Axel balances his ridiculously suave persona with athletic prowess and lives a life of pushing himself to the limit. Luckily, Old Spice Odor Blocker is on hand to ensure it’s impossible for Axel to break a sweat, even as the situation heats up in his self-built ‘rocket car’.

The Mill’s Creative Director and Head of 2D, Tim Davies comments, “This campaign is definitely amongst the proudest work of my career, and this campaign has really raised the bar as far as cinematic and epic quality. The three-week shoot took place in South Africa, where I felt at home as one of five Australians on set. I take my hat off to Steve Rogers’ expert directing, Mandy Walkers’ beautiful cinematography and the exquisite edit from Gavin Cutler. And of course, none of it would be possible without the brilliant minds of our friends at W+K (Portland).”

Adds Tim, “Rocket Car was shot at the Hakskeen Pan, where world land speed record attempts genuinely take place. Throughout the shoot we disassembled sections of the rocket car to show the progression of it falling to pieces. Back in CG, we added panels back in for continuity, or animated them flying off, which eventually resulted in the bare chassis that you see dramatically burst into flames. One of the biggest challenges was to show the evidence of speed. The rocket car was towed at approximately 40 miles per hour; our challenge was to make it look like was traveling at 1,200 miles per hour! Nearly every shot needed the background to be replaced with sped up footage or new backgrounds entirely. We created the dust trail behind the car in CG, as well as the fire thrusters which burst out of the jet engines.”