Who-sane's

I’ve always associated Old Spice with, well, old people. I remember when I was a kid I used to love the smell of Old Spice, whenever my dad used it.

The brand still existed as I grew up, and I always saw its famous logo and unmistakable bottle at stores, but I would never use it. Why would I want to associate myself with a old man’s cologne? I wanted something a “new” spice.

Of course, as years passed by, that became a problem. And the younger generations, who have always associated the Old Spice scent with their fathers and grandfathers, have now become the older generation themselves. Therefore, Old Spice needed a new strategy, freshness, hot out-of-the-box ideas. Something that shouts “modern”, that would make women ask their men to go and buy it. And that’s exactly what the brand has been doing: detaching itself from the “old man’s cologne” formula that’s been stuck to them, willingly of course, since 1934.

They’ve had considerable success with their commercials, but never really generated as much positive feed and never had a commercial as discussed  as they did when Isaiah Mustafa, the Old Spice Man, came to town.

With Mustafa, Old Spice completely shifted its focus to address women, more so than men, probably knowing it’s the woman who, in most cases, has the final call when it comes to men’s colognes. Here are some of the really funny and cool ads:

Questions

The Man Your Man Could Smell Like

Did You Know

Now there’s no doubt these new Old Spice commercials are witty and hilarious, but that’s not unique in this context. What’s unique, however, is that the company didn’t just shoot a few Isaiah Mustafa “Does Your Man Smell Like Me?” themed-advertisements, roll them out, add the positive results to its inventory of successes and call it a day. It went on to maximize the mass appeal the ad had generated among the masses, built on its great success and made sure it utilizes Isaiah Mustafa’s charm as much as possible.

It combined the best of both worlds, advertising and social media, making it one of the best, if not the best, social media campaign thus far. Old Spice Man started engaging with celebrities (sending flowers to some), journalists, regular users, on twitter, facebook, YouTube, Reddit, and even people who asked questions on Yahoo! He even proposed to a girl on behalf of someone else! LOL!

Here are some of my favorite Old Spice Man ads, but you can watch them all on the Old Spice YouTube channel:

And just in case you were wondering how they did it, here is a clip with the art director and the copywriter from the agency that created the Old Spice Man commercial:

Bottom line is: this is viral marketing and social media at its best that has definitely reinvented a brand and introduced it in a completely new and different form. Bravo Old Spice!

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