXX, Comicbook, XXL and AllHiphop. And we swamped social spaces from TikTok, to YouTube and Twitch with influencer content.

We activated Walmart digital and physical, from in-store to targeted OOH in and around stores, digital media and in-app notifications created for a frictionless experience to drive purchase in-store during the promotion period.

The campaign was Lil Baby’s #1 most engaging post and #1 most shared/commented post, and broke Axe socials as #1 most viewed post and #1 most engaging post in history.

Walmart shoppers checked out to check in to the exclusive experience, with users spending more time (3:57 average time spent) in the Shonen baby virtual world vs. 75% of all virtual marketing experiences, and downloading the manga (14% download conversion rate, +2% vs benchmark).

Our ads were seen and loved by many, earning the brand a total of 391m impressions: 265m in paid retail media, 70m in paid anime fan-focused media, and 55m earned impressions.

And ultimately, the scentsational campaign drove product sales, with Axe achieving 8.1% more $ sales YOY with less in-store presence, $4.5m in incremental revenue generated by media, $19 ROAS for GenZ vs $6 for total campaign, and 29% performance increase over prior campaign (H1’22).