The Old Spice 2010 advertising campaign sought to change perceptions and appeal to younger men by creating the "Old Spice Guy" character played by Isaiah Mustafa. The campaign utilized humorous commercials and an interactive social media strategy. It proved highly successful in increasing sales and social engagement for the brand.

1. Old Spice Advertising
OLD SPICE THROUGH THE YEARS
Superbowl Tide advert

3. Old Spice Research
● History of the brand- History of Old Spice. The first Old
Spice product, called Early American Old Spice for
women, was introduced in 1937, closely followed by Old
Spice for men in 1938 as they wanted to broaden their
audience. The Old Spice products were manufactured by
the Shulton Company that was founded in 1934 by William
Lightfoot Schultz.
● Aims of the campaign- The main objective for this
advertising campaign was to change the perception of Old
Spice being the product of the old gentlemen generation in
order to fit and appeal with Old Spice’s new target
audience of younger men, which resulted in the creation of
the “Old Spice Guy” (former NFL sportsman, Isaiah
Mustafa).
● Dates and times of the campaign- February 2010.
● Use of social media- Old spice created accounts on all
social media platforms, such as Twitter and Facebook. On
these accounts they still use their witty and sarcastic
marketing tool to encourage people to view their statuses
and buy their products. They also buy pop-up ads on
various websites to expand their advertising.
One of the more recent campaigns for old spice, is the ‘never-
ending captain’ advert, which shows a French woman loose her
dog named old spice, named after a captain who wore the
scent. This highlights how mesmerising the scent is and what
effect it can have on women. Again, the campaign uses witty
humour to attract a younger audience who may be attracted to
the daring advertising. This is the link to the advert.
https://youtu.be/cZV6ebHoJ08

4. Questions to answer
1. How was Old Spice traditionally advertised? Find 6 old print adverts and save them.
1. What are the similarities / differences (old and new ads)?
The similarities of the adverts is the font of ‘old spice’, it hasn’t changed and shows its history throughout. The
difference is that the old ads were mostly written and contained details accounts of how the product works, outlining
why men should buy this luxurious product. Whereas in the new ad, the only thing shown is the trademark model and
catchphrase that audiences can understand instantly through constant advertising.

5. How did the new campaign fit with this historical strategy? The new campaign used the idea of captains and the
traditional expectation that ‘real men’ must smell like real men. This outdated view created humour for the new audience
whilst still keeping touch with it’s historical roots.
Which products/companies were the main competitors and in what ways? The main competitors were Axe and Right
Guard at the time. Axe generally targeted a teen/late teen demographic and released the Axe Apollo campaign. Right
Guard markets to the sports enthusiasts, making men who work out or compete feel strong when using right guard.
What techniques are employed in:
● The TV commercials- The 30 second ad created by Wieden & Kennedy is the most successful ad of all time. During
the time the ad aired, Old Spice’s sales skyrocketed up over 106%. One technique that was certainly used and
succeeded was eye candy. The actor/model Isiah Mustafa played the dream man and attracted all demographics in
it’s own way.
● The print ads- By using their trademark slogan ‘Smell like a man. Man.’, an audience is able to recognize the label
straight away. This is called a bandwagon technique. They use the same slogans and this idea od being a ‘real man’
over generations to keep the audience familiar with their work.
● The Social Media campaign- Once the campaign had been released, old spice gained 80,000 twitter followers in 2
days. Facebook interaction increased by 800% with the personalized fan videos. Old Spice fans total over 1.5 million.
5. What social and cultural issues are raised by the campaign?- The importance of women in the rejuvenation of Old Spice

6. 5. What social and cultural issues are raised by the campaign?- The importance of
women in the rejuvenation of Old Spice was evident in the Old Spice commercials. P&G’s
research found that women purchased 60% of men’s grooming products, and were also
influential in the trial and acceptance of men’s grooming products.
6. Who is the actor (Isaiah Mustafa) in this campaign? Why was he chosen?- Mustafa
was a struggling actor at the time, working in a bar when he received the audition for
the campaign. He did the first audition and thought nothing of it but soon received a call
back. At the call back he brought out all the stops and when asked if he could ‘ride
bareback’, Mustafa used his charm and old spice voice to say “I just did” with a smirk,
which immediately separated him from the rest and landed him the role.

7. Old Spice
1953 1941
http://www.vintageadbrowser.com/search?q=old+spice

9. 1942

23. The Old Spice 2010 campaign
Old Spice were losing their market share and had been seen as outdated and
for old men
Set on Wieden+Kennedy to remarket Old Spice
Direct competition with Dove Superbowl campaign 2010
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oj0taJVkpVY
Proctor and Gamble’s research showed that 60% of men’s body washes were
purchased by women so Old Spice needed to attract female shoppers
Many products on the market lacked masculine credibility so Old Spice could
work on the idea of smelling like a man
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owGykVbfgUE

24. Media Strategy
Target audience 12-34 men and their women shoppers
Old Spice media strategy for the launch was simple: Instead of spending money on the Super Bowl, they
aimed to create Super Bowl impact building awareness around it.
1 st communication layer [SEEDING]: To start building buzz with Old Spice’s fans, “The Man Your Man Could
Smell Like” first appeared on YouTube and Facebook a few days before the big game.
2 nd communication layer [LAUNCH]: Next, search engines strategy played a key role, as Old Spice
scooped up Super Bowl-related terms to help drive traffic over Super Bowl weekend. With these tactics in
place, buzz for “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like” was climaxing just as the game was finishing. By the
time the spot first debuted on television—24 hours later—many people assumed that it had actually
debuted during the Super Bowl. Mission accomplished.
3 rd communication layer [ENGAGE] : Post-launch, Old Spice media strategy addressed one of the key
ingredients for success: getting both sexes to talk about the campaign.

25. Media Strategy
Activations in environments where guys and girls would be watching together (Vancouver Winter
Olympics, American Idol, cinemas during Valentine’s Day weekend) and gave them BOGOs.
Video response campaign create an interactive experience in which ‘The Man Your Man Could Smell
Like’; personally responded to his fans on the Internet in real time.
Video response campaign. 200 personal videos to online Social Media tweeters, and to some of
Twitter’s most followed people

27. Watch the spoofs of the Old Spice campaign
Spoofs make intertextual references
What is the significance of these ads?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XApxFznVafg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onZxdodEFT8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4lRXxANBjU

28. Analysing the Advert
●Aim of the print advert?- To attract young men
who see the humour in trying to be a ‘man’.
●Media language- Bright colours attract the eye, the
volcano on his head shows the intelligence of men,
The cluttered picture encourages audience to look at
poster for long time.
●Representation of males- Men shown to be the
foundation of greatness (such as a holiday), men are
strong enough to becomes the sea and land, the
‘mine’ shows the hard work men can do.
●Representation of the brand- The brand is witty,
sarcastic and humorous, hence why they say ‘this
fact has not been fact checked’.

29. Representation
●Isaiah Mustafa 37 years (2010)
●American actor and former NFL wide
receiver
●Representation of masculinity in the
commercials was a key factor in the
campaigns success
●He speaks directly to the female audience
(look at me / eye contact)
●He represents the woman’s conception of
the perfect partner
●The advert exploits and enforces images of
hegemonic masculinity (preferred model of
manliness)
●Scented adverts like beer commercials are a
manual on masculinity

31. Contexts
Social Context
•Social Anxieties
•Inequalities (gender, race,
sexuality, class)
•Conflicting Social Values
Cultural Context
•Consumerism
•Celebrity Culture
•Feminism
•Postmodernism

32. Social Context
Social Anxieties
• The athletic and muscular bodies
represent the male obsession with
their body image thus attributing a
certain body insecurity to the target
audience
Inequalities (race)
• Black Looks by bell hooks hyper-
sexuality of black bodies over white
Inequalities (sexuality)
• Importance of heterosexuality in
constructing masculinity to sell the
product to women
Inequalities (gender)
• Reinforcing a patriarchal society, a
man who uses Old Spice will take the
female viewer away, she cannot take
herself
●Out of the 12 people who were responsible for creating
the advert how many were men?

33. Cultural Context
Consumerism
• In 2013, the global mass men's
fragrance market was valued at
approximately 9.1 billion U.S. dollars
Celebrity Culture
• Capitalising on star appeal / star as
commodity
Feminism
• See previous slide Inequalities
(gender)
Postmodernism
• Isaiah Mustafa use of celebrity out of
context / new meaning / new truth
• Representation of man ‘new
man’(see next slide)
• This idea of mixing references is
referred to as bricolage (meaning
jumbled). Bricolage refers to the
process of adapting and juxtaposing
old and new texts, images, ideas or
narratives to produce whole new
meanings.

34. Postmodernism