Though it’s only July, this might be the rare case in which it’s not too early to name the so-called Old Spice Guy social media campaign as the best of the year. After all, according to many, this is the best social media campaign in the history of the medium, demonstrating precisely how such a campaign is meant to work. For those who’ve been on vacation from the internet for the last few days, here’s a recap: Isaiah Mustafa, the shirtless Old Spice Guy made famous by a serious of TV spots that first aired earlier this year, and his team of body wash-enthusiast marketers have spent the better part of this week crafting personalized videos addressed to bloggers, random tweeters, and others who have written about the campaign really anywhere on the internet.
Here’s an example:
This is only one of 184 personalized videos, according to the scientific count conducted by AdFreak’s Tim Nudd.
Besides for the obvious fun being had by Mustafa, what can account for the universal acclaim with which this campaign was met? Let’s take a tour around the web, looking for answers.
What’s genius about this endeavor is how Old Spice and marketing agency Wieden + Kennedy have used viewers to go viral. Yesterday, I was chatting with Dan Greenberg of Sharethrough — a company that seeds viral videos for brands — about the campaign, and he pointed out that, “Brands don’t make viral videos, users make videos viral.” That’s exactly what Old Spice achieved, rather handily.
The reason this campaign has worked is because users are enjoying watching the videos. They don’t see them as “marketing” or Old Spice’s attempt to sell to them. The content is so good remarkable that users simply like consuming it. Media and celebrities are tripping over themselves simply trying to be part of it. That’s the difference and what makes it remarkable. Audiences have fallen in love with Isaiah’s character and they’ve become invested in the brand. They want to be part of it and support what Old Spice is doing. And that’s going to translate into increased sales.
The team behind the campaign took great care to engage celebrities, influencers, common folk and popular social media sites in balanced quantities. And it knew exactly how to talk to them. In his penultimate video, the Old Spice guy talks directly to his daughter, explaining that until recently, he was just a struggling actor no one has ever heard of. When was the last time a marketing campaign spoke directly to you in such a frank way, making you laugh and cry at the same time?
The social media experts initially identified a crop of popular bloggers in key areas like entertainment (Perez Hilton), technology (4chan) and advertising (Adweek’s own AdFreak), as well as regular YouTube and Facebook commenters. Some videos were pre-shot, but Tait said Wieden has done the vast majority over the past 48 hours from a studio in Portland, writing and producing them on the fly.
The social media team scours the Web for comments related to the Old Spice campaign. They feed ones that are funny or from interesting sources to the creatives, who then determine which make good fodder for humorous videos.
“We don’t have the answers of who the real influencers are in the world right now,” he said. “We wanted to pick a cross-section where we could meet influencers in different areas.”
And that’s just the tip of the iceberg of positive feedback. In short, Old Spice and the Wieden + Kennedy agency managed to recognize the importance of a diverse group of users, while producing really fun, frank, addicting content that didn’t push the brand too hard. The marketing community owes a debt of gratitude to this brilliant campaign for showing us the way to better advertising. A new bar has been set. Now it’s up to everyone else to raise their games in response.
What can you learn from Old Spice Guy? How can these techniques be scaled to small businesses?
Related posts:
- Pepsi’s Social Media Strategy
- The Limits of Social Media in Marketing
- Social Media as One Piece of the Puzzle
- Social Media Beyond Discounts
- How to Social Network with Social Media
