When AXE dropped their premium fragrance line, 73% of people preferred it to Bleu de Chanel in a blind smell test.

Shocking. I know.

We were sitting on a bombshell and had to go big to promote it.

We needed Gen Z to see that new AXE smelled better.

Introducing: The World’s First IRL Ratio

“Ratio” is Gen Z’s way to say “I owned you.” It’s everywhere online.

We wanted to grab attention by being the first to use it IRL.

So we took out the biggest 3D billboard in Times Square.

To make sure Gen Z heard us loud and clear, we went to Chanel’s HQ with TikTok creator @sidetalknyc and continued our ratio.

We wanted to see what other people would ratio with AXE.

So we started the #AXERatioChallenge on TikTok and asked people what new AXE smells better than.

13.2 billion impressions later, we made the internet smell that much better.

We even got Chanel to ratio Chanel.

(Chanel West Coast. Host of Ridiculousness)

Finally, we had to show the potential that new AXE had.

We knew Gen Z would listen to influencers, and fragrance experts were our biggest haters online.

So we gave them the blind smell test and caught them red-handed saying AXE smelled better than other luxury brands.

Credit: Jacob Knight-Thomas and Sophie Marsden

It was all fun and games until Chanel’s lawyers gave us a call, begging us to stop.

We found a legal workaround.