Best Retail Website

Background: The Axe brand was becoming increasingly out of touch with its target audience of young men. Its presentation of itself as a magic potion, that enabled them to ‘conquer women’, alienated 20+ consumers. And it was not making the most of the growing opportunities in search and social to reach their consumers. The grooming category is challenging for many young men. They go online in huge numbers for information that they feel uncomfortable discussing in person. Axe’s new mission is to help young men ‘Find Their Magic’. Our objective was to create digital experiences that help them do it, and not just hear it: to make Axe an online grooming destination for a more modern man. Creative solution: Axe believes every guy has a unique thing, an attractive quality they should flaunt – not hide. We created an online male grooming destination where men can find guidance and inspiration on their own personal style. A site that is as individual as the men it serves. The way that we structured the content of the site is an important blend of navigational ease and guided discovery. From a mixture of analytics, user research and SEO search term analysis, we determine the areas that Axe’s users were expecting to find relevant content. The experience help facilitate intuitive navigation whilst also educating users in areas of confusion. We started from understanding the wants and needs of young guys, what they search, what they discuss and the advice they seek. This informed our content strategy and site design to put the customer needs first. Core AXE 2.0 experiences: 1) Normalise Grooming – help guys gain confidence when it comes to changing their styles. 2) Educate and raise awareness – provide proof that celebrating individuality to elevate their status. 3) Enable creativity – help customers explore and evolve styles that are right for them. Execution: Axe 2.0 is super intuitive to navigate, and enables the journey from inspiration to education. Regardless of how the user lands on the site, they’re guaranteed to be able to find their way around it easily. The Axe 2.0 site has full of editorial content, to create a rich, engaging experience that offers more channels for incoming traffic (through social, sharing, SEO targeting etc.), and to reduce the bounce rate by encouraging users to continue their journey. On Axe 2.0, user can: • Find their magic through Magic Finder - a gamified diagnostic tool to help guys ‘find their magic’ through personalized product and content recommendations. • Search for any style / topics across Hair, Fashion, Grooming and Culture. • Explore related content and products. • Learn about a style and their history– Inspiration and educational content around a style. • Learn step-by-step – How To’s guides that solve a need. • Get inspired through visual Lookbooks. • Read about Axe Culture – Comprehensive articles with pioneer passion stories and their social mission. • Expert’s tips – Read quotes and product usage tips from industry expert. • View product ingredients, rating and review from Axe community. • Purchase product online/ find store near by. • Talk to a virtual advisor / chat online with Axe.

Contributors:

Executive Creative Director:	John McHale
Creative Director:	Creative Director
Client Services Director:	Matt Drury
Programme Lead:	Mamthaz Bolwar Sinha
Experience Design Manager:	Marisa Parson
Design Manager:	Si Hill
Senior UX Designer:	Tom Bloomfield
Copywriter:	Andrew Gonsalves
Senior Account Director:	Alexander Hains
Front-end Development Lead:	Ankit Singhal

SAPIENTRAZORFISH

Location: United Kingdom