Smell Like A Man, Man

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Launched in February 2010, the Old Spice “Smell Like A Man, Man,” campaign has been a huge success by any measurement.

Only four short years ago, Proctor and Gamble had all but walked away from its Old Spice brand while Unilever’s Axe brand had carved out a large share of the market for themselves. Fast-forward to 2010 and the deodorant marketing world has been turned upside down yet again.

Sales of Old Spice deodorant brands have more than doubled while body wash brand sales were up over 1700% in a six-month period from February – July 2010. A Brandweek article details the sales success of the campaign.

As a result, Brandweek recently named Proctor & Gamble brand manager James Moorhead Marketer Of The Year, 2010. Moorhead, who has been with the Old Spice brand for only three years, spearheaded the effort to revive the Old Spice brand.

Remaking an existing brand can often be more difficult than introducing a completely new one; but in the case of Old Spice, there was just too much value in the 70-year old brand to abandon it completely. Instead, Moorhead and his team have done a brilliant job redefining an old American image by appealing to our instinctive desire to be attractive individuals.

The “Smell Like A Man, Man” campaign was launched in February incorporating several advertising vehicles, but it has been the TV commercials that have garnered the most attention. The comical spots, which star a former NFL player asking ladies if their man smells like him, have been an extraordinary success. One of the commercials has received over 19 million views on YouTube. Old Spice also took the campaign to social media sites where almost one million users now “like” the campaign on Facebook.

But the main thing that strikes us about this campaign is that it proves again that the secret to success is not how long the brand has been in business or how self-important it thinks itself to be – success depends on how well the brand connects with the interests and motivations of its audience.

If you want help connecting your brand to the interests of your audience, contact us today by email or phone 903-534-5220.