AXE: FiNe frAgrANce

AXE

Fine Fragrance: Just Like That
Social Campaign

Proof that the best ads don’t look like ads

WALK WITH US

Our Approach

How do you advertise a fragrance you can’t smell through a screen? You don’t. You make people feel something instead. For the launch of AXE’s new Fine Fragrance Collection in the Netherlands, AXE challenged us to cut through the noise. Using only dark ads. No organic push, no brand taglines. Just paid content. On platforms where Gen Z usually swipes away anything that looks remotely like an ad. So we did what any bold campaign would do: we made sure it didn’t look like one.

That moment of effortless confidence. When the scent hits. When someone turns their head. When you didn’t plan it, but it just works. The entire campaign revolved around recreating that feeling, using short-form video that blended into Gen Z’s feed like a second skin.

LET'S GO IN-DEPTH

Our Process

We created a series of short-form, creator-led videos that looked and felt like the content Gen Z already engages with:

Candid “Caught on Cam” moments
Stitchable “I wish I knew...” confessionals
POVs that flipped traditional gender or confidence norms
Creator reactions and subtle product reveals

All served dark. No tags. No frills. No forced branding. Our goal? Make AXE feel like the scent of the moment, without ever saying it out loud.

Collaborators
A cast of standout creators from the Netherlands and Belgium helped bring the stories to life, including Joost Versluis, Jamie Ommel, Joey Burnet, Josh Bram, Laetitia, Samuel De Graef and Gaetan Likile.

HOW DID IT GO?

The Results

Turns out Gen Z loves a scroll-stopper that doesn’t scream “ad.” On Instagram we reached 318K with an 26.5% average completion rate (↑ 265% vs. benchmark) and on TikTok we reached 519K with an 13.5% average completion rate (↑ 12% vs. benchmark). Minimal drop-off throughout videos = maximum engagement. The audience stayed for the story, even when they didn’t know it was one.

This campaign reminded us that the best kind of ad doesn’t feel like one at all. By leaning fully into the way Gen Z consumes content: lo-fi, self-aware and scroll-native, we saw that even a paid-only launch can create genuine engagement when it respects the rules of the feed. We didn’t need glossy production or overt product pushes; we just needed to feel relevant. Humor, POVs and candid moments helped AXE show up not as a brand interrupting the scroll, but as a confident presence within it. In the end, the most valuable insight was simple: when you trust the platform, trust your creators and trust the audience, you don’t have to force it. You just let it hit. Just like that.