AXE | AXE 3 | 2007
The Impossible Magic Trick Where 1+1=3 / AXE "AXE 3"
In 2007, an ad out of Buenos Aires won the Grand Prix at Cannes. In the deodorant market, it pulled off something that shouldn't have been possible: 1+1=3.
The problem
The men's deodorant market had fallen into a sameness trap, with every brand just competing over whose scent was more "irresistible." AXE already dominated that game, but it needed its next move.
The idea
The trick was the product itself. AXE sold AXE1 and AXE2, two different scents in separate bottles, and when you sprayed them together, they created a third scent: AXE3. It turned the temptation to customize into a kind of scent multiplication.
What happened
It won the Grand Prix in the Integrated category at the 2007 Cannes Lions. It was the first time a Latin American agency had pulled off this feat, and it put Ponce Buenos Aires suddenly in the global spotlight.
Afterthought
It's a shame there isn't more information out there, but the sheer strength of building the idea right into the product still works today. The idea of weaving the communication strategy in from the product design stage itself—it's striking that this was already happening back then.
Awards
- Cannes Lions Grand Prix 2007
