Lincoln Bjorkman, Digitas
Brand Name: AXE
Agency/Site Creator: Razorfish
URL: http://www.theaxeeffect.com/
What is unusual and effective about this website?
AXE is a brand that knows itself and its audience. And AXE is a brand that remains unafraid to push the limits of good taste. Just like its audience. Or at least that's how it appeared to me, somebody who knows the brand well and likes to believe he knows the audience. My gut says AXE "gets it." Juvenile. Immature. Overtly sexual. Risk takers. The brand has a smart planner with a lot of whack hiding somewhere. The brand understands the social media power plays and so makes excellent use of Facebook, Funny or Die, and original online content, as well as hilarious promotions and gimmicks like the amusing "Undie Run" philanthropic clothing drive program focused on the college market.
To verify my belief that the site would be found worthy by girl-crazed young men everywhere (and presumably some of the young ladies they desire), I asked a few post-college grads here to visit the site and report back. Their collective wisdom went something like this: "Looks cool but not too complicated. Damn easy to navigate. Hey, you can connect with Facebook. Smart. They didn't just throw up some music downloads over there."
The site's content is funny, refreshing, and directly connected to the brand. Reporting one of your friends as having WADD [Women's Attention Deficit Disorder: guilty of uninteresting behavior with girls] on Facebook? Pretty funny. Hair Action: when a girl moves in close, inhales deeply, and can't resist playing with her guy's hair? Awesome. And the site even has funny videos acting out examples of Hair Action and WADD. Check out the "Undie Run" campaign. Brilliant. Funny. Sexy. Philanthropic. Makes me wish I was in college again, just so I could participate. Great site, so much fun.
I cracked up when the AXE Hair Action application on Facebook asked me put on my headphones (great insight into their cube-dwelling and room-sharing target) to truly "get some Hair Action" in "3D Holographic Sound." Then the site "blindfolds" me and away we go. Hilarious and kudos for the brilliant sound design.
AXE delivers and doesn't pull any punches. It takes outrageous and clever chances to get attention, which is right for its target and still unusual enough in the online brand space (though certainly not online in general) that it made me stop and pay attention.
How would you improve this website?
I don't think you can "improve" a site experience like AXE. What you should do (and the brand is doing it well) is invest and invest in keeping it fresh, if you will. I would be looking for more user-generated content and even bolder work from partners like CollegeHumor.com to help keep the brand honest and bold.
The navigation looks great, but you really have to dig to find all the cool stuff. My site crew kept noting things they had found on the site (or off the site on Facebook and elsewhere), and without a link, I had a hard time finding clips, experiences, or specific areas I wanted to explore. However, I really enjoyed the process of discovery, as did the crew I enlisted for some perspective. In fact, I'm still telling them to stop goofing around on the site.
Brand Name: Levi's
Agency/Site Creator: Unknown
URL: http://store.levi.com/
What is unusual and effective about this website?
The Levi's store went "all-in" with Facebook to such an extreme that it calls its ecommerce site a "Friends Store" with the very social sub-head, "Like-minded shopping starts here." You can click to see what "everyone" likes or filter through the clutter and see only what your "friends" like by linking to your Facebook account.
I would pay (call me, I will pay) to see the results and learning from this retail site experience. Every Levi's jean style has "likes," comments, and reviews posted. The ubiquitous Facebook "like" icon is everywhere, so much so that I did a search to see if I missed a news alert announcing that Facebook had recently acquired Levi's.
The legendary jeans maker has more than 300,000 fans and such seamless (excuse the pun) integration with Facebook that I immediately felt a brand shift. Levi's is taking a unique and bold step forward in social retailing and crowd-sourced shopping. It joins Converse and others in arguing that one way to keep your brand mark relevant and brand followers happy is to let them dictate the terms of engagement. Using Facebook this way is a step in the right direction.
How would you improve this website?
I could make a compelling case that the Facebook integration here favors Facebook more than Levi's and that the target audience values individual expression so much that "like-minded shopping starts here" is completely wrong-headed. But it's a discussion I would relish, and I will keep the site bookmarked so I can keep checking in to see if it's working. Points to Levi's and its agency for moving forward fast and having the nerve to stake out a strong point of view in such a competitive retail space.
Lincoln Bjorkman is chief creative officer, North America, for Digitas.
