Image: Axe Facebook

Give the marketers at Axe another round of applause.

Simply put, they just get what their brand means and know how to bring this understanding to life with compelling messages to their customer base.

It’s a great lesson for all marketers.  Success starts with solid customer understanding and clear brand definition: positioning, personality, etc.  Marketplace success requires the ability to brief and collaborate with talented partners who create the marketing communications that keep the brand on-strategy, top-of-mind and relevant with customers.  And success is durable because the brand management team has a fact-based commitment to stay-the-course (or switch gears if required).

The latest Axe brand communication is Showerpooling, a social media-driven marketing campaign that integrates the Axe brand essence with a tongue-in-cheek nod to environmentalism:  “When you Showerpool, you can save water while enjoying the company of a like-minded acquaintance, or even an attractive stranger.”

Look, whether you like the sex appeal underpinning of the Axe brand is not the point.  What’s important is the consistent interpretation and dimensionalization of the brand via ideas and communications that resonate with the target audience.  And last I remember seeing, sales were strong.

Image: Axe Facebook

The final point here is that Showerpooling is an example of what I like to call creating or making brand news.

What does water conservation have to do with the Axe brand?  Nothing.  However, the idea (fantasy) of young guys taking showers with “attractive strangers” (i.e., beautiful women) has everything to do with the Axe brand!  And there it is:  a new way to talk about the brand and to get others to talk about the brand.  Not only can Axe crank-out these marketing tactics, they have the media relations machine that extends and multiplies the impact (An article in USA Today was the trigger for me.)

Headline

Marketers, know your brand inside and out.  Be consistent in how you bring the brand to life.  And, find exciting, customer-relevant ways to do so on a regular basis.

Harvey Chimoff is a hands-on marketing leader and business-wide collaborator who builds marketing capabilities in B2B/B2C organizations that drive customer success.