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Unilever?s Axe targets tech-savvy males via app sponsorship

Unilever?s Axe is the launch sponsor of Comedy Central?s CC: Stand-Up mobile application that lets consumers sort through and watch a collection of short videos.

Comedy Central?s CC: Stand-Up app pulls in video content from more than 700 comedians. The app is available for iPhone and iPad devices.

?Over the course of our history, we've built a massive library of amazing content and we wanted to give fans, everywhere they live, a new way to tap into it,? said Ben Hurst, vice president of mobile and emerging platforms at Viacom Entertainment Group, New York.

?Stand-up is a part of our DNA, it's been a big part of our programming ever since we launched the network in 1991,? he said.

?With the app, fans now have exciting new ways to consume comedy and discover new comedians.?

Mobile laughs
Axe is integrated into the Comedy Central app via a playlist of eight sponsored videos called ?Laugh Your Face Off.?

Axe is also running pre-roll video ads within the app.

When consumers click on the Axe ads, they are directed to a landing page where they can read reviews and learn more about the company?s line of male grooming products.

Commerce is also incorporated within the campaign. Consumers can select products, view a list of online retailers such as Target and Walmart where they are sold and check out via the retailer?s sites.

There is also a section in Axe?s campaign that lets consumers click on four different interactive faces to find the product that is right for them.

Axe?s currently-running Facescore campaign is promoted via the landing page. Users are encouraged to upload photos of themselves with the hashtag #Facescore via Twitter, Tumblr and Instagram.

Since Comedy Central?s app contains an array of content, discovery is heavily played up.

A feature called ?Six Degrees of Stand-Up? plots a video that consumers are currently watching at the center of a web. The web then branches out to show related videos by genre, topic or trivia.

The more content that consumers click on, the bigger a web gets.

Additionally, the app can be turned into featured mode, which pulls in content from a current Comedy Central special or edited picks.

According to Comedy Central, its core demographic of males are heavily social. Therefore, content can easily be shared via a big button to Facebook, Twitter and email in the right hand-corner of the app.

Comedy Central is promoting the app via Web and radio calls-to-action as well as at Comedy Central Certified Clubs.

An Android version of the app will be rolled out in the next few months.

Mobile content
This is not the first time that Axe and Comedy Central have teamed up on a marketing campaign together.

In 2009, Axe ran a mobile marketing campaign with mobile Web, SMS, ringtones and text alerts across Viacom?s MTV, Comedy Central, VH1 and Spike networks (see story).

Additionally, Comedy Central has used mobile to distribute its content to new audiences.

For example, Comedy Central?s The Colbert Report was the first TV series to be integrated into the Flipboard app (see story).

?Mobile is very important for our brand,? Mr. Hurst said.

?We sell to 18-49 [year-olds], but our core audience is young guys,? he said. ?They live on mobile and comedy is the connective tissue in their social media world.?

Final Take
Lauren Johnson is associate reporter on Mobile Marketer, New York