Axe’s Global Idea

The timing could not have been more appropriate. Vegaolmosponce just picked up the 2007 Integrated Grand Prix for their work on AXE. Businessweek Magazine looked at Unilever’s AXE, the hit factory that’s been producing winner after winner with a simple sales pitch that says “Hey dude, spray Axe deodorant all over your body, and you will become irresistible to beautiful young women.” The campaign from BBH, not the one that won the Grand Prix, is running in 75 countries was to invent a new phrase that guys would hear as an international expression of lust—a female wolf-whistle heard ‘around the world.’ Bom Chicka Wah Wahs. According to Urban Dictionary, the onometopic phrase is supposed to stand for 70’s guitar Porn-riff. Usually this is the music that came on when the action was just about to get started. Unilever’s Axe campaign shows how one company is coming to grips with doing business in this complexly, wired world. It’s also becoming truly digital. For the U.S. launch, the company posted three videos online that supposedly showed the ‘Axe effect’ of women chasing men who used the spray. The videos were so much fun that millions of people forwarded them to friends by e-mail in a massive viral outpouring. Read more.

Integration Not 360

Looking at the new Vodafone mobile internet campaign from BBH and Dare Digital, it’s easy to understand why a new age integrated campaign should have different executions for different media. Even though the baseline of the campaign is ‘Make the most of Now’ and works well for the TV execution, a typical 90 second BBH epic in which thousands of clock components rain down on streets in and around London and Glasgow, the print (see the print campaign on the copywriter’s blog) and the digital bits (banners and other online elements of the campaign are here) dramatise facets of ‘The Internet is now Mobile’ line and brings them alive. For activation, the agency went back to the TV execution to rain down real watches and watch parts in many parts of the UK.

Google Search Goes Universal

A few weeks ago search results on Google got a lot more wider. Its universal search right now centers on video, news, local, and books. In fact, searches with video results showcase the most dramatic changes. For instance, a search on coke mentos on Google includes four videos in the results, two from Google Video and two from YouTube, in fact the YouTube videos are the first two results. Each of the video results has a thumbnail image from the video, along with a ‘watch video’ link which, when clicked, opens the video right in the body of the results. All four of those videos can be played at the same time. What does this mean to marketers and specialists in search engine marketing? That the purity of text-only search results is waning. The first takeaway is that search engine marketing continues to get harder, considering that appearing on the first page of Google’s listing, which was considered the holy grail of search marketing now gets a bit more complicated. Here’s more from the Google Blog. Also of interest this story from The Times on how the Google search algorithm is the new, most coveted, secret formula in the world of business. The story also has a nice round up of new search engines that are trying to do a Google on Google.

Sneaky Loyalty

New York’s Regal Entertainment Group of Cinemas have begun arming some members of their loyalty program with black plastic pagers that can be used to silently alert the theater staff about various irritations. People talking loudly over their mobile phones, noisy neighbours and others can be reported by using these toy like devices. It’s a new kind of loyalty program that empowers select guests to make a tangible difference to their movie going experience and members are loving it. Read more from The Times.

Social Lending, The Future Of Banking?

Zopa, the online lending and borrowing marketplace where people cut out the banks and lend to each other, has won The Banker Technology Award for 2007 for the Best Internet Project. Beating off intense competition, Zopa wowed the judging panel – which included banking luminaries such as the CEOs of Lloyds TSB and HSBC and the Head of Citibank – with its technology and approach to personal lending and borrowing. Read more about Zopa and how social lending is catching on.

All Calm At Online Sales

From the heady days of the dot com era to the new dot calm, reports suggest that online sales are losing steam. From the boom years where growth regularly touched 25% analysts say the turning point has arrived and growth will continue to slow through the decade. The slowdown is a result of several forces. Sales on the Internet are expected to reach $116 billion this year, or 5 percent (expected to grow to 7% by 2011) of all retail sales, making it harder to maintain the same high growth rates. At the same time, consumers seem to be experiencing Internet fatigue and are changing their buying habits. The slowdown comes as most adult Americans, and many of their children, are already shopping online. Other factors include the push by companies like Apple, Starbucks and the big shopping malls to make the in-store experience more compelling. Read more.

Instant Online Account Opening At BB&T

This must be a first for any bank. Instant online account opening from BB&T, a small Eastern US Bank. Using an online application, most new and existing BB&T clients can open multiple accounts, receive immediate approval decisions, and transfer funds into the new account from both BB&T and other checking accounts in about 10 minutes. The bank’s new online offering has also generated high marks from industry observers. Change Sciences Group, a research and consulting firm that helps banks improve their websites ranks BB&T among the top five banks in the US for the ease and convenience it offers people looking to open an account online. Another interesting read from The BankWatch, Online Banking a platform or an application.

Visa Makes The Swap

A nice little concept from Visa Europe, VisaSwap, a place to donate clothes and earn points. There are some new-age ideas in here, even though the site per se could have been a lot better. The swap store will be open only for a few days in every location it travels to. It is a great example of ethical consumption, as the site says over 900,000 million items of clothing are thrown away each year in the UK and even if a small portion of it could be recycled and not let them be dumped in landfills, it could make a positive impact. Making this happen is Visa’s tie up with Textile Recycling for Aid and International Development. Clothing that is donated to TRAID is sorted according to quality and style. The best quality clothing is sold back to the public in one of TRAID’s charity shops. Clothing that is torn or stained is reconstructed and redesigned into new one-off pieces. These are sold under the award-winning recycled fashion label, TRAIDremade. The money that TRAID raises through this operation is donated to overseas development projects in other parts of the world. The way Visa benefits from all this is that people who donate old clothes to TRAID get points debited to their Visa Cards while the company gets a large share of good word of mouth.

Busting Silos

Adage writes about a new initiative from the media handlers at Group M, working on the Ford account. In an effort to get people within different groups to collaborate and work together, the CEO of Group M, Phil Cowdell hired a behavioral psychologist. Mr. Cowdell had the onerous task of getting media, researchers and strategists from three of Ford’s agencies, JWT, Ogilvy (who work with MindShare) and Y&R (MediaEdge CIA) to work together. While in the past they would have worked independently, the new group had to bring together the talents of diverse groups for the benifit of their client Ford Motors. Mr. Cowdell didn’t break down those silos alone, he turned to Sharon Davis, president of Seda Consulting, who met Mr. Cowdell by chance on a plane to New York. Since her arrival, the behavioral psychologist has interacted with the management team and coached other smaller groups to help orient them to the new vision and how to best use their skills and talent. More from AdAge.

Design Stories

Yves Behar is one of the most sought after designers in the world today. His company, Fuse Project, is at the centre of some of the most exciting projects in the world, most notably the One Laptop Per Child Project. While he is not designing he is teaching students at California College of Art Department of Industrial Design. He is a master of environmental friendly, sustainable design, and recently he spoke to Inhabitat about his work, the emerging green culture, design storytelling and more… While on sustainability, just about every important marketer seems to be have an earth-friendly agenda these days. Here’s Nike’s approach to build a low impact culture within its organisation. Also a short essay on how Apple approaches innovation, from The Economist.