Lynx goes for Mr Timid; and, oh no, yet more media awards
Unilever might think it has tapped into the new young male Zeitgeist, but its strategy is so obvious it’s nothing but clumsy, writes Dominic Mills. Plus: D&AD now has 361 awards in 27 categories – is it time for an awards disarmament programme?
The advantage of being a Zeitgeist brand is that it offers scale: whatever the Zeitgeist is, it tends to be universal, so a brand that taps into it can adopt a uniformity of positioning across the world.
The problem occurs when the Zeitgeist shifts, as it invariably does. The brand is left high and dry, off the pace or irrelevant. Identifying the moment of change, and the new Zeitgeist, is tricky.
Thus it is with Lynx/Axe, Unilever’s young male grooming and personal care brand. Gone is the goofy laddishness encapsulated by this ad starring Jennifer Aniston from 1997, and later this brilliant Specsavers parody from 2010. Let’s call this lad Mr Banter.
I always liked the Lynx style (if not the products), and I’m especially partial to a good parody. The parody is a good test of whether a brand has caught the Zeitgeist because it depends on the joke transcending its market and category.
But it has been clear for about 18 months that Unilever felt Lynx was on the wrong side of the new masculinity. What may have started off as a celebration of the ‘manchild’ and his obsession with pulling (remember, this paralleled the explosion of titles such as FHM and Loaded) came to be seen as misogynistic and over-sexualised.
[advert position=”left”]
And what is this new version of masculinity? Well, it’s not the ‘new’ man – the one in touch with his feelings, a little bit metrosexual, happy to take paternity leave and hum winsome folky songs that the girls liked.
No, it’s the ‘new, new’ man: this one, according to Lynx, is deeply insecure about his body, style, looks etc, and above all frightened to express himself. Mr Timid, if you like.
Here are Lynx’s own words: “…a lot of guys don’t feel comfortable being themselves. Because they’re afraid of what people will say. Of being labelled. Of embarrassment. Afraid that what’s unique about them isn’t considered attractive or acceptable. We’re living in an era of unprecedented freedom and acceptance – and yet what we’ve seen is that a lot of men still feel huge pressure to look and behave a certain way in order to be seen as attractive.”
But fear not, Mr Timid. Lynx is right behind you with a series of grooming products and tips designed to give you confidence to be…you!
Lynx (well, technically Axe) relaunches in America this week with this new ‘Find Your Magic’ campaign (below) and then goes global over the next few months.
It’s ok – but obvious.
There’s no attempt to hide the strategy. They might as well have attached a post-it note to the ad with the brief on it: “liberate guys from masculine stereotypes and empower them to be the most attractive they can be” (their words, not mine).
There’s some quite nice stuff around the ad, like this ‘Instagroom‘ tutorial on how to style a quiff which, I suppose, is sort of Zoella for blokes.
My issue is whether this really is the new young male Zeitgeist. In an era of Tinder and ubiquitous internet porn, do young men really lack confidence to the level Unilever thinks? Or are they just pretending in order to highlight their ‘sensitive’ side?
At the same time, Lynx is clearly targeting an older, more sophisticated demographic. At least that’s how I decode this statement from Rick Strubel, Unilever’s global vice president for Lynx/Axe. He said: “Not only are we talking to guys who are in their late teens, but also to those who are in their early twenties – guys who are a bit more mature and are looking for more sophisticated products.”
I take the logic behind this, as expressed by Rick Srubel, to be: “If we can make our target market bigger, and flog them more expensive stuff, we’ll be better off. Bigger bonuses. Hooray.”
Good luck to him. But I’m not sure the older demographic he’s added to Lynx’s target market shares the same Zeitgeist as the younger one.
FFS! Another bloody set of media awards…
Oh gawd. Someone’s launched another set of media awards, and I just can’t believe it’s what the world needs.
This is D&AD, best known for its creative and craft awards (sample category: digitally enhanced illustration for advertising), and this year it’s adding media to its already humongous list of awards categories.
I only found out because I saw this poster in the bathrooms at Carat a couple of weeks ago.
Believe it or not (and I counted them), D&AD now has 361 awards in 27 categories. Next year, I believe they’re launching one for ginger-haired, left-handed copywriters working on digital ads for animal charities.
Why? I have no idea, other than it sees an opportunity, rather like Russia does with the Ukraine (and the Crimea), to grab some land and extend its power and influence.
Between it and Cannes, it feels like an arms race – one with no purpose other than greed, and the self-glorification (and self-enrichment) of the organisation in question. Why can’t we have a multi-lateral awards disarmament programme?
Actually, the self-enrichment jibe doesn’t apply to D&AD: it is a charity, and a thoroughly worthwhile one at that. Nevertheless, at £285 a pop, entry is pricey.
Even so, what is the point? If these were different and/or better than other media awards, I could accept it (grudgingly), but they’re not.
Historically, the members of D&AD were people who looked at media like something nasty on the bottom of their shoes. And I think you can see this cultural disconnect in the terms of the awards.
In fact, I don’t think D&AD is even clear whether they’re creative awards or effectiveness ones. This is what the judges are supposed to look at – “campaigns will be awarded on the merit of their creative use of a specific medium or channel as a creative tool to achieve maximum efficiency, visibility and impact for a client.” This reads to me like the product of a confused mind.
As for the categories, there are a) too many, at 18, and b) they’re odd. They include programmatic (can you imagine how dull reading those entries will be), PR, data and branded content. Talk about muddled.
Oh, yes, and to make it even more confusing, they already have separate branded content and PR categories.
I don’t envy the judges sorting out this mess, but at least they are an experienced bunch operating under the wise chairwomanship of Tess Alps.