Adapting the Axe Call Me campaign to the Chinese market

Introduction

The axe: call me marketing campaign in Asia is known to have been very successful with indicators of such success being the growth in revenues, market shares and actual responses by customers (Ismeer, 2011). This campaign had been modified significantly to make it acceptable in the countries in question. The deodorant thrives in the capturing of the imagination of young men where users of the deodorant appear to be irresistible to young girls. Young men therefore embrace the products in line with their innate desire to be admired by and gain the affection of females around them. In the West, this aspect would be brought about by showcasing ladies who cannot resist the temptation to kiss or engage in intimacy with a man using the deodorant (Ismeer, 2011). This approach of showing intimate sexual contact in public is however frowned upon in Asia and this prompted the revision of the content of the message while leaving the larger meaning intact. Having discovered that intimacy begins with the exchange of mobile numbers among young people, the advertisement campaign was modified to show that using the deodorants was crucial in ensuring the success of that first step: the exchange of numbers (Ismeer, 2011). In China, the application of the campaign would need to factor in further modifications in order to be in line with the socio-cultural and legal factors in the country. This paper evaluates the Chinese market environment and makes recommendations on how the advertising campaign could be run successfully.

Industry context

Deodorant usage in China is quite high especially in regions that are hot and humid such as the semi-autonomous region of Hong Kong (Euromonitor, 2012). The predominant weather conditions make it uncomfortably sweaty and residents are forced to apply deodorants in order to avoid bad odour which could also be quite embarrassing. The use of deodorants has been increasing with younger members of the population embracing their use. In fact, it should be noted that high school students have in recent years been emerging as a crucial market segment hence prompting brands such as Gatsby to modify their advertisements to specifically target the teenage population with an aim to making deodorants attractive (Euromonitor, 2012). Deodorants come in different forms including pumps, roll-ons, creams/ gels, pumps and even body sprays which are tailored to suit both men and women.

Unilever is the market leader covering 25% of the industry value across China in 2010 (Zhu, 2011). Its most popular brands have been Rexona and Dove. However, with the strong performance of its Axe brand in the West and the subsequent exemplary performance in the recently concluded advertising campaign in Asia, it is expected that Unilever would consider mounting a massive campaign to promote Axe in the market. The deodorants industry continues to register strong growth with the 2011 performance being noted to be about 10% above the 2010 performance in terms of sales revenues (Euromonitor, 2012a).

Deodorants face significant competition from other products in the beauty industry such as perfumed creams, natural fragrances, and others (Zhu, 2011). However, fragrances are leading in popularity due to their ease of use, diversity of fragrances and the innovative approaches embraced in marketing the same. The deodorant brands have in most cases concentrated on capturing the imagination of the users rather than highlight the tangible attributes of the products. For instance, the Axe brand is hinged on the perception that it enables the users who are mainly young men to be attracted to ladies. Other perceptions propagated by deodorant brands focus on themes such as freshness, elegance, beauty, courage and others (Euromonitor, 2012). The rationale for the use of these approaches is grounded in theories of marketing and branding where it is generally observed that product intangible attributes tend to generate impressive levels of brand loyalty by giving products personalities that are compatible with human attributes.

Appreciating the challenges involved

The importation of the axe: call me campaign into China is likely to be faced with various challenges. These may range from the need to refine the choice of media to the need to alter the components of the message in order to comply with the legal and cultural aspects of the Chinese society. The choice of media should be informed by the population use of the different channels (Kotler, 2009). Considerations of the reach of a certain medium and the impact of the media on human behaviour are crucial. Like other countries in Asia, the TV dominates the media in China. During primetimes, TVs tend to have a reach of almost 100% in China and that makes the television the most viable media channel (Warc, 2012).

The internet is also quite influential even though its reach is just below the 50% mark (Warc, 2012). It should also be noted TV usage tends to be much higher in weekends than during the weekdays. The use of mobile phones on the other hand tends to be very high among the youth aged 15-24 (Silverman, Lin and Liu, 2011). This would form the main target of the repackaged Axe Call Me campaign. Also notable is the fact that most mobile phone users tend to access the internet quite often and watch television regularly. It is therefore not necessary to embrace mobile phones as the exclusive channel of choice. The use of the social media is said to be very high in China. The Chinese tend to take very seriously the information they gather online regarding products. An average of 300 million Chinese is active users of social media with the main players in social media industry being Twitter, Tencent Weibo, Tencent Qzone and Renren (Silverman, Lin and Liu, 2011). Social media advertisements are said to be even more influential if one comes across a positive product review from a person they are well acquainted with.

Considerations on the contents of the messages should take cognisance of the Chinese way of life and the existence of government sanctions against advertisements seen to be contravening what the Chinese people believe in (Meng and Layton, 2011). Firstly, there is the issue of a culture hinged on encouraging thriftiness in expenditure and advertisements seen to blatantly challenge this viewpoint tend to be frowned upon and advertisers are better off safely advocating for the sale of their products without making connotations that appear to target the established lifestyle (Duncan, 2008; Hassid, 2008). Even though the government has been relaxing on censorship on this front, it is not uncommon for advertisers to be sanctioned due to this. The second relates to the Chinese viewpoint on issues to do with morality and sexuality. Even though there is an element of similarity in terms of the need to inhibit overt sexual overtures, the Chinese legal regime appears to be stricter on this front (Jefferys, 2006). Traditionally, issues of marriage have been dealt with exclusively by parents where marriages were arranged among the parents of the couples. This practice strongly influences the Chinese viewpoint towards sexuality.

The modern day China is changing quite rapidly, especially in the larger cities which are increasingly being considered as global cities. However, perspectives on sexuality are still conservative to a larger degree. In advanced cities where young people are increasingly westernised, it is not uncommon to see people engage in intimate sexual activities before marriage (Duncan, 2008). However, this differs substantially from the practice in other countries where casual sex is done among multiple partners. In China, the tendency has always been to maintain the relationship and ultimately marry the person. In rural China, the traditional viewpoint is still strong with virginity at marriage considered sacred. In fact it would be noted that it is not uncommon to find 30 year old virgins in China (Jefferys, 2006). Even though arranged marriages are being abandoned, parents play an integral role in influencing marriages and almost always have to give consent for a marriage to take place. The decision therefore lies with the marrying couple even though they must face sanctions from their parents (Jefferys, 2006). With these perspectives in mind, it would appear that the Axe Call Me campaign would be offensive in China. By advertising that the deodorant would enable guys to easily seduce a multiplicity of girls who would be going out of their way to set stage for a flirtatious or seduction phase. Even though the intimacy would not be observable in public, the encouraging of such an attitude would by and large imply to endorse immorality among multiple sexual partners.

Government regulations in relation to media and advertisements are aligned to these cultural perspectives (Everett and Wong, 1999). Being a communist government, the Chinese government’s most sacred duty is to ensure that social order is maintained. This duty extends to the role of safeguarding the citizens against wanton interference to their cultural viewpoints. Even though there has been a conscious attempt by the government to promote free enterprise not just in the media but in other spheres of the economy, the underlying communist obligations of government continue to be influential and restrictions on themes and offending messages being transmitted across the media is not uncommon (Hassid, 2008). A good example was the banning of Facebook in China after the same was viewed as contravening the set social and moral standards of the Chinese (Qiang, 209). Issues of sexuality are especially closely monitored due to their perceived ability to cause radical changes in the societal viewpoints (Gao, 2007). An advertisement campaign modelled on the Asian Axe Call Me campaign is therefore likely to fail under Chinese regulatory system.

Apart from the need to observe government regulations in the campaign and therefore avoid legal sanctions, it is necessary to observe the cultural viewpoints. Research indicates that respect for culture is among the factors that lead to the success of business enterprises (Meng and Layton, 2011). Customers tend to be very supportive of organisations and brands which appear to understand and respect their cultures. This theme is especially crucial in the modern world where less influential cultures around the world are being reinforced in order to prevent the emergence of a global culture based on Western ideals (Meng and Layton, 2011). It is therefore likely that the campaign would flop even if they managed to go past the legal obstacles and run it as currently constituted.

Recommendations for the campaign

The important elements in an advertisement campaign can be described as the underlying theme, the message projected, and the strategy used for projecting the messages in terms of choice of media. The Axe brand appears to carry the theme of attraction to the opposite sex. Since the product is designed for men, this should be simplified to: attracting ladies to men. This theme appears to be hinged on the understanding that humans tend to be attracted to members of the opposite sex and would cherish admiration and adoration coming from them (Hargett, 2010). In places where casual sex is acceptable, this theme is projected using messages to create the perception that the deodorant allows men to easily gain multiple sex partners by making ladies attracted to them. Despite the difficulties posed by the Asian censorship programs, the company manages to pass on the message of intimacy with multiple partners (a desire of most young men) by exploiting their unique approach to courtship and the mating game. This message would need to be changed significantly in China. Inferences encouraging multiplicity of casual relationships would have to be absent.

The Chinese tend to value fidelity and faithfulness in relationships (Hargett, 2010). The more appropriate message would therefore be one that makes the man in the relationship extremely attractive to his one love. This too would resonate well with the aspirations of most young men whose passion tend to revolve around the one woman for whom they’d be willing make immense sacrifices. The appropriate message would therefore project a loving couple with the quality of the relationship; especially the attraction to the man is hinged on the application of the Axe deodorant. Good advertising themes should always capture existing challenges and desires in the society. This may explain why the Axe Call Me campaign succeeded since it capitalised men’s desire to not only have their way with women but also engage with them intimately. This Chinese approach would also be tapping into the need for men to maintain perfect relationships with the persons they love the most. With good projection, this would work perfectly. The average Chinese lady envisions the perfect man as one who is sensitive and respectful. The media campaign could creatively include the application of the Axe deodorant to this specification albeit with care to avoid encouraging casual sex or multiplicity of relationships.

The strategy for selecting the media of choice in advertisements is crucial to the success of any marketing campaign. Good messages must be projected through the right channels if they are to generate the desired effects. The internet is emerging as a key medium of communication among the young populations in China. Social media is especially becoming influential and it is observed that positive product reviews on the internet tend to be quite influential on most young people (Esarey and Qiang, 2008). It is therefore crucial that an approach such as viral marketing be factored in. The campaign should also be projected through national televisions. TVs continue to be the dominant media in China and any serious campaign should be done on TV to a significant extent (Lee et al., 2010). It should also be appreciated that the target of the advertisement campaign would be young men who are mostly in high school and colleges. Given that the Chinese lay great emphasis on education, it is unlikely that a large proportion of the target market would be out of school (Chan and Cai, 2009). The media advertisements should therefore be aired at times when such young folks would be expected to be at home and watching television. A strategic approach to institute direct sales to leading institutions and encourage users to post reviews in the social media would enhance the success of the campaign.

Conclusion

The Axe: Call Me advertisement campaign that was carried out in Asian countries is an example of what a good advertisement campaign is. The campaign retained the dominant theme of the Axe brand and embraced a message that was radically different from what the company is used to in the western markets. In order to conform to the cultural-legal provisions in the countries in question, the company was able to diagnose and understand the courting practices in these countries and incorporate them into the marketing message. This message therefore altered the proverbial first step in relations from a kiss to the exchange of personal contacts. In the West, the kiss paves way for more intimate relationships while in Asia, the phone numbers pave way for flirtations which in turn pave way for more intimacy.

The application of this strategy in China would need to take into consideration the differences in viewpoints between the countries. For instance, encouraging multiple sexual relationships is against the dominant culture. The company could therefore retain the dominant theme of having a deodorant that makes the man irresistible to women. However, the focus here would be in a relationship context where focus would be to enhance fidelity and healthy relationships. The media strategy would be similar to the Asian one where TV advertisements would play the leading role. However, a modification to involve greater participation in social sites and in viral marketing would help reinforce the effectiveness of the campaign.

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