Cannes Lions

AXE SHOWER GEL

BBH, New York / UNILEVER / 2008

Awards:

2 Shortlisted Cannes Lions
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Film
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Overview

Entries

Credits

Overview

Description

"The World's Dirtiest Film" was a first-ever film collaboration between brand and user-generated content. We created the storyline of "The World's Dirtiest Film” intentionally leaving certain sections blank. Through a number of different channels, Axe then asked the internet community to film its own dirty clips to "fill in the blanks". It was a unique collaboration of Axe generated content and user generated content. The film articulated the brand's promise and showed consumers embodying it. The combination of channels used to promote the campaign created an experience as unique as the film itself.

Execution

Television spots let guys know about this fantasy power. Not surprisingly, they wanted a taste, and to get it, they had to try our product. So we borrowed from old-school hucksterism and created a direct-response program. We made an infomercial.In it, an endearing shill named The Amazing Mack peddles his book, "The Amazing Secrets of ESP Revealed", which promises paranormal success with the ladies. Guys who ordered the free book would find the secret was in fact the product, stashed in a cut-out space they could use for other nefarious purposes.

Outcome

In addition to paid media reach, the infomercial received nearly 700,000 viral viewings. The related online content surpassed every major benchmark including beating our target’s industry average for time spent. We moved 50,000 books and most importantly, Boost became our #1 selling shower gel.

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