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ENGLEWOOD CLIFFS, N.J. — Next month, AXE plans to bring to a climactic close the marketing campaign for AXE Apollo — the biggest and most successful in the brand’s 30-year history — when it will announce contestants winning a trip into space.
The Unilever men’s grooming and personal care brand said this week that after receiving 750,000 entries from around the world, it has selected nine recruits to represent the United States in the AXE Apollo Space Academy (A.A.S.A.).
In December, more than 100 recruits from 61 countries will gather at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., to compete for the chance to receive one of 24 tickets to space. They will take part in a series of A.A.S.A. space training missions to experience what life is like as an astronaut, from floating weightless aboard a Boeing 727 to reaching zero gravity force and piloting a SIAI Marchetti Air Combat plane.
Since the start of the competition in January, A.A.S.A. contestants in the U.S. have entered online via the AXE Apollo contest and through their local retailers. The retail partners, where fans could enter by purchasing AXE Apollo products and submitting a custom A.A.S.A. code found on product packs, include Commissary, H-E-B, Walgreens and Walmart. The nine U.S. finalists will be entered into a random drawing to get one of the tickets to space.
Two U.S. winners — one from the AXE Apollo Space Academy and one previously selected winner from the A.A.S.A. Super Bowl competition — will embark on a mission to space as an official AXE Astronaut on board the Space Expedition Corp. (Space XC) shuttle.
"The Apollo campaign was not only incredibly exciting for the AXE community; it energized and engaged an audience around the world," stated Matthew McCarthy, senior director of brand building for AXE. "Through A.A.S.A., we’re proud and excited to make history by giving guys and girls the ultimate chance to go to space, making space accessible in a way that hasn’t been done before."
