Monday 1 August 2011

Old Spice Guy v Fabio: A Promising Continuation for the Brand




A little under a year and a half since the magnificently muscular Isiah Mustafah first said "Hello ladies", he's back for the latest instalment of Weiden and Kennedy's Old spice campaign.

Originally briefed to target both men and women (as they're normally the one that buys their partner's body wash), the innovatively interactive Old Spice viral responses produced by Weiden and Kennedy enormously exceeded any expectations.  The 186 videos received 40 million views in the first week, and led to 75% of sector conversations being about Old Spice for the succeeding 3 months.  Ultimately, after 6 months sales had increased by 27%, and "firmly cemeted Old Spice as No.1 for mens' body wash in the US" (see further impressive stats and a full case study here).

Considering the campaign's enormous success, the question "what next?" begged. 
Whilst brands often over-keenness to jump on the success of a campaign destroys any buzz and connection that the brand has with consumers, Old Spice managed to resist this itch.  Instead, they waited until the experience began to fade in consumers' minds, and a fresh new interaction was needed, and not just wanted.

So what happened?  Well, further utilising the enormous base of followers and likers gained from the first phase of the campaign they sensibly decided to stick to social media.  In what was coined the "Mano a Mano in el Bano" (which translates as "hand to hand in the bathroom") Italian model Fabio Lorenzo sought to win the Old Spice crown from the Old Old Spice Guy.  Again creating real time video responses to users questions, both "battled" for votes, with the winner becoming the new Old Spice Guy.

Some may say that taking such a similar tack to their previous  phase is somewhat unimaginative.  However considering that the focus is now more on retention than acquisition, they have reached those already recruited to Old Spice in a way now familiar to them.  Not only does this (due to the time lapse in phases) have the capability of invoking a nostalgic response that causes them to revisit the videos that caused them to use Old Spice originally, but the brand image is also adequately kept. 

The initial stats also appear promising.  Whilst the Google search index for Old Spice is little over a third of the first phase, their Twitter followers has lept by over 23 thousand in the past 10 days.  Also, whilst the healthy progression of "likes" of their facebook page in the past 6 months (approx 300 thousand more) may suggest that they would have obtained this many followers without this spend, the July jump is perhaps enough to justify the campaign's progression, especially as the majority of activity was via YouTube.

Whilst it hasn't hit the heights of the first viral experience, the responses have often achieved over 100 thousand views, with "Challenge", "Challenge Acceptance", and "This Must End" (in which it's revealed that Old Old Spice Guy Isiah won the contest) posts obtaining 3 million, 1.15 million and 700 thousand views respectively (approx, to date).  Additionally, with more widely recognised PR that will immediately place the brand front of mind to many, the outlook for Old Spice is certainly promising.  Not only that, but considering the relative lack of search for the brand, it indicates that the social media platform is working well for them, and will act as a great touchpoint for more 1-to-1 conversations with consumers in the future.








A few other responses (more can be viewed on the Old Spice YouTube Channel)







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