We’ve reported here before about the fantastic Bijin Tokei (literally, “Beautiful Girls Clock”) website that gives you the time “told” by real ladies, a new one every minute. It seems like just a cute gimmick but the makers have in fact collaborated several times with different campaigns to produce special brand-focused versions.
Now body spray Axe has got together with the timing-telling girls to offer its customers an incentive. Miss Campus Mobile Bijin Tokei sees seven university ladies (previous winners of a beauty contest organized by Smart magazine) holding up boards with the current hour and minute. To get your companion straight to your mobile phone you simply download her via the website using the code printed on the back of the sprays.
Each girl represents a different Axe product, meaning the spray is firmly associated with a certain desirable face: Not a bad way to imply that Axe makes you more appealing to the opposite sex. (In fact, in the TV ad the models are even more risque, whipping their boards out from under their clothes.)
In a country not known for good deodorant or body odor products (anyone who has ridden a rush hour Tokyo train can testify to this!), it might seem like too savvy a campaign to have that much appeal for the average young salaryman (Axe is made by Unilever, of course a non-Japanese company). However, in fact, spending on beauty products by male consumers rose last year by 3.6%, according to a recent survey by Fuji Keizai. This is a growing market and manufacturers know it.
Apple has 
