Old Spice Case Study

History

• 1934- founded by William Lightfoot Schultz
• 1937- introduced for women
• 1938- introduced for men
• June 1990- Procter & Gamble acquired Old Spice
• 2012- iconic ship logo replaced with a yacht, and targeting changed to a younger demographic

The 2010 Campaign

• Old Spice were losing their market share and had been seen as outdated and for old men 
• Set on Wieden+Kennedy to remarket Old Spice 
• Direct competition with Dove Superbowl campaign 2010 
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oj0taJVkpVY
• Proctor and Gamble’s research showed that 60% of men’s body washes were purchased by women so Old Spice needed to attract female shoppers 
• Many products on the market lacked masculine credibility so Old Spice could work on the idea of smelling like a man

Video Advert

• compares him to a woman's boyfriend
• wealth and luxury
• about pleasing women
• uses comedy and irony
• appeals to masculinity
• aimed at women to make them buy the product for their partner
• fast-paced
• post-modernism - nothing's serious, pretending to be something to poke fun at it/ them

Traditional Advertising

• old-fashioned and serious
• aimed towards older men
• passed down through generations
• about being masculine and manly
• target audience- sailors/ the navy

Media Strategy

• Target audience 12-34 men and their women shoppers
• Old Spice media strategy for the launch was simple: Instead of spending money on the Super Bowl, they aimed to create Super Bowl impact building awareness around it
• 1 st communication layer [SEEDING]: To start building buzz with Old Spice’s fans, “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like” first appeared on YouTube and Facebook a few days before the big game.
• 2 nd communication layer [LAUNCH]: Next, search engines strategy played a key role, as Old Spice scooped up Super Bowl-related terms to help drive traffic over Super Bowl weekend. With these tactics in place, buzz for “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like” was climaxing just as the game was finishing. By the time the spot first debuted on television—24 hours later—many people assumed that it had actually debuted during the Super Bowl. Mission accomplished.
• 3 rd communication layer [ENGAGE] : Post-launch, Old Spice media strategy addressed one of the key ingredients for success: getting both sexes to talk about the campaign.
• Activations in environments where guys and girls would be watching together (Vancouver Winter Olympics, American Idol, cinemas during Valentine’s Day weekend) and gave them BOGOs.
• Video response campaign created an interactive experience in which ‘The Man Your Man Could Smell Like’; personally responded to his fans on the Internet in real time. 
• Video response campaign. 200 personal videos to online Social Media tweeters, and to some of Twitter’s most followed people

Spoofs

Examples of spoofs