If you have an Internet connection, you probably know what's going on with the Old Spice Guy. He's everywhere. And people are talking, laughing and sharing the videos at an incredible pace. At the time of this post, Old Spice's YouTube channel has recieved a total of 53,660,116 views, with a large majority happening in the last week.
Read this: 10 Mind-Blowing Video Marketing Statistics You Have to Know
It's gone viral.
It's truly exciting to watch this unfold. The Old Spice viral video campaign, created by marketing agency Wieden + Kennedy, and featuring actor and former pro football player Isaiah Mustafa, is one of the biggest creative breakthroughs since we saw the orginial iPhone shredded to bits on Blendtech's Will It Blend.
Read Write Web does a great job in this article of detailing how Wieden + Kennedy approached the project. The agency deserves a cordial hat tip for taking risks and cutting a new path in online and viral marketing.
Why It's Brilliant
- Entertainment and the Weirdness Factor
The content of these videos is just weird enough, but not creepy. The writing pushes the envelope and really has nothing to do with the product, other than the occasional cameo shot. It's not selling anything. The delivery of such absurd lines by Mustafa is reminiscent of the lists and t-shirts that float around emblazoned with popular Chuck Norris jokes. The absurdity makes it highly entertaining, so I was hooked. Much like a tweet, the brevity of the content makes it easy to consume. I quickly got sucked down the rabbit hole and watched another video. And another... - Mass Media First
Before any spread began via social media channels, Mustafa was syndicated on primetime television. I first saw this video run sometime around 9:30 p.m. on Fox, during the American Idol spinoff, So You Think You Can Dance. Why is that important? Millions of viewers were introduced to the concept and Mustafa. You should also note the difference in post-production and editing between this video and those regularly produced for social media distribution. - Human Business Team
For 48 hours, a team of 6 human beings manned the outposts and a production studio. Listening stations were set up to respond to various tweets, status updates and conversations that were happening around the web about the campaign. The @oldspice team, comprised of social media power users and technical specialists like producers, editors and even script writers used this information to tailor, produce and distribute over 200 entertaining videos of the spot. Amazing. - Getting Personal with Influencers
Alyssa Milano and Perez Hilton probably don't wear Old Spice, but they do have millions of followers on Twitter and other social networks. Their sphere of influence and social graph makes them very attractive to B2C product companies, in terms of creating viral spread. When influencers talk, their followers start talking too. The critical success factor was how the Old Spice team reached out to the influencers, grabbing their attention with humor (and sometimes snarky comments) that started real conversations. - Loosening the Reigns
I have a new opinion of P&G and Old Spice, as they clearly did not take themselves too seriously. To quote the RRW article: "Tait says that Old Spice's parent company, Proctor & Gamble, exhibited incredible bravery in allowing his team to write marketing content in real time, with little to no supervision. 'There is such great trust [between the companies],' he said. 'But we are being very responsible. They have given us a set of guidelines and if we get close to the edges we contact them." I find that statement so refreshing. So many times, companies continue to demand complete control over their message. The problem is that complete control is no longer possible. The world has changed, and cutting-edge agencies and consultants understand why. We social media users know this because we are in the thick of it every day, working from the frontlines of YouTube, Twitter and Facebook, because that's where all the cool kids (like us, of course) hang out. "P&G had enough trust in their agency and the relationship to let them play. Today, that's a critical ingredient of success." - Speed and Real Time
D.M. Scott's new book is going to talk about the idea and power of real time. If it's up to par with everything else he writes, it will absolutely change the game. I'm willing to bet that this campaign has already inked it's spot as a case study in the pages of David's work. What's most amazing to me (and so creative) is how the Old Spice team broke the rules of Twitter by responding to tweets with video messages that were incredibly outside of the 140-character limit. Essentially, leveraging Twitter's real-time communication, while bending content rules allowed for Old Spice to maintain Mustafa's campaign branding, as a spokesperson, in a much more engaging way than a simple-text tweet. Truly a stroke of genius. - Shifting the Brand Perception
I think it relates to Mustafa's delivery and the comical writing for the video responses, but personally, I'll never look at Old Spice the same way again. Brand is about what consumers attribute to a product, service, company or human being. My perception of Old Spice had always been that it was the cologne that we gave my grandfather on Christmas morning. Even the name Old Spice creates a disconnect in reaching younger audiences. Now, however, I see Old Spice as a brand that has has a Gen Y sense of humor, participates in the places I visit, and has a young and hip former NFL spokesperson. When I pass an Old Spice display in the store, I suddenly find myself stopping to look and explore. - Mustafa's Back Story & Humanization
Unlike Nationwide's fictitious and lackluster attempt at the World's Greatest Spokesperson In The World, Isaiah Mustafa is a real human being. He's a former NFL football player and avid reader of comic books, who studied history at Arizona State University and has a daughter (who he addresses from a tweet in this video). Why is this important to the campaign? It provides fodder for publicity to keep the story going. Today, everyone on the web is in awe as to how this Old Spice brand revamp was executed. ReadRightWeb wrote the first article outlining how they truly executed. There will surely be more articles on the matter, and the press will likely want to know more about who Mustafa is. To a nationally syndicated reporter or talk radio host, Mustafa is beginning to look like a great interview.
What's your take? Did I miss anything? Do you agree? Disagree?
