Successfully changing perceptions of the Old Spice brand

If I asked you a year ago what came to mind when I said "Old Spice", what would you say? For me, it would be a reminder of my grandfather, a coal miner - a "manly man" - who would put on Old Spice aftershave when he cleaned up after a hard day at work. The brand was very effective during his generation; however, over time, the brand began to shift from being associated with manly men to being associated with old men.

Old Spice and its agency, Wieden + Kennedy, were faced with the challenge of shifting that perception for a new generation of customers. They developed a brilliant branding strategy that utilized actor Isaiah Mustapha speaking to women as "The Man Your Man Could Smell Like". Very clever commercials grabbed attention and began to reclaim the Old Spice brand's position as being associated with today's manly man. They are very effective, but they didn't stop there.

Next, they developed a hilarious social media campaign with great viral appeal that further advanced the brand strategy. They actively used Facebook and Twitter to engage with potential customers and produced a series of YouTube videos, like the one below, in response to questions or comments received through those social media channels. Some responses were to celebrities like Alyssa Milano, Christina Applegate or Ellen DeGeneres, but many were to regular folks.



The results? As I write, they have built a social network of over 61,000 followers on Twitter and over 589,000 fans on Facebook. Plus, their YouTube videos have had millions of views. We don't know the sales impact yet, but they've definitely had success in re-shaping the brand perception of Old Spice. And many men and women will be thinking of Old Spice when they buy men's personal products. Well done!