Axe: THE GRAPHIC NOVEL, 2

Credits & Description:

Category: Online Digital Design
Advertiser: AXE
Product/Service: AXE ANARCHY
Agency: RAZORFISH
Executive Creative Director: Frederic Bonn (Razorfish)
Group Creative Director: Pierre Odendaal (Razorfish)
Creative Lead: Alex Bodman (Razorfish)
Creative Lead Design: Lian Chang (Razorfish)
Associate Creative Director: Jennifer Shreve (Razorfish)
Art Director: Wii Yatani (Razorfish)
Senior Designer: Luke Li (Razorfish)
Designer: Nolan Constantino (Razorfish)
Associate Experience Designer: Kyle Outlaw (Razorfish)
Senior Producer: Michael Prieto/Michael Moscardini (Razorfish)
Senior Planner: Phillip Lee (Razorfish)
Client Engagement: Barbara Ward Thall/Arminda/Klier/Deborah Korono (Razorfish)
Creative Services Manager: Belinda Lopez/Yael Bloom (Razorfish)
Editor: Gene Graham (Razorfish)
Analytics: Elliot Weiner/Shira Gilboa (Razorfish)
President: Frank Mastromauro (Aspen Comics)
Illustrator: Franchesco/Joe Benitez (Aspen Comics)
Music Production: Koo Abuali/Troy Maccubbin/Randy Ematra (FireWire Music Company\Apollo Music)
Video Production: Duffy Higgins (A76 Productions)
Technical Production: Julian Pscheid (Emerge Interactive)
Media placement: Youtube Channel Experience - Online Brand Channel - 2- January 2012
Media placement: Tablet Site - Tablet Devices - 24-Feb 2012
Describe the brief from the client
AXE created the US body spray category in 2002. 10 years later, this category is crowded and competitive, so every new campaign must work harder in the fight for market share.
Enter Anarchy, the brand’s first male/female paired fragrance. The launch was supported by a broadcast campaign about the 'chaos unleashed' when both guys and girls have the AXE Effect.
Our brief was to bring this fantasy to life in digital and social channels for AXE’s traditional target (males 16-24), while also making women a part of the brand’s story. The business objective was to drive category growth of +3%.
Describe the challenges and key objectives
Our strategy was to drive engagement with a target audience that love showcasing their creativity and are hungry for 15 megabytes of fame.
The creative solution was Anarchy: The Graphic Novel - the first comic book written by, and starring, its readers.
The challenge was creating a comic book in a way that had never been done before, where cool and compelling illustrations are posted online at the speed of the real-time web.
In addition, an immersive and original illustrative world had to be created, that was true to both the comic book aesthetic and the AXE brand.
Describe how you arrived at the final design
Serialised over 4 months and hosted on multiple digital channels, the comic was shaped by the suggestions and votes of consumers. The results were immediately incorporated into the storyline, with a new page illustrated every 2 days – often starring consumers.
However, we knew that consumers would only care about being involved if the comic book was credible, so we partnered with well-known independent company Aspen Comics.
A dedicated team at Aspen worked full time for over 5 months. Pre-launch, they designed every element from main characters to original thought balloons and lettering. Post-launch they illustrated the story in real-time.
Give some indication of how successful the outcome was in the market
By the end of April, the illustrations spanned 8 chapters and over 60 pages. More than 50 passionate fans had been illustrated into the novel.
Anarchy has become the best-selling body spray in the US, driving a 10% increase in market share (year to date versus the same period in 2011).
Ultimately, 1m+ people have visited Anarchy: The Graphic Novel on YouTube, while across the web the trailer has gone viral, with 3m+ views.
The story has been shaped by over 50,000 votes and 15,000 suggestions. 34% of engagement was from female consumers – unprecedented for an AXE campaign.