Smell like a Man, Man was a television advertising campaign in the Unites States created by ad agency Wieden + Kennedy for Old Spice. The campaign was centred around the theme ‘The Man You Could Smell Like”, and it targeted female viewers (despite being for males) because the company recognised that 60% of women make purchasing decisions for male household members in regards to hygiene products.

The goal of the campaign was to increase body wash sales by 15%, but by May 2010, sales of Old Spice Red Zone Body Wash had increased 60% from the previous year. By July 2010, sales had doubled. Also, according to Visible Measures ‘old spice’ was one of the fastest-growing video campaigns of all time.

So, why was it such an outstanding campaign?

Clear target audience – It was clear that the target audience was males but also females who may buy hygiene products for men.

Concise and short video – The video is short and straight to the point which means it can easily be adapted or repurposed to suit different channels. Creative director at Wieden + Kennedy, said “people don’t generally want to sit through long things”.

Variety of Media channel – Old Spice was released for the first time during the Super Bowl in 2010 which was one of the reasons the video went viral. The video was also distributed among many media channels such as social media (Facebook and Twitter) and Youtube to ensure a high number of target audiences are reached.

Creative marketing strategy – The storyline was entertaining and the marketing message was clear.

In sync marketing team – Creative director at Wieden + Kennedy , Jason Bagley states”Obviously we got the scripts and the executions approved by [Old Spice] ahead of time, but when it comes to the Youtube video, there [wasn’t] time for an approval process”. “With that, we just [had] a whole lot of mutual trust.” Therefore, Old Spice was supposedly able to balance careful monitoring without any confusion.

Engagement with fans – Isaiah Mustafa (former footballer) who played the Old Spice Man in the commercial interacted with fans in the form of questions. Fans were given the opportunity to ask him questions and 180 video responses were created some included a marriage proposal and exchanges from celebrities. This frequent interaction with fans was another reason the advertisement was so successful and it would have created a long lasting reaction that people would remember.

So, what digital marketing campaigns have been memorable to you and what do you think made them so successful?