Introduction
Axe is a brand of male grooming products, owned by the British-Dutch company Unilever and
marketed towards the young male demographic. In Vietnam, the main products that Axe offers
include a wide range of grooming, fragrances, and other personal care products for men. Despite
being the top selling brand worldwide, there is significant competition in Vietnam’s market. In
the context of new year and the upcoming Valentine’s Day, it is projected that market would see
even greater race between brands with different marketing campaigns. The purpose of this paper
therefore is to propose a marketing plan for Axe. The marketing plan includes two main sections
with situational analysis and the recommendation for marketing strategies for Axe to implement
in the first quarter of 2021. The plan is highly associated with the target customer and
positioning of the brand in the market of men’s lifestyle and care products in Vietnam.
SWOT analysis
Marketing context
According to empirical research on the consumer perspective of romance and Valentine’s Day,
consumers tend to have a habit of purchasing self-gifts for the purpose of self-attractiveness
(Close & Zinkhan, 2006). Among the top products purchased for self-gifts, beauty related
products such as cosmetics and body care ranked at the third place, just after clothes and jewelry
(Health, et al., 2011; Huang & Yu, 2000). Moreover, the Valentines’ Day 2021 is on the same
occasion with Lunar New year – the biggest spending season for Asian countries including
Vietnam. It can be expected that the Valentines’ Day would be a promising chance for Axe to
earn more customers through its marketing campaigns.
Axe’s SWOT analysis
Strengths Weaknesses
Branding: As a brand under the umbrella of Less popularity in the rural areas: The
Unilever, advertising and advertisements only draw
Packaging: The packaging of Axe the youth of the city.
deodorants is persistent with the black Low focus on digital marketing: Most of
theme, adding more brand recall for the advertisements are TVCs or outdoor
brand. advertising. There is low frequency of
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Price: Axe has always had an affordable social network updates.
pricing strategy to cover a larger share of Brand fatigue: Axe commercials have been
the market instead of going for higher price driving audience about attracting women,
and targeting a niche market. which can be overwhelmed and offensive
toward audience.
Opportunities Threats
Timing: The upcoming New year and Rivalry: Axe faces competition from other
Valentines is an occasion for self-gifts international brands such as Nivea, X-men
Expansion of target market: As well as or Romano in the section of consumer
expanding the age group size, Axe can look goods. It also sees competition from high
forward to expanding its target market to brand companies such as Adidas, Kevin
include rural youth. Klein and Burberry.
Target consumer
As a men-only brand, the target consumer segment for Axe is young men who are from 16 to 30.
One outstanding psychological factor of this segment is the high level of self-perceived
attractiveness and romantic desirability. This is also in relation with the self-esteem and
perception in their self-concept. As for customers of Axe, they want to use the scent to attract
women around the by the body scent and fragrances, as scents are among the strongest senses
which influence sight attractiveness (Spence, 2011; Bale & Archer, 2013).
As young users, customers of Axe are the main Internet users who browse very often. According
to a recent report by (Statista, 2020), as of 2019, around 50 percent of male Internet users in
Vietnam are aged between 15 and 34 years old. Regarding online behaviors, a consumer report
conducted by (Deloitte, 2020) shows that while respondents continue to spend a significant
amount of time on TV, browsing the Internet and social networks make up about 64% of their
media consumption. A high percentage of urban consumers, for example, 27 percent of
customers in Ho Chi Minh City have high preference for online and digital channels. Moreover,
this is also the group with highest experience with online shopping as more than 60 percent of
them have shopped online before.
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Differentiation and positioning
The most significant differentiation between Axe and other brands in the same section is the core
brand value: scents. While Axe’s competitors such as Rexona or Nivea usually focus on the
effect of anti-bacteria or length and ability of body odor preventing, the differentiation that Axe
creates is fragrance and attractiveness. More than a deodorant, it is also a body spray that can
function like a perfume. In stead of using both products at the same time, customers can choose
Axe for its double effects. This strategy allows Axe to build a strong brand equity among others.
AXE provides customers the tools to convey what makes them real and increasingly appealing to
the world around them with a wide range of items at a reasonable price. This positioning strategy
allows Axe to be affordable for a larger number of consumers within its target group. The wide
range in the market positioning also set out for a high brand equity for Axe due to a higher brand
recall, which will significantly influence the actual purchase (Khurram, et al., 2018)
Current 4Ps performance
Products:
In Vietnam’s market, despite introducing a wide product line in grooming products, the main line
of products in Axe’s local market is daily fragrance products. Axe recognizes intricately that
tastes for fragrances strongly vary; therefore, it introduces a wide collection of more than ten
scents in the deodorant line. The perfume and deodorants from the Axe come in all kinds and
sizes. The varied fragrances appeal to the needs of all sorts of people. For example, Axe
Deodorant Body Spray for Men is a unique all-over body spray that combines a seductive
fragrance with effective deodorant protection. Customers can use Axe anytime, smell great all
the time. An all-over body spray that combines a seductive, longer-lasting fragrance with
effective deodorant protection.
Product bundling with other brands of Unilever is also implemented by Axe, however, for a
limited quantity and time. In a personal care kit for men, Axe is bundled with other brands such
as Clear Men and Pond’s in co-operational marketing (Tiki, n.d.)
Price:
Axe deodorants range from 70,000 VND to 110,000 VND depending on products and retailers.
For example, the signature deodorant Axe Apollo is sold at around 100,000 VND. This pricing
strategy makes Axe success in the market. Although this price level is slightly higher than that
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from other brands, the difference is not significant. Moreover, it is still in the affordable range of
most consumer’s spending and more importantly, it is much more reasonable than products from
high brands such as Kevin Klein yet delivering a decisive effect. By offering a high value with
affordable price, Axe highlights itself as a valuable brand.
Place:
Axe products are mainly distributed in supermarkets or convenience stores and are available in
any areas. They are easily seen in the section of products for men with a wide variety of
fragrances to choose. This is thanks to the distribution network, including transportation or
warehouse of Unilever in Vietnam.
However, while Axe deodorants can be found on major ecommerce platforms such as Tiki,
Shopee and Lazada, very few of them are originally distributed by Unilever. Usually, they are
offered by retailers with different levels of prices. This raises the concern about the authenticity
for consumers and has a risk of damaging the brand equity.
Promotion
In the context of advertisement, Axe has been following the image of masculinity and
attractiveness to create a brand perception for its target customers. As in the marketing
campaigns, the brand usually builds role models of successful and attractive men in different
styles. For example, in a campaign promoting for the product duo Axe Gold Temptation and
Dark Temptation, Axe introduced two contrasting styles: being cool or being gentle.
However, as mentioned in the SWOT analysis, Axe commercials in Vietnam has been sticking
with the action of attracting women. This is a matter that could be a subject for change as Axe
had controversial issues in the past. The plot of TVCs has been usually associated with the
stereotype of sexy models, which has received criticism for promiscuity, sexism and objectifying
women (Harris, 2006).
Marketing objectives
The objective of the marketing campaign is to increase the ecommerce platform leads through
search optimization and viral campaigns on social networks. Particularly, the SMART objective
is as follows:
- Specific: Increase the ecommerce platform leads by 20 percent
- Measurable: Facebook post reach and engagement, online purchases, cost per lead.
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- Attainable: Increasing frequency of posting by 50% and optimizing targeting
- Relevant: Launching a product bundle exclusive on ecommerce platform to drive customers to
these online marketplaces
- Timely: January to March 2021.
Recommendation
Following the organizational analysis as well as its current marketing performance, it can be seen
that Axe is showing insufficient attention to the digital channels in its marketing strategies.
Meanwhile, its target customer group is a strong Internet user community. Therefore, several
recommendations for Axe with the main focus on Valentine’s Day are hopefully able to transfer
the weaknesses to a potential opportunity.
Product: Self-gift set exclusive on ecommerce platforms
As mentioned above, consumers tend to purchase self-gifts on special occasions. This is not
merely a gift for themselves but also the way to boost their self-esteem, which is a typical need
in young men. The message of this bundle is the self-concept of attractiveness, instead of using it
to attract women. It is suggested that Axe launch a bundle including the signature deodorant and
other care and lifestyle products such as hair or mini perfume. The implication of bundling
strategy, according to (Vithala, et al., 2018), can bring a result of positive impression and more
positive associations with the products. In the case of Axe, it can be the appeal and
attractiveness.
The packaging of products is also an important factor as it is considered as a gift for consumers.
It should be designed to show the thoughtful manner of Axe when choosing the products to
include in this bundle. A message tag should also be included, to reaffirm the self-attractiveness
belief in men.
Promotion:
There are two main strategies to drive the traffic to the official store of Unilever Axe, thus, to
increase the marketing leads. The first strategy is to improve the search engine optimization
within the ecommerce platforms. These platforms such as Lazada and Shopee offer the paid
keyword features so that Axe can apply to have its official product appear at the top of search
results.
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Secondly, another strategy for Axe is to create a viral campaign collaborating with key
influencers to attract attention of the target customers. Particularly, a brief for the campaign in
parallel with the launce of the product kit can be seen below:
- Opportunity: Embrace the large potential target group of Axe and re-orient the perception of
customers toward attractiveness.
- Target: Single men aged 18-30, frequent Internet users, nationwide
- Implementation: A collaborated campaign with key influencers to raise a new perspective toward
the Valentine’s Day when it is not necessarily associated with women but self-attractiveness.
In addition to these strategies, it is also recommended for Axe to increase the frequency of Axe
posts on social media platforms to maintain a strong engagement between consumers and Axe.
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References
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