Mark Forscher

The other day I saw a banner ad for axe2grind.net. I forget what it looked like but it was sufficient enough to clue me in to another corporate viral media campaign. Note to corporate-viral-media-concocting-advertising-guys: if your viral campaign is good it will go ‘viral’ by itself spreading by word of mouth, email, etc. without banner ad buys. I’m sure it’s a lot more fun to work on ‘crazy’ ideas for a viral media website than do shoots for those stupid and weirdly ambiguous Axe subway ads in NYC (so I’m supposed to imagine that so many women are lining up outside the apartment door for the guy inside that they have to take ‘numbers’??), but it’s not working.

Axe is framing the site as a “free forum that documents the string of bizarre occurrences that have recently taken place in many parts of the country. The young men in these incidents share one common thread: they have all used AXE Deodorant Bodyspray.” I have to assume that this is all in self-mocking fun because this idea is so played out; to think anyone would believe the legitimacy is pretty laughable, although the GeoCities-esque background and hit counter straight out of 1998 are legit.

Ok so I’ve ripped on the project, but I do like that they take advantage of different types of media: first-hand video testimonials, Blair Witch Project inspired documentation, photographic evidence, and audio of answering machine messages. And that they take user submissions of content, although there doesn’t seem to be much of an incentive for participation, especially since they’re downplaying the corporate nature of the site (no big Axe giveaways here).

Yes this is just another one of many many many viral media advertising campaigns. But just because you make it ‘viral’ doesn’t mean it is relevant, engaging or that the campaign itself is self-sustaining.