MAM
Unilever’s Axe Deodorant recognised for creative marketing
SAN FRANCISCO: Monthly magazine Business 2.0 has named Unilever’s Axe Deodorant, Rheingold Beer and Walt Disney’s Buena Vista Pictures recipients of the 2003 Business 2.0 Sweet Spot Awards. The awards recognise the most innovative and successful marketing campaigns of the past year.
The 2003 Sweet Spot Award winners were selected by Business 2.0 editors and a panel of marketing, communications and creative professionals.
The editor of Business 2.0 Josh Quittner said: “We dedicated this year’s Sweet Spot Awards to campaigns that were able to harness that squishy concept called inspiration while still achieving a wholly practical goal: results. In addition to celebrating Axe Deodorant, Rheingold Beer and Walt Disney’s achievements, we unveil some of the behind-the-scenes thinking that went into these successful marketing initiatives.”
Business 2.0 deals with business, technology and innovation. It is published out of The Fortune Group at Time which is an AOL Time Warner company.
Most Innovative Campaign: The Dutch consumer products giant Unilever introduced Axe Deodorant Bodyspray to American consumers last July with a humorous, edgy campaign by New York agency Bartle Bogle Hegarty that focused on the testosterone-addled preoccupations of its male target audience.
Determining that this ad-weary demographic prefers to “discover brands,” the agency bypassed conventional television ad saturation in favor of a highly targeted Web initiative. Judges were impressed, declaring that this sense of discovery really works.
Best Brand Relaunch: Tasked with the assignment of relaunching a brand that had been dead for 25 years, and armed with a $500,000 budget and the edict to capture the mercurial “Manhattan hipster” market, branding agency Powell revitalized Rheingold Beer by reviving one of the brand’s classic hallmarks: a beauty contest.
Leveraging Generation Y’s fondness for nostalgia and enlisting the involvement of East Village and Lower East Side barkeeps, Rheingold promoted the contest through a series of billboards. According to judges, by managing to keep the contest “below the radar enough to tap that tough-to-get New York trendsetter/culture driver crowd,” the strategy paid off in hard-won buzz.
Most Bang for the Buck: Walt Disney’s Buena Vista Pictures was concerned that 40-something superstar Mel Gibson might be too mature to appeal to the teen market it needed to make Signs into a summer blockbuster.
Therefore, the studio turned to Cornerstone Promotion to create a low-out-of-pocket guerrilla marketing strategy for the eerie flick. The judges described the cost-effective campaign, which included creepy online ads, a downloadable remix of the ominous sound effects from the movie and a reworking of the film’s posters into the mysterious shape of crop circles as a great example of the extent of lifestyle immersion necessary for effective viral marketing.
Brands
Eternal posts Rs 54,364 crore revenue, up 168 per cent in FY26
Q4 profit rises to Rs 174 crore as firm streamlines District business
NEW DELHI: Eternal Limited reported a sharp surge in scale for FY26, with consolidated revenue rising 168 per cent year-on-year to Rs 54,364 crore, underscoring strong growth across its core businesses.
The company’s growth was mirrored in its bottom line, with a total annual profit of Rs 366 crore. The fourth quarter was particularly strong, contributing Rs 17,292 crore in revenue and Rs 174 crore in profit, a sharp rise compared to the Rs 39 crore profit recorded in the same period last year.
Key financial metrics from the report include:
- Total assets: Increased to Rs 40,736 crore from last year’s Rs 35,623 crore.
- Delivery charges: The company collected Rs 9,065 crore in delivery and related charges over the year.
- Employee costs: Staffing and benefit expenses amounted to Rs 3,536 crore.
- Liquidity: The firm maintains a cash balance of Rs 996 crore, supported by Rs 632 crore generated from operating activities.
On the strategic front, the company has approved the transfer of its District platform’s technology stack to its wholly owned subsidiary, Wasteland Entertainment Private Limited. The deal, valued at Rs 24.19 crore, will be completed in cash and is expected to close by May 1, 2026, along with the transition of select employees. The move is aimed at consolidating its entertainment and ticketing operations under a focused entity.
From a regulatory standpoint, statutory auditors Deloitte Haskins & Sells issued an unmodified opinion on the financial results. However, they flagged an ongoing show cause notice related to GST on delivery charges, which the company continues to contest, citing a strong legal position.
With robust revenue growth and ongoing structural tweaks, Eternal is clearly sharpening its playbook as it expands beyond its core into a broader consumer services ecosystem.
