AXE/Lynx on Hijacking the World Cup on Social to Bring Its Ethos of Fine Fragrance Worldwide

AXE/Lynx tore up the traditional sports sponsorship playbook this World Cup with its social activations. From brokering peace over football’s biggest beef and resolving the 'Hand of God' incident to getting a Sabrina Carpenter lookalike to go viral with a guy dressed in a hot dog costume on the streets of Mexico City, the brand repeatedly proved the alluring and enduring power of its fragrances.

Releasing four activations throughout the season, AXE/Lynx worked hard to remain a talking point on socials, building on its wider FIFA World Cup campaign, 'Smell Your Best When You Look Your Worst’, created through LOLA, which dropped localised iterations to resonate with different audiences.

'The Hand'

AXE/Lynx's ‘Pulling Doubles’ campaign from The Brooklyn Brothers got fans talking about the power of attraction when a Sabrina Carpenter dupe was spotted on several occasions with the hot dog man, reaching over 760 million people. The brand also brought influencers to the opening game at the Estadio Azteca and hosted people at its House of Fresh Space in Mexico City, generating over 14.5 million in reach, while also gifting creators and journalists tickets to surprise their loved ones, with viral results. To top off the season, Lynx staged 'The Official Make-Up' between former England goalkeeper Peter Shilton and Argentina over the infamous 'Hand of God' incident, positioning its Fine Fragrance as the unlikely force capable of ending football's greatest and longest-standing grudge.

All of these activations reinforced the brand's sponsorship in a memorable and culturally relevant way. Caroline Gregory reflects on working authentically with creators during the World Cup, creating reactive storytelling at the speed of culture, and finding a place for fragrance to fit within the global event.

​Axe x House of Fresh in Mexico City​

LBB> Why was the World Cup a priority for Axe/Lynx, and how did you choose to tie your fragrance to the global sporting event? Were there any key associations and values you wanted fans to have of Axe/Lynx?

Caroline> This was a Unilever-wide partnership and we know it’s super relevant for gen z, so we started by asking: football and fragrance – what do they have to do with each other?

During the World Cup, fans behave like believers: fully committed, slightly chaotic, emotionally all in, with the costumes and face paint to prove it. Guys aren't necessarily looking their best, but they can still make it work thanks to the power of fragrance. That insight inspired our 'Smell Your Best When You Look Your Worst' campaign – embedding the brand in culture at scale in a way that's differentiated, ownable, and big enough for local relevance and real participation.

LBB> How early did planning begin, particularly for more reactive moments like the England vs. Argentina game? And how did you approach what you wanted to do in this space?

Caroline> Everything we do is grounded in the power of fragrance, and in the context of the fans that can really help when they are dressed in their craziest outfit. That foundation underpins our most ambitious work – from the ‘Pulling Doubles’ activation to our media and influencer brand trip to the FIFA World Cup 2026 opening ceremony in CDMX, where our branded space, Casa Fresh, became a content engine that let us react in real time across owned and social.

Having that foundation is what lets us capitalise on the World Cup's endless reactive opportunities. Our partnership with 433 invited fans to vote for the craziest-dressed supporters, generating over one million engagements from eight posts. Another campaign - 'The Official Makeup' - settled the Hand of God beef between Peter Shilton and Argentina on its 40th anniversary and delivered coverage across The Sun, Sky Sports and talkSPORT, with global reach of over 900 million and 14,600 engagements.

'The Official Make Up'

LBB> How did you decide which influencers to work with and ensure brand alignment?

Caroline> We're social-first at AXE, so who we partner with matters enormously – it's the difference between content that's just viewed and content that actually engages. Our deep understanding of the audience lets us identify the voices that are most relevant to our audience and, crucially, we look for creators who are up for having a laugh.

At this tournament we've collaborated with huge names like KSI, Rio Ferdinand and Deji, but also worked in an earned capacity with fine fragrance and lifestyle voices like TJ Talks Scents – the combination is where we've seen real success as it really covers our core audiences. On the opening ceremony brand trip alone, the earned influencers we hosted drove more than 685,000 engagements at a 4.6% engagement rate. Across our wider World Cup activations globally, we've partnered with over 7,500 creators for more than 15,000 pieces of content, reaching over seven billion, with more than 10.8 million engagements and a 1000% increase in owned social followers.

LBB> When working with influencers, what specific metrics do you capture to gauge whether creator-led activations deliver good value exchange?

Caroline> Reach, engagements and engagement rate are the metrics that best capture whether we're delivering a good ROI and a genuine value exchange if the content is designed to be community building. If the goal is awareness and we want our content in front of as many eyeballs as possible, then VTR is a good metric to determine success.

As Leandro Barreto, Unilever's chief marketing officer, said at Cannes this year, brands don't own the conversation – you have to earn your place in one, and give creators genuine meaning so they want to carry that message. Part of that is strong campaign messaging, but it's also about partnering with the right influencers and balancing large creators with more niche voices. Getting that mix right is what keeps us both visible and meaningful for young guys.

LBB> Considering activations like the Sabrina Carpenter lookalike and Izzy Imlach's viral ticket video, what sort of brand guidelines do you provide to creators you work with and how do you balance the creators' freedom with message ownership to make sure it lands?

Caroline> Everything we've done is rooted in the power of fragrance. Our ‘Pulling Doubles’ stunt was an over the top way of showing exactly that: even dressed in a wiener costume, when you smell so good, attraction can still happen.

Outside of those central ideas, creators have real freedom to capture content – albeit within the firm constraints of FIFA rules! On our brand trip to the opening ceremony in CDMX, we let a curated group of influencers bring the power of fragrance to life; in our Fine Fragrance workshop, our design leads let guests peek behind the curtain at the craft behind our range. Whether it was a pool party or the fine fragrance dinner, they were able to really live the brand for the week and that really came through in the content.

Press coverage for the Axe x 'Pulling Doubles' campaign featuring Sabrina's doppleganger

The influencers we work with have such a natural flair and style, so it’s really important that they’re able to create that engaging content for audiences without dealing with too much red tape. Authenticity always beats control: we find that brands that perform best give creators the freedom to interpret the idea in their own voice rather than handing them a tightly scripted brief.

LBB> What are the biggest challenges and payoffs of running super-reactive campaigns and multiple product drops throughout a tournament?

Caroline> The biggest challenge is keeping speed without losing yourself. The tournament throws up moments you could react to every day, and the trap is jumping on all of them just because you can. Chasing every trend gets you views, but doesn't leave a distinct memory or build the brand. So the discipline is moving fast while asking: is this actually ownable to AXE, or just noise?

The payoff is huge. 'The Official Makeup' wasn't in our plans at the start of June, but because we'd built the ‘Smell Your Best When You Look Your Worst’ platform and trusted our humour, we landed something people talked about – securing pick-up in The Sun, Sky Sports and talkSPORT. Our 433 partnership did the same: with one of the world's biggest football publishers, eight posts drove over one million engagements, proving AXE can move at the speed of culture without disrupting the conversation.

LBB> And reflecting on the World Cup, how did you make the massive, global event feel locally relevant to your target audience?

Caroline> A World Cup is incredibly international, but fans experience it locally, so we couldn't just parachute one campaign into every market and expect it to land everywhere.

Our ‘Smell Your Best When You Look Your Worst’ campaign ran seven films, each told through the lens of a different country and celebrating a unique kind of fan obsession. 'Airplane' follows a Mexican supporter whose neighbours help him haphazardly build a trophy costume – the look is awkward, but his fragrance isn't.

'Sausage'

'Sausage' is about a German fan who styles out an absurd sausage costume and even wins over a security guard, while 'Bodypaint' follows an England fan who leaves his friends in pursuit of the love of his life. 'The Official Makeup' tapped a genuine English and Argentine flashpoint that still resonates 40 years on. That’s not a story every market could tell, but where it landed, it landed hard.

'Bodypaint'

What really stands out is the role AXE plays in all of this – amplifying local moments and showing how unexpected connections can be made through scent in the most absurd way.