Written by Sarah Britten Wednesday, 28 July 2010 14:24
So everyone’s talking about the Old Spice campaign, launched during the Super Bowl in February this year. It’s hard to argue with three Cannes Gold Lions and a Grand Prix.
As if that wasn’t enough, now Wieden + Kennedy Portland have managed to pull off what industry commentators are calling the best social media campaign ever. Simple in concept, complicated in execution, the campaign involved an invitation issued via Twitter and other social media to pose questions to the now iconic Old Spice Guy. The creative team selected the best questions and then filmed video responses to 186 of them. In two days. At around 7 minutes per ad. The campaign generated more buzz than any social media campaign or event before it and scored the kind of PR that brand owners can only dream about.
“This is the future of marketing,” declared Mashable, one of the world’s most influential tech blogs. Here’s the thing. Old Spice has the potential to offer the ad industry a powerful argument for creativity and flexibility, for the power of humour and brilliant entertainment value to create extraordinary value for brand owners. If, however, the campaign drives huge awareness – but not sales – it will be taken as an example of popularity for popularity’s sake, a strategic blunder and an example of the hubris of the ad industry itself. Creativity is effectively on trial here. Everyone is choosing sides. After the industry had fallen over itself to praise the campaign, the backlash started, as backlashes always do. Warc examined sales data and noticed an immediate 7% drop in response to the campaign.
“Old Spice’s viral ads got attention, not sales,” declared Time. “Old Spice, a media darling, has a dirty secret: sales are down,” management blog bnet noted piously. Others have contested the Warc data, noting that it was released on June 13, before the social media campaign was launched. Mike Norton, director of external relations for male grooming at P&G (don’t you love that title) said that the campaign had contributed to a 107% increase in sales over the past month. I’m hoping that this campaign pays off for Old Spice. As it is, there are industry pundits who maintain it was a mistake to alienate Old Spice’s core market (boring older white men) by using a hip black guy to speak for the brand, and I hope they are wrong. Brave clients deserve to see results. If the Old Spice campaign does good things for P&G’s bottom line, it will be good for all of us.
_Sarah Britten is Strategic Planning Director at Young & Rubicam Joburg
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