Unilever’s Axe men’s-product brand is extending the life of its “Twisted Humor” comedy club tour with a campaign that offers backstage video of the performers if they scan a 2-D barcode included in samples packages, handouts and print ads for Axe’s new Twist fragrance.
The samples and handouts are being made available all this month on selected college campuses, in movie theaters and at Six Flags theme parks around the country. The print ads are appearing in this month’s issues of national men’s magazines such as GQ, Maxim and Men’s Fitness.
Users can take a picture of the 2-D barcodes and send the photos to a short code to receive behind-the-scenes videos of the performers involved in the “Axe Twist Twisted Humor” tour, a standup tour produced in conjunction with the www.FunnyorDie.com Web site that brought comedians like Nick Kroll, Whitney Cummings and Donald Glover to college campuses in April and May.
Users who take part in the mobile 2-D campaign, built on the barcode solution from provider Jagtag, will also be able to click through to the Axe Twist microsite on the FunnyorDie.com Web site, at www.FunnyorDie.com/axe. Linking to that site will also let them view photos from the tour, post comments, and other social features.
“For Axe to stay relevant to our guy, we need to constantly innovate and find new ways and channels to entertain him where he lives, works and plays,” Axe marketing director Mike Dwyer said in a release.
The Jagtag platform lets users access mobile content behind a scannable code without downloading software or applications to their phones, so that marketers can reach both smartphone users and those with standard mobile phones. Last fall, Toyota used Jagtag codes on flyers distributed before New York Giants games to send users a video message from Giants quarterback Eli Manning.
