The Old Spice "The Man Your Man Could Smell Like" campaign aimed to increase sales of Old Spice body wash. Wieden + Kennedy developed humorous TV commercials and social media tactics featuring an overly masculine character. This helped shift perceptions of body wash and beat competitor Axe. Through engaging ads and an interactive online presence, Old Spice saw huge increases in sales, social media followers, and brand awareness within months of the campaign.

1. The Man Your Man
Could Smell Like
Campaign
By: Kelsey Hinchliffe and Jaimie Olson

2. The Client
 Owned by Procter & Gamble
 Fortune 500 company founded in
1837
 Produces 3 categories of consumer
goods
 Beauty
 Household
 Health
 Other brands include
Olay, Gillette, Crest, Tampax, Dawn,
Charmin Febreeze

3. TheClient
OLD SPICE
 First product was for women
introduced in 1937
 Men’s products followed in
1938
 Offers shaving
cream, aftershave, deodora
nt, body wash, and body
spray
 Known for its sailing theme
and red product packaging.

4. The Agency
Wieden + Kennedy
 Founded in 1982 by Dan Wieden
and David Kennedy
 8 offices all around the world
(Portland, Amsterdam, Tokyo, etc.)
 Clients include
Nike, Coke, ESPN, Honda, Microsof
t, Miller Brewing, Old Spice
 Website

5. Research
Consumer Surveys: male
body wash is usually
purchased by women
(Bradley)
Women purchase about 70%
of all male toiletry products
Body wash strikes the majority
of men as unmanly

6. The Problem
How can Old Spice market
body wash to female
purchasers and at the same
time make it seem more
masculine and appealing
than a bar of soap to their
male target consumers?

7. Competitive
Environment
 Biggest rival is Axe (Newman)
(West)
 Also makes male grooming
products
 Owned by Unilever
 Axe spent $30 million in advertising
in 2009 while Old Spice only spent
$7.5 million
 Axe campaigns tend to be over
the top and have ordinary men
that suddenly become sexy to
women that have a great deal of
sex appeal

8. Objectives
 “Start a dialogue between men and
women and boyfriends and girlfriends”
 Beat out Axe as the leading seller of
body wash to men all across the nation
 Embrace social networking as a way of
engaging customers
 Combine both feminine and masculine
appeal in their advertisements

9. Objectives
 Make the objectives quantifiable and add
a deadline
EXAMPLE: By the end of 2010 increase sales
of Old Spice Body Wash by 15%.
EXAMPLE: By the end of 2010, Old Spice must
lead Axe in body wash sales by 10%.
EXAMPLE: In the next consumer survey, 50%
of all men must have a favorabe view of
Old Spice Body Wash.

10. Target
Audience
Men ages 18 to 34
Women with boyfriends or
husbands or children in that age
range that are purchasing the
products (Parpis)

11. Strategy
Maintain heritage of the brand
(seafaring theme) but repackage
it with a satirical twist
Stress the masculinity of the brand
Make people feel personally
invested in the brand (Bowen)

12. Tactics
CAMPAIGN COST: $11.4 Million
(Hallerman)
TV Online Banner
Commercials Ads
Cinema Ads Website
Facebook Downloads
Twitter Merchandise
YouTube Earned Media

13. Tactics

14. Tactics
Old Spice Website
Facebook
Twitter
YouTube
Oprah Show

15. Evaluation
 In less than 3 days, 5.2 million views on
YouTube
 Twitter followers grew from 3,000 to 90,000
 Facebook fans 675,000 (interaction climbing
by 800%)
 1 billion media impressions
 W+K won Emmy for outstanding commercial
(Axon)
 Sesame Street Parody (Worsham)

16. Evaluation
 Nielsen Data
 Old Spice Body Wash sales up 11% in last
12 months
 Old Spice Body Wash sales up 27% in last 6
months
 Old Spice Body Wash sales up 55% in last 3
months
 Old Spice Body Wash sales up 107% in the
last month (Parpis)

17. Theories
Framing Theory
Two Step Flow

18. Strengths &
Weaknesses
 Strengths  Weaknesses
 Embraced social  Some considered it
media too redundant
 Very memorable  Fake characters in
commercials social media
 Made consumers a
part of the campaign