When I was teaching high school, I had a “no Axe” rule in my classroom. I often used the opportunity of the occasional overpowering aroma to teach the guys about the concept of being subtle.
I was looking online for a sandalwood scented antiperspirant. Something that might pair well with my daily Proraso Wood & Spice cologne. I'm in Texas, so deodorant is not an option for me, has to be an antiperspirant, so that ruled a lot of sandalwood-scented stuff out. Dove Men+Care has one, but it's almost impossible to find that particular one around here.
So, I started looking online, saw sandalwood as part of Old Spice's Hawkridge scent and put that on my list. One of my searches returned Axe's Apollo scent, so I figured I'd look that one up. I didn't like the overall profile on it, so I figured it couldn't hurt (too much) to look at the rest of the Axe line. Their Signature Gold got my attention: Oud and Vanilla. So, I put that on my list. Went to the store this morning, and sniffed both the OS Hawkridge and Axe Signature Gold products. Didn't like the Hawkridge, not anything like the Proraso Wood & Spice at all. But the Axe, I liked it.
So, now I've bought an Axe product. And, at 40, I'm, what, twice the age of their target demographic?