• by Tricia Despres , June 20, 2006

Unilever’s axe body spray is known for TV commercials showing how the All-American nerd can score with women with just a spritz of the cologne.

Now Axe is letting young upstarts score in a whole different arena. The brand recently awarded $40,000 to three winning teams of New York University’s Stern ProMotion Pictures Film Competition, in a contest pairing business and creative talent from NYU’s Stern School of Business and its Kanbar Institute of Film & Television graduate programs to produce brand-driven short films for marketers. The student teams will use the money to produce short films promoting the Axe line of body sprays for use in marketing campaigns.

Previously, NYU students competed to help promote Volvo and Verizon using original films.