Axe continues its move away from the adolescent sexual objectification its advertising used to be based on with a new Canada-centered digital campaign from Sid Lee entitled “#Selfmaker.”
The campaign tells the stories of “self-made” men, including banker turned brewery-owner Charles Bierbrier; former accountant Tomas Romita, who formed a clothing brand; and DJs Tom Wrecks and Pat Drastik, founders of Thugli. All three videos, which are housed on on a Tumblr site as well as the brand’s YouTube page, focus on the moment when each individual decided to leave their comfortable jobs behind, take a risk and start something of their own. While the approach is very far removed from Axe’s old, hormone-crazy days, there is a common thread in that the brand is selling the idea of confidence.
“We’ve always been a brand rooted in confidence, but we are evolving as guys are evolving,” Axe Canada marketing director Jessica Grigoriou told Strategy.
“We are thinking about guys’ full life mentality, and that includes things beyond just getting the girl. We know that appeals to a large demographic of guys, so this campaign will be aspirational for a younger demographic that is beginning to think about what their own path might look like, or maybe a guy who has already started down that path and has the confidence to follow what he is passionate about.”