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Axe Introduces New Fragrance for Women

Axe, the body spray and grooming brand by Unilever, famous for its ads that turn average young men into heroic “girl-magnets,” recently launched the newest addition to its line of body sprays: Anarchy, a scent marketed towards men and women.

The campaign, by Bartle Bogle Hegarty, focuses on the idea of chaos and commotion, using dramatic online and print advertisements to stir up attention. The online promotion kicked-off with a teaser commercial, also seen in movie theaters, which featured the "Anarchy" concept without revealing the new product for women.

Social media, specifically the Axe Facebook page, played a key role in unleashing the “anarchist” scent. Up until the launch, Facebook users were greeted with a countdown to the fragrance release using the text “Anarchy is coming.” Free samples were distributed before the product hit stores for Facebook users who answered all of the questions correctly on an Axe quiz.

Axe also launched an original graphic novel in partnership with Aspen Comics, appropriately titled “Anarchy,” via YouTube and Facebook.  The graphic novel, “Anarchy Girl,.” Was created with fan feedback in real time, with Axe consumers voting on the comic’s plotline, characters and other aspects online through Axe’s social media channels. Some lucky fans also had comic versions of themselves featured in the novel after “liking” specific Axe Facebook posts or contributing their ideas.

To elaborate on their “Are you ready for unexpected attraction at every turn?” marketing campaign, Axe produced their usual suggestive commercial: a female police officer chasing a male robber through the city, only to meet with an incredible force of attraction at the end of the ad.

 A limited edition release, the question is will the body spray make women forgo their normal stand-by and make Axe Anarchy body spray their new choice? Barret Roberts, Senior Brand Manager at Axe, told the New York Times, “We’ve been hearing for some time that females have been asking for and looking for their very own scent of Axe.”

 At SA, we believe this is not anarchy, just smart marketing.

 

Real World Launch Tactics

“What specific tactics are you planning to bring your launch strategies to life? Today’s launch tool kit contains an ever-growing array of methods you can activate to grab consumer attention. New tactics are being invented each day, as are new twists on tactics that have been around for decades. Choosing which tactics (old, new or a combination of both) match your new product’s personality and budget becomes increasingly more challenging as the variety of potential campaign elements escalates. All launch choices should be based on your brand’s attributes, the dynamics of the marketplace, how your new product fits within today’s retail environment, the benefits the new product brings to users, and your target consumers’ behaviors and preferences.   

“To make this discussion simpler, we’ve divided it into two sections—advice on real world tactics, and advice on how to launch in the cyber world. Of course, most things you do in the real world should be translated into online applications to create a fully integrated launch campaign. For example, if you plan a launch event, you’ll be promoting it off -line while talking about it on your Web site, blog, Twitter handle and Facebook fan page, and through other social media channels. Also, your print or TV ads will contain information to drive people to your online properties where they can learn about or buy the product.

“It’s impossible to discuss every possible real world tactic. Your launch plan is limited only by your imagination, budget and target launch date.  The tactics we’ve highlighted here are those we’ve witnessed to be highly effective for not only the Most Memorable New Product Launch winners, but for our own clients and other companies as well. In addition to tactics, we’ve included some general launch advice...”

 

Read more about launch tactics and advice in chapter 8 of The NEW Launch Plan: 152 Tips, Tactics and Trends from the Most Memorable New Products. If you would like help planning your next launch, contact us at launch@schneiderpr.com or on Twitter @SchneiderPR

 

Marketing Blogger Danny Flamberg names The NEW Launch Plan as one of the Top “Beach Books” for Marketers

 

 

“The NEW Launch Plan,” written by Joan Schneider, President, and Julie Hall, EVP/Partner, of Schneider Associates, has just been listed as one of the five top “beach books for marketers” according to marketing blogger, Danny Flamberg. 

A well known marketing strategy consultant who has represented top-tier corporations such as American Express, General Motors, Federal Express, and Morgan Stanley, Flamberg praised authors Schneider and Hall for touching “on every topic, from positioning, messages, advertising, social media, sampling, and measurement, to keep marketers focused on the process and the prize” and commented how “tips are detailed, enumerated and illustrated with case studies, advice and imagery.” Flamberg manages the blog Manhattan Marketing Maven and discusses relevant news, topics, trends and techniques related to PR and marketing. Please click here to read the review in its entirety.

If you would like help planning your next launch, contact us at launch@schneiderpr.com or on Twitter @SchneiderPR.

Create Key Messages

  Tip 41: Create key messages

“If you put together messages without a framework, you will probably be mired in wordsmithing before you know it. Instead, begin by working logically from questions to answers. Assemble key individuals who will be involved in your launch, such as the brand manager, thought leaders from your public relations and advertising agencies, internal personnel with marketing savvy, and consumers. Ask each individual to write down any questions they think might be asked about the product, from the global to the specific. How does this work? What’s new about it? How much will it cost? How long will it last? Where can I buy it? Why would I buy this when the competition already has a better product on the market? Who tested the product to prove its efficacy? At this point, all questions are important to consider and none should be disregarded as irrelevant.

“Working with a trained facilitator (from your PR agency or a resource within the company), write all the questions on a flip chart or whiteboard so the group can see them. Review the queries to learn what the group thinks about them. Then ask the participants—working either alone or in teams of two or three—to group all of the questions into buckets. These will most likely address the product’s benefit to the consumer and what is new and different about it. We suggest having two or three buckets, one for each subject. 

“Now comes the hard part: the facilitator needs to keep a relatively tight rein on the participants. Break people into groups and ask each team to formulate one sentence with the dominant answer or statement about the subject matter addressed in each bucket. Compare the input from the groups. You will find that the answers are usually very similar and will give you the essence of your key messages. Test each message you formulate by asking this question: If people hear, understand, believe and act on each key message, will it drive sales of the product and make the launch a success? If the answer is yes, you have likely formulated effective key messages.  Be sure to take a break at various intervals, as messaging requires time and perspective that can be gained only through discussions about each message and its meaning.”

 

Read more about creating key messages on page 100 of The NEW Launch Plan: 152 Tips, Tactics and Trends from the Most Memorable New Products. If you would like help planning your next launch, contact us at launch@schneiderpr.com or on Twitter @SchneiderPR

How Social Media is Changing Launch – Joan Schneider and Julie Hall discuss ideas from “The NEW Launch Plan”

 

 

Follow this link to watch Schneider and Hall talk about how social media is transforming new product launches, and discuss their favorite social media case studies.

   

 

 

 

 

“The NEW Launch Plan,” available at BNPmedia.com and at Amazon.com, is a business book for brand and marketing professionals, written by Joan Schneider, President, and Julie Hall, EVP/Partner, of Schneider Associates.  Authors Schneider and Hall draw upon decades of experience launching new products and showcase real world strategies and tactics used in highly effective product introductions. “The NEW Launch Plan” is replete with case studies from brand managers on the front lines of the battle for market share, and demonstrates how creative, integrated marketing ideas fuel and sustain launch success.

David Meerman Scott, author of “The New Rules of Marketing & PR,” commented: “In today’s always on, YouTube-infested, Twitter-centric world, it’s much tougher to launch a new product than even a few years ago. If you’re ready to launch a new consumer product into the national market, ‘The NEW Launch Plan’ is your blueprint for success.”

 

If you would like help planning your next launch, contact us at launch@schneiderpr.com or on Twitter @SchneiderPR.

Launch Basics: What You Need to Do Every Time

                “While the strategies and tactics used for each new product launch vary according to the nature of the product, the target audience, trends in the media, retail distribution and consumer lifestyles, certain bedrock principles are required for planning and executing every new product launch. Following these launch basics will put you on the path toward success.  Ignoring them will put your launch in peril, no matter how exciting or innovative your new product or service may be.

Tip 1: Assign someone who is strategic and creative to lead the launch team.

“Brand or product managers make the best launch team leaders. These are people who are passionate about the product and have a single-minded focus to make it successful.  Unlike people higher up in the corporate food chain, brand or product managers are focused on the task at hand. Good brand and product managers live the product every day and know how to get things done.  They also are more apt to have the requisite marketing expertise required to lead a launch, something CEOs and presidents often lack. If you’re a company leader and you think that you should lead the launch team, think again. There is too much riding on the outcome not to put someone in charge who can live, eat and breathe the launch.

“Our only caveat is to involve the CEO along the way in planning, as there is nothing worse than presenting a finalized launch plan the CEO doesn’t like and won’t support because he or she was not part of the process. In our experience, involving the CEO in key planning meetings creates the alignment necessary to ensure the launch plan is enthusiastically received. Also, avoid putting someone in charge of the launch team who is driven solely by sales figures. Launch is an art and a science. Numbers alone don’t always tell the whole story about what is happening during a launch. Someone interested only in sales figures may be apt to pull the plug too early on a launch if sales targets aren’t being met. You have to be able to look behind the sales numbers to really know what’s going on.

Look for a launch team leader who is skilled at:

•  Bringing people together from various marketing disciplines to produce an integrated campaign.

•  Communicating and reinforcing launch strategies and product messages so team members are consistent throughout the planning and implementation process.

•  Fostering innovation in launch strategies and tactics.

• Generating enthusiasm, confidence and a can-do team spirit that will be required at critical moments.”

 

Read the other basic launch tips in chapter 3 of The NEW Launch Plan: 152 Tips, Tactics and Trends from the Most Memorable New Products. If you would like help planning your next launch, contact us at launch@schneiderpr.com or on Twitter @SchneiderPR

A New Paradigm—No Longer B2B or B2C, But B2E

                “The omnipresence of the Internet in everyday life has been a prime game changing phenomenon for new product launches, and has created a new paradigm for marketers—the arrival of business-to-everyone, or B2E. In the United States, 74.7 percent of the population has Internet access; that’s over 304 million people. Overall, the Internet is the medium with which users spend the most time (32.7 hours/week), according to IT market intelligence giant International Data Corporation (IDC). This is equivalent to almost half of the total time spent each week using all media (70.6 hours), almost twice the time spent watching television (16.4 hours), and eight times more than reading newspapers and magazines (3.9 hours). 

            "When literally anyone around the world can visit your Web site, you are no longer aiming your messages at only your carefully targeted business to-business (B2B) or business-to-consumer (B2C) customers. Instead, you are talking to everyone—B2E. This may have broader implications for those in the B2B market since B2C companies are more accustomed to thinking of virtually anyone as a potential customer. In the more tightly controlled B2B arena—particularly in the business service sector— companies usually talk to a carefully selected group of target customers and prospects. Now anyone, including your competition, can visit your Web site and see your products, pricing, and case studies, and learn how you are positioning your wares. No one cares whether you characterize your product, service or company as B2C or B2B; all they want is information available 24/7 brought to them by Google, Yahoo, Bing or other search engines that provide rapid search access.”
 
Read more about the emergence of B2E on page 10 of The NEW Launch Plan: 152 Tips, Tactics and Trends from the Most Memorable New Products. If you would like help planning your next launch, contact us at launch@schneiderpr.com or on Twitter @SchneiderPR