Unilever and LOLA Madrid have revealed The Axe Holder, a ‘deliberately extravagant’ bottle that plays on consumer perceptions of luxury fragrance packaging versus body spray cans.
The Axe Holder is designed to contain a standard can of Axe body spray (also known as Lynx in the UK) while exaggerating the visual language of luxury fragrance bottles in an ‘ornate, oversized and completely unnecessary’ format.
The campaign pokes fun at consumers for judging a fragrance by its packaging and price before its scent – encouraging them to take a closer look at the product itself, which remains unchanged.
“Axe and Lynx have always had a sense of humour, but fragrance is something we take seriously,” said Caroline Gregory, global brand director for Axe and Lynx at Unilever. “The joke only works because the product can back it up.
“Blind tests show our fragrances can perform as well as, or better than, products that retail for around £350. The holder lets us make that point in a way that feels true to the brand.”
Tomás Ostiglia, chief creative officer at LOLA Madrid, added: “The Axe and Lynx Holder is a completely unnecessary and very fancy accessory. That is exactly the point. We are having fun with all the things the fragrance world tells us are needed to make something feel premium.
“A lot of people do not realize that the perfumers behind Axe and Lynx also create some of the world’s most expensive fragrances, so we wanted the outside of the can to catch up with what is already inside.”
The Axe Holder and Lynx Holder will launch across the UK, Australia, Germany, Mexico, Canada, Argentina and other markets this month. It will be available through selected online purchases of Axe or Lynx products.
Earlier this year, Unilever participated in another campaign: a brand collaboration between Hellmann’s Brazil and the National Basketball Association. The partners displayed team mascots on squeezy bottles of eight ‘trend-led’ mayonnaise bottles, which reportedly led to a 227% increase in Amazon sales during the NBA Finals activations.
In other news, L’Oréal Groupe has launched the third edition of its #JoinTheRefillMovement campaign, offering new refillable formats and refill machinery in a bid to help consumers close the value-action gap for cosmetic products.
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