Old Spice used to be a fairly unfashionable range of male grooming products. Originally launched in 1934, the branding and reputation never altered, and it soon began to reside on the bottom of many supermarket shelves. That was until American creative agency Wieden & Kennedy took over the account.
Fronted by actor Isaiah Mustafa, Old Spice developed an amazing advertising campaign that held a mirror up to the brand and ultimately poked fun at itself. This was capped by an amazing TV advert that premiered during the 2010 US Superbowl.
Due to the humour and one-shot filming technique used, the TV ad instantly turned viral on the internet.
Following on from the surprising internet fan base the advert received, Old Spice have built upon its viral success and have launched a purpose built viral campaign. Fronted once again by Isaiah Mustafa, social media users can post questions to Old Spice of which Isaiah will answer in jest via a personalised video response within just a matter of minutes.
And the campaign doesn’t just stop there. They have also started creating videos for some of Twitters most followed people so that they will retweet and blog them, increasing the Old Spice brand awareness even further. Very clever.
Old Spice have approached the viral campaign from a multitude of angles. Videos are being hosted on a dedicated YouTube channel, with social media channels such as Facebook and Twitter being used to generate hype, utilised as platforms for community engagement and spread the resulting personalised video messages.
Due to the humour of the responses, the speed of the responses (Old Spice have released over 130 videos in the past 24 hours alone!) and the personalised nature of the videos, the campaign went viral instantly, with the Old Spice Twitter account @oldspice acquiring over 10,000 visitors a day since its launch.
I love this campaign. It ticks all of the boxes both for the client and the target audience. For me, by far the best viral campaign of the year to date; in fact I would also put it up there as one of the best, ever.
Meerkat? What Meerkat?
I love this guy. How awesome is his voice!
Have you seen this… A guy on Reddit asked for sound bites so that he could make up personalised voicemail greetings – http://youtu.be/-8JsvwUcok0
There is a website that used the sound bites from the video and you can create and download your very own voicemail clip – http://www.oldspicevoicemail.com/
No I haven’t seen that! Brilliant.
It seems that the campaign has now ended. Here is the farewell video – http://youtu.be/nFDqvKtPgZo
We saw marriage proposals (http://youtu.be/_-fLV28SkZ8), political debate (http://youtu.be/J8Bli13rO9A) and even Twitter themselves getting involved (http://youtu.be/lLDxfAt4ZSw). What other viral campaign has had this sort of community involvement?!
My personal favourite was probably the tale of the Pirate vs Ninja (http://youtu.be/oaME8FQYxB8)… because there is nothing more humiliating than being whipped to death with your own shirt.
What was your favourite?
Yes. The new campaign is brilliant. This is not the first time that Old Spice has been popular though, despite your claim that “Old Spice used to be a fairly unfashionable range of male grooming products. Originally launched in 1934, the branding and reputation never altered, and it soon began to reside on the bottom of many supermarket shelves. That was until American creative agency Wieden & Kennedy took over the account.”
Long before it was unfashionable, it was fashionable for at least 30 years. Old Spice was a stalwart entry in the men’s aftershave market. Well into the 60s, it was a standard to put under the Christmas tree for Dads and Granddads. It is the smell that I most associate with my father–and this is so for many people. That doesn’t quite equal “it soon began to reside on the bottom on many supermarket shelves.” It may not have been fashionable recently, but it was very fashionable for a good many years. Be fair.
Hi Susan,
I maybe didn’t make it clear the way I worded it. As you say, Old Spice was indeed a popular brand and some could say fashionable. However the point I was trying to make is that in recent times, as a brand, it was dwindling… and badly!
The recent push in advertising and rebranding (including this viral campaign) has really pushed it back up there into the public arena. And while it may still have a long way to go to become fashionable (again), the brand name is being talked out and I’m sure the products may see themselves creeping ever higher up those supermarket shelves just like to good ‘ole days!
And yet… sales of Old Spice are actually DOWN seven percent: http://tv.yahoo.com/blog/despite-enormous-popularity-old-spice-guy-not-helping-sales–1403. Fascinating!
I love this campaign and love the Old Spice hottie. I can’t bear the scent though.
Well, went to school with the old spice guy, am adoptive parent to sanctuary meerkats (get to touch! yay!) — man, that’s a toss-up. At the end of the day… going to have to go with the meerkats. Everybody happy that way