It was one of those desperate client missions that many of us face: ad budget is near zero, but still needs to reach impossible sales targets. Care to come up with a memorable promotion idea that will help us? In Thailand this usually means a miniscule spending budget of under $50,000 — in a country of 61 million people.
Fortunately the product is Axe, Unilever’s chick-magnet deodorant brand. Unlike in the States, where it has only recently been launched, Axe has been around Thailand for quite some time — long enough to attract some local me-too brands. Lacking launch momentum, we needed to come up with something really unique and memorable. With a promise of seduction and sexual attraction — dream themes for a promo agency — we could surely come up with something original.
But this is Thailand. Despite a reputation as a freewheeling sex palace, the country is actually a very conservative society with traditional family values of parental respect and sexual control. Consequently, sex before marriage is strongly discouraged and there have been several recent government campaigns to discourage teenagers from “getting the wrong idea.” During Valentine’s Day, for example, young women not accompanied by a male date weren’t allowed inside many Bangkok clubs. Rumor was afoot that several young girls had signed pacts to lose their virginity on the holiday of love!
Of course, as the Victorians found 150 years ago, an environment of repression just gives sexual ideas more potency, and Axe has continued to be hugely popular here. Teens are still teens, regardless of the country, and edgy campaigns toeing the fine line between fantasy and reality always make good advertising. But with a limited budget and high client expectations, the creative task proved difficult, even though the brainstorming sessions were good fun. After a few late nighters, we finally cracked it: co-pack Axe with a condom.
We decided to approach Durex, the global condom giant and number one brand in Thailand. Our proposal was simple: Give us about 100,000 condoms and we’ll co-promote your brand with Axe for free. We figured that they would probably say no to the “free” part, but decided to try anyway.
Much to our surprise, we found the Durex people delighted at the prospect. The reason was simple: Axe gave them a unique outlet to promote their brand, something they couldn’t do themselves. We soon discovered that condom marketing in Thailand is heavily regulated by the Thai government’s Food & Drug Administration, which considers such promotion equivalent to promoting sexual activity, particularly amongst unmarried teens. In other words, seduction by deodorant is OK; condom seduction isn’t. Co-promoting with Axe gave Durex the opportunity to get around these regulations because the campaign originated from the Unilever camp. I know that sounds a bit shaky, but in Thailand it is quite normal.
We decided to limit the promotion to Axe and Durex’s biggest selling retailer, 7-Eleven. With almost 2,000 stores in the Kingdom, the 24-hour, iconographic outlets were a perfect launching pad. In addition to unique packaging designs, we ran strip ads in sports newspapers and handed out thousands of condom-package-shaped flyers at shopping malls and other hangouts popular with teen boys. Adding a list of “perfect date” dining and club outlet recommendations to the back of the packaging card reinforced the subtle theme of seduction.
The result: Axe flew off the shelves, with 54% of the 3-month promotional target achieved in the first 3 days. Better still, the promotion turned into a condom sampling program, as Durex saw an indirect sales boost of 25%. Go figure.
Both sides claimed victory. Axe pointed to the success of its brand with a premium incentive, while Durex said that Axe gave teens an excuse to face their parents in case a condom was accidentally discovered underneath their beds. Either way, plans are already being made to roll the co-promotion nationwide next year.
Bryce Whitwam is director of Consumer Activation at Lowe & Partners in Bangkok, Thailand.
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