Christopher Luxon by Degrees

Canterbury MCom grad and nz-edger Christopher Luxon is now based in Chicago via Australia and Europe, where he leads Unilever’s North American Deodorants & Grooming business. Presently he is jump-starting Degree for Men antiperspirant, advertising the brand on the Super Bowl for the first time and breaking with the tradition of men’s deodorant ads heavy on jocks or sex in favor of action figures. “You can’t shake up the world without a client who wants to,” said Dean Hacohen, exec VP-creative director, Lowe. “Christopher Luxon champions the unorthodox. … He’s out to make things happen.”  Luxon champions risk-taking: “You can’t systematically create inspiring, emotionally engaging advertising. You really have to have the consumer running in the bloodstream of all your marketers.” While he loves the Midwestern friendliness of Chicago and dreams of visiting all 50 states in the family Ford Explorer, his children still have Kiwi passports and he entertains dreams of someday becoming New Zealand’s global brand manager. “That would be the ultimate brand manager’s job.”