124 CHAPTER 4 TARGET GROUPSand men. The launch campaign included print and online ads and commercials on YouTube. A teaser commercial
was scheduled for movie theatres. To start the campaign, Axe introduced a branded serialised graphic novel on
YouTube and Facebook in partnership with the publisher Aspen Comics. New sequences were uploaded every few
days. The plots were based partly on consumers’ suggestions and votes, and some fans were even depicted in the
comic. Previously, an Axe commercial was always about a guy spraying himself and a girl being attracted, and Axe
facilitating the contact between both. Now, however, women also have something to spray on themselves, and
consequently there is more of an equilibrium between the sexes. Of the 2.3 million ‘likes’ Axe has on Facebook,
about a quarter are by women. Apparently has been hearing for some time that women have been asking
for and looking for their very own scent of Axe. Axe has a 74% market share in the men’s body spray category.
While only about 17% of American men use body spray (65% use aftershave and 62% use cologne), it is most
popular among men 18 to 24 years old, with 28% using it. As for women, 47% use body spray, second to body lotion
with fragrance, which is used by 59%.
launched Axe Anarchy, the women's body spray, in a `limited edition', with the possibility of being
offered permanently based on sales. Anarchy will also be available as a deodorant, antiperspirant, shower gel and
shampoo, but only for men.^6For instance, Diamond targets women in the UK by off ering a cheaper car insurance
because women are better drivers and female accidents imply less severe damage. Colgate
produces strawberry-fl avoured toothpaste for children. BMW launched the BMW 1 series for
‘smaller’ budgets.
Besides diff erences between younger and older consumers, one can also distinguish between
generations or age groups born in a particular period. Th is makes their buying responses,
needs and interests diff erent from those of people of the same age, living in a diff erent time
period. Table 4.3 shows the characteristics of three generations, i.e. baby boomers, generation
X and generation Y.Two studies were conducted in which ads using different types of probability markers (hedge, pledge, no probability
marker) were tested with a sample of men and women. In the first study a convenience sample of 638 Belgians was
collected via an online survey: 53.1% of the respondents were female, and the average age was 27. In the second
study the participants were 331 Belgian undergraduate students (51.4% were female).^7
According to the selectivity model,^8 women tend to process information and form judgements comprehensively,
taking into account all the available cues, assigning equal importance to information relevant to themselves and to
others, and exhibiting great sensitivity to detail and all relevant information. Women encode a greater number of
claims than men do and process each of the claims more extensively.^9 In other words, women could be considered
as more systematic (central) processors. Men most often do not use comprehensive processing of all available
information when forming judgements. They instead tend to make use of heuristic (peripheral) processing, relying
on a highly available, salient single cue or sub-set of cues. Hence, the expectation is that the presence of probability
markers (both hedges and pledges) in advertising copy will have a greater impact on brand attitude and purchase
intention towards advertised products for men than for women.
Studies have shown that both genders are more easily persuaded when the message content is relevant to the
opposite gender’s social role than to their own. More specifically, Carli found that women who use powerlessRESEARCH INSIGHT
Men might be from Mars, but women are definitely from Venus – influence of gender
on effectiveness of probability markers in advertisingM04_PELS3221_05_SE_C04.indd 124M04_PELS3221_05_SE_C04.indd 124 6/5/13 3:00 PM6/5/13 3:00 PM