A Boyfriend and an AXE

Fine, I will admit it...I love gossip. And as sad as it is to say, I could spend hours on blogs, reading magazines and digging for the latest dirt on celebrities. While she was hardly a celebrity a week ago, tennis pro Melanie Oudin has seemed to turn into one overnight. I was first captured by her in her match against Nadia Petrova to launch her into the quarterfinals of the US Open. Even as a new fan to the sport, it was obvious that she is going to be a player to watch for a long time. During her matches, the media focused on her shoes (a big bonus plug for miAdidas.com) which were created by her boyfriend as a gift for the tournament with the word "Believe" stamped on the side. It has become Oudin's mantra and we will undoubtedly see the sale of Adidas products rise as an indirect correlation with Oudin's pair. But it isn't Adidas that I now associate with her, it is AXE hair products.

No, it doesn't make much sense to go from Oudin to AXE, but as an ever curious gossip hunter, in the article titled "Tennis Phenom Oudin Booted Out of NYC Hotel" on FoxNews.com the correlation became apparent. The article was discussing how Oudin's family had not anticipated her success and had only booked their hotel reservation for one week of the tournament. Since the Times Square hotel is at capacity at any given time of the year, the US Open attracted record crowds that left Oudin's family looking for another hotel. The article also went on to talk about her boyfriend who was along to watch the tournament and how the shoes that he gave her had become such a hit among fans. Every time that the article mentioned the word "boyfriend" it contained a hyperlink. Unfortunately this was not the typical link that directed the reader to more details about the boyfriend (as I so hoped), however moving the mouse over the word forced a pop-up advertisement for AXE hair products to begin. The AXE ad was complete with video and although there was disappointment for lack of information on Oudin's boyfriend, it was a unique and unexpected placement for the brand.

AXE has recently launched a new line of products for men's hair care. Their ads feature attractive women who hunt down men with "bad hair" and fiercely work on the men to give them "girl approved hair." They are sexy, and usually not clothed properly, but they get a man's attention and that is exactly the consumer that they are looking for. Sex sure sells with men, and AXE knows that a product like shampoo might not be something that men even think about when they are buying. So in order to capture their attention and make them remember the brand, they position it with sexy women and against their view of men with bad hair. Seems like an effective enough strategy to cut through the clutter and with few men centered shampoo brands out there, they shouldn't have trouble to gain top market share. So why place ads in a middle of a story about Oudin, connected to the word "boyfriend"?

It might not seem like the same guy that would be attracted to the oversexed ad would be reading an article on Fox News about Oudin and her family getting kicked out of her hotel. However, the women in their lives are definitely more likely to read this, and to be curious for more information about her boyfriend, subsequently being exposed to the AXE ad. It may just be enough for her to think twice when pondering her shampoo choice for their shared shower the next time she is at Target. Women have more influence than you might think with men, or maybe you know this already. They are usually the primary purchasers for the average household and whether they are moms, girlfriends or just friends with benefits, they have a magical effect on what men buy. Why? Because men care what women think...even the gay ones. The AXE ads are effective because they speak to what men want; women to think that they are attractive, clean, cool or in other words, "girl approved" just as the AXE shampoo promises.

So while moms, girlfriends and other influencers are online reading about the latest gossip in the tennis world, they are still in the prime location to be delivered brands for men. Even though there was a lack of information regarding Oudin's boyfriend in the article, AXE revealed that it is just as worthy of a topic to be gossiped about...