Axe - Young and Mature

Axe is known for having racy ads trying to appeal to teenage boys and young men. The axe "Young an Mature" ad made by Ponce Buenos Aires. It was an ad for the movie theater - you needed 3D glasses to view it.

It starts with an average looking man in his early twenties moving into a new apartment complex. As he walks in a young woman (looking to be in her early twenties) walks by and catches his eye. As soon as she has turned around and gone in an older woman (looking to be about thirty) catches his eye as she leaves to go on a jog. Then an animated image pops up and explains that from here forward you can choose whether you want to watch the storyline progress with the older woman or the younger woman. If you close one eye you see images of only the young girl and if you close the other eye you see only the older woman. Then the story-line continues with the boy developing relationships with scenes of painting his new apartment, them bringing him cookies, watching a movie, kissing in an elevator, having sex in his room, and then the morning after in which the older woman leaves before be wakes and the younger woman stays with him.

I thought this was an exceedingly clever way to use the 3D medium. It actually makes a film ad interactive, giving the viewer a choice in what they will see without disrupting the experience for other viewers. This also communicates something about the brand and product - that Axe is so effective at getting women that you can choose which girl you want. 

The production involved filming one building and three characters. There was one part explaining how to use the glasses that used simple cartoon animation - it had one image and some text.  The only production bit that was difficult was overlaying the scenes of each women so they synced up well.

The music choice could've been stronger. There was no speaking, as there were two story-lines happening simultaneously, so the music needed to be strong. It was a song called Higher & Higher, which had a good intensity, but seemed irrelevant. A stronger song choice would've complimented it really well and if it was about having your choice in women it would've pushed the message through in an even more.

I also wondered why the end of the older woman's story involved her leaving and the end of the younger woman's story involved her staying. Is that supposed to link hook up versus long term relationship to old versus young? Is it encouraging relationships between people of similar age, but only hook ups with people of different ages. I don't know that this was intentional on the part of axe; I suspect not. Maybe it signified the ability of users to choose whether they want the situation to end as hook up of something longer term.  I felt that the ad was already complex enough without different endings that imply different things about the nature of Axe. Using one ending would've improved the ad because it would simplify the ad. 

Overall, it was pretty effective and a little more mature of a story than Axe usually uses.