Top spot: Axe asks us to ‘Make Love, Not War’ in (almost) serious brand spot via BBH London

In a world filled with war, the greatest weapon is love, as shown in this latest spot for Axe via BBH London.

The film, ‘Call to Arms’, was shot by award-winning director Rupert Sanders and will launch in the US during the Super Bowl on 2nd February. The film is accompanied by print, digital, mobile and out of home campaigns, as well as a series of local initiatives around the world that aim to help young people take action for peace.

Punters worldwide are asked to help Axe Peace and non-profit organisation Peace One Day spread peace, one kiss at a time: Share your #KissForPeace

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Based on the insight that guys are less aggressive when they’re in love, the campaign considers whether the world would be a more peaceful place if more people were in love. The result is an epic campaign which aims to aims to bring young people across the world together to make love, not war.

As part of the campaign, AXE has partnered with Peace One Day, an international non-profit organisation that drives awareness for and action on Peace Day (Sept. 21), an annual day of non-violence and ceasefire unanimously adopted by all United Nations member states. A film about the partnership with Peace One Day is available on YouTube.

Says David Kolbusz, deputy executive creative director at BBH: “After the launch of AXE Apollo in over 50 markets we looked back at what we’d done and realised that we could leverage our influence to do some good in the world. By getting all these different countries to promote AXE Peace, our goal was to get our existing fans (who number in the millions) to start thinking of peace as cool. By shifting their perceptions, hopefully it will lead to a behavioural shift too. More love, less conflict. Peace One Day are a brilliant partner for this project because they too believe raising awareness is the most powerful weapon.”

Says Tomas Marcenaro, global vice president for AXE: “Our inspiration for creating the ‘Make Love Not War’ campaign for AXE Peace was knowing that our ability to bring guys and girls together could be used powerfully to have an impact on a huge scale.”

Says Jeremy Gilley, founder of Peace One Day: “Our partnership with AXE will inspire an astounding amount of young people, and awareness of peace is everything.  Awareness inspires action, and action creates change. We’re honored that a brand like AXE, which reaches millions of people each year, is supporting us to inspire and empower a new generation of peacemakers.”

BBH Deputy Executive Creative Director: David Kolbusz

Model Builders: New Deal Studios