The Brief

Leave a man, come back a hero AXE launched its newest fragrance variant, Apollo, and came up with an out of this world idea: Send 22 guys to space. But how does a local agency take the global campaign directive, and drive it to even greater heights? The AXE Apollo campaign strategy localized the global campaign with a search for the 1st Filipino to go to space. This search became the AXE Apollo National Challenge.

Describe how the promotion developed from concept to implementation

AXN Asia partnered with AXE and helped narrow down the aspirants from 2,000 to 100 with a series of challenges at the BGC Open Grounds: Intensity 1: 2,000 hopefuls endured a 8km run. 1st 1,000 who crossed the finish line moved on to Intensity 2. Intensity 2: 1,000 Intensity 1 qualifiers, without pausing, ran another 8km run. 1st 500 crossing the finish line moved up to Intensity 3. Intensity 3: 500 qualifiers from Intensity 2 continued to the 1st of a series of obstacle courses in a test of agility, willpower and strength. 100 best time finishers won the course.

Describe the success of the promotion with both client and consumer including some quantifiable results

To infinity and beyond: The campaign deepened and strengthened the relevance of the original Hero story among Filipinos and aroused massive public interest. Variant performance: The Axe Apollo variant contributed 21% of total Axe sales, becoming the #2 variant in the Philippine market. Sales performance: Weekly sales of Axe went up 19% vs pre-campaign, owing to greater brand awareness generated by the campaign. Earned media values: The campaign generated media coverage in excess of the original spend. Less than $100,000 was spent on the campaign but this was overwhelmingly exceeded by the total earned media value of US$4.7m.

Explain why the method of promotion was most relevant to the product or service

The First Filipino in space In a country that had seen natural disasters and political scandals dampen public morale, the yearning for good news and a cause for national pride ran deep. Axe Philippines offered not just one lucky individual a shot at fame, but gave the Filipinos’ a history-making opportunity. 2,000 hopefuls took part in the AXE Apollo National Challenge, preparing the country's best to take part in the AXE Apollo Space Academy in Orlando, Florida. The AXE brand was growing up, and this was the perfect opportunity for AXE guys to test their mettle.