SMELL OF SUCCESS
Unilever’s Lynx is the number one selling men’s deodorant. The total deodorants market is worth $283.5 million. 5/5
Unilever stablemate Rexona follows Lynx at number two in the men’s deodorant category. Rexona’s recent successful split being a unisex product range into two separate gender-specific ranges has prompted Unilever to launch a third range, Rexona Girl, targeting teen girls. 4/5
AD SPEND
Lynx spent $4.4 million on main media advertising in the 2006/07 financial year, according to Nielsen Media Research AdEx figures, up from $3.2 million. Lynx, however, is a fan of experiential marketing and this figure would not include, for example, the busloads of Lynxjet “mostesses” carted around Australia at the height of the award-winning campaign. 5/5
Nielsen Media Research puts total Rexona main media spend at $3.7 million for the 2006/07 financial year, down from $4.6 million. Spend allocated to the men’s range was $1.8 million. 3/5
MANLY KUDOS
Unilever has long marketed Lynx as helping guys score chicks under the guise of the so-called Lynx Effect. This positioning is even maintained on Unilever’s corporate website, which features the following claim: “It will not be long until the Lynx Effect is evident. Sometimes it’s subtle – a friendly smile from a girl who’s never noticed you, or an offhand comment from your friend’s mother about the Kama Sutra.” 4/5
The Rexona men’s range includes Rexona Power, with the slogan “More power than you need” to tie in with the brand’s sponsorship of the 2007 V8 Supercar Championship – although it’s dubious what sort of power a deodorant can imbue. According to Unilever deodorant & grooming manager Geoff Bellingham: “Men love having more power than they need.” 2/5
GAME TIME
Unilever is a fan of experiential marketing. As part of the latest Lynx campaign – the first since the highly awarded Lynxjet activity – Unilever held a beach event at Sydney’s Bondi Beach, featuring . . . well, bikini-clad man eaters. 4/5
Unilever doesn’t ignore Rexona in the experiential stakes. The Rexona Power campaign includes a televised race of purpose-built, powered-up shopping trolleys on the Bathurst 1000 track. 3/5
HERITAGE
What is known as Lynx in Australia (as well as NZ, Ireland and the UK), goes by the name of Axe in the US, Europe, India and South Asia. According to Wikipedia, the original product launched in 1974 in South Africa and was known as Ego. 2/5
Rexona was created in Australia by a pharmacist and his wife in 1908, and will celebrate its 100th birthday next year. 4/5
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