The 'Old Spice Guy' Gets Personal with His Fans

The launch of Old Spices “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like” campaign was arguably the most well received series of commercials to hit in the recent years, which not only took home a Primetime Emmy Award for best commercial, but broke multiple records for viral video views.  Although I posted the original ad on one of my recent logs in which I discussed the unusual filming technique of its production, here it is again for ease of viewing.

The original spot, which aired during the 2010 Super Bowl on February 7^th, was an enormous success in terms of brand recognition. The term ‘Old Spice Guy’ became a well-known moniker for former NFL wide receiver and campaign star Isaiah Mustafa within a few days of the launch and before long it was not uncommon to hear one recite lines from it as if it were a movie. Building on the warm reception, creative directors at Wieden & Kennedy went on to produce several additional television spots which were released at various times over the next two months. As viewers continued to enjoy the uniquely humorous spots, views of the campaign’s ads on YouTube began to grow at alarming rates. The next spot in the sequence was a re-release of a 2009 fall ad featuring a similar platform, titled “Different Scents for Different Gents,” followed in mid-March by the release of “Where Freshness Smells From.” These second and third releases are featured below, respectively.

While these two viral videos amassed view counts in the millions, they didn’t come close to matching the original’s statistics. However, Old Spice began to see underperforming products regain market share as they were integrated into the different ads. In an effort to reverse the trend of declining view counts while marketing another line of its products, Wieden & Kennedy called once again on a former NFL player turned actor, Terry Crews. The agency showcased its odor blocking products by comparing its long-lasting, powerful effects to Crew’s herculean physique which he is so well recognized for. The change of pace, which came in a series of related ads featuring Crews, worked out greatly for the agency and Old Spice alike as the viral spots began to realize view counts that would eventually surpass the original “Man Your Man Could Smell Like.” This segment of Old Spice’s campaign, simply titled “Odor Blocker,” was released near the end of March. A compilation of these ads can be viewed below.

Following a three month span of production, Wieden & Kennedy reverted back to the ‘Old Spice Guy’ platform and released “The Return of the Man Your Man Could Smell Like.” Like the original, viral views experienced rapid growth in short time, though few could predict what was to come next of the already phenomenal viral campaign. Before we dive into that, here’s a video of the third and final 30 second spot.

By this time, impressions for the campaign were soaring to incredible heights as user sharing on social networking sites and blogs saturated the web with the campaign’s content. Two weeks following the release of the ‘Old Spice Guy’s return, the agency launched an innovative and unheard of twist in the campaign called “Responses.” This series featured a total of 186 personalized videos that Mustafa recorded addressing individual follower’s comments and questions that had surfaced across the internet. As spots began to go viral on July 13, buzz surrounding the responses generated unparalleled spikes in viral views according to Visible Measures, a viral metrics company. The idea for this is so simply great in the fact that it encouraged people to both generate hype and tune in for the chance of being delivered a personal message from the man of all men. Here is an instance of one of these unique ads.

By July 22, only nine days after their release, the “Responses” view count hit a shocking total of 42.3 million, including a viral record for weekly views as it earned 35 of those million during the 7 days alone. That same week, the top four spots on the viral chart all belonged to Old Spice’s integrated campaign, which beyond “Responses” included “The Return of the Man Your Man Could Smell Like,” “Odor Blocker,” and the original “Man Your Man Could Smell Like” ads. In fact, the latter of the four experienced an average 91% increase in views from the previous week, which was between three and six million each.

Despite early reports claiming stagnation or loss in Old Spice sales over the course of the six month campaign, Nielson reports in July indicated that sales increased by 107% during the previous month and by 55% over the last three months. At the time, total views covering the campaign reached 113 million views, which visible measures claimed had surpassed the reach of broadcast. Below is a breakdown of the six campaign elements and their total number of views observed at the time.

1.       "The Man Your Man Could Smell Like" - 22.3 million

2.       “Different Scents for Different Gents" -  4.2 million

3.       "Where Freshness Smells From" - 2.6 million

4.       "Odor Blocker" - 29.2 million

5.       "The Return of the Man Your Man Could Smell Like" - 12.4 million

6.       "Old Spice Responses" - 42.3 million

While some sales increases are hard to determine whether or not they stemmed from a campaign, a relationship like this leaves no doubt concerning who the responsible party is. Swan dive!


Axon, S. (2010, July 27). Old Spice Sales Double With YouTube Campaign. In Mashable. Retrieved March 20, 2011, <from http://mashable.com/2010/07/27/old-spice-sales/>

Learmonth, M. (2010, July 22). Viral Old Spice 'Responses' Crush Original Ads in Online Views. In AdAge. Retrieved March 20, 2011, from <http://adage.com/article/viral-video-charts/viral-spice-responses-crush-original-ads-web-views/145015/>