Old Spice, originally introduced in 1937, became part of Procter & Gamble in 1990 and has developed a comedic brand image through social media marketing. The brand targets young men and women connected to them and uses strategies that include humorous content and interactive campaigns to engage followers. Despite competitor challenges and some product credibility issues, Old Spice aims to expand its market both internationally and into new product lines.

1. Old Spice
Rolena Eden, Tajin Quadir, Erick Soto, Ashley Andrews, Jezzebell Vinuela

2. Background:
The first Old Spice product was introduced in 1937 by the Shoulton Company as Early
American Old Spice for women, followed by Old Spice for men in 1938. The Early American
Old Spice was developed around a colonial theme, and its founder William Lightfoot Schultz
wanted to maintain that colonial framework for those products and chose a nautical theme for
Old Spice hence its trademark sailing ships.
In June 1990, Procter and Gamble purchased the Old Spice fragrances, Skin Care and
Antiperspirant and Deodorant products from the Shoulton Company and it has been a part of
the P&G family ever since.

3. Company Culture:
As a part of the Procter and Gamble family, Old Spice follows the company’s Purpose, Values and Principles:
Purpose: unified in a common cause and growth strategy of improving more consumers’ lives in small but
meaningful ways each day. It inspires P&G people to make a positive contribution every day
Values: reflect the behaviors that shape the tone of how they work with each other and their partners.
Principles: articulate P&G’s unique approach to conducting work every day.
However, if you’ve seen any of Old Spice’s recent commercials or have taken a look at Old Spice’s different
social media sites you will quickly realize that the company has a jovial and comedic air to it. Through the
use of different campaigns such as “Smell like a man, man” this jovial and comedic side can be portrayed in
the company’s social media marketing strategies.

4. SWOT
Analysis

5. Strengths:
❖ Vast following across social media sites such as
Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Youtube, and
Tumblr
➢ Facebook – 2,627,392 likes
➢ Twitter- 224,543 followers
➢ Instagram- 58,230 followers
➢ Youtube- 509,898 subscribers
❖ Constantly updating and posting to the different
social media platforms to keep followers engaged
and informed
❖ Extending the entertaining TV commercials, that
appeal to both men and women, to its different
Example of interaction with followers on Twitter:

6. Weaknesses:
❖ Humorous ads can impede the older more
serious consumers.
❖ The overuse of fantasy in ads hinders
credibility.
❖ Lacks variety and an extensive product
line.
❖ Competitors like Dove have higher market
share and more products.
❖ Gillette holds a stronger position and
market share in the P&G family.
❖ Limited target segment (markets to young

7. Opportunities
❖Expanding the market internationally to other young men worldwide
❖Old Spice’s advertising can be used for both information and entertainment
❖Spikes a greater interest in grooming and fragrances in men
❖Brand can expand its reach to female consumers by releasing a feminine
care/grooming product line
❖Young consumers are more willing to experiment and try new products.

8. Threats
❖Top Competitor: Axe
➢ Axe also targets young men
➢ Ads/Commercials also have a comedic youthful tone
❖Competitor: Right Guard
❖Due to their young consumers/fans, Old Spice’s customer loyalty may suffer
due to consumer immaturity
❖Bad Press: In recent years, many Old Spice consumers have complained about
skin reactions, rashes and inflammation after using the brand’s body wash and
deodorants.

9. Current Overview of Social Media Sites:

10. Twitter & YouTube

11. Instagram & Tumblr

12. Purpose:
The purpose Old Spice’s strategy is to keep up with their competition and increase
profits. With roughly about 70% of marketers acquiring customers through social
media, it’s important for companies to actively seek out the social media market
segment or risk losing potential customers. Therefore, Old Spice’s objective is to use
social media to capture the vast number of potential customers that can be found
online. Taking this into consideration Old Spice has set its objectives around success
in social media. Success in social media translates to a high number of people that
are aware and interested in your brand.

13. Objectives:
Old Spice has chosen to use social media marketing as one of their main market
strategies for various reasons. In today's market social media plays a huge role in
brand promotion and customer influence. It’s rare to see an established brand that
doesn’t partake in the social media phenomenon. This is one of the main reasons
why Old Spice has chosen to develop a strong social media marketing strategy.

14. Target Market and Differentiation Strategy
Target Market
- Men between the ages of 18 and 34
- Women with boyfriends, husbands or kids between the ages above
Differentiation amongst competitors
Old Spice differentiates their social media marketing strategy in the following ways
- They develop short and catchy videos
- Their content is easy to share and easy to remember
- Old Spice responds to tweets within a reasonable timeframe of 24-48 hours
- Old Spice infiltrates a lot of humor and entertainment into their posts
- They tap into other social media channels, such as the Ellen show, to create buzz
Old Spice currently uses these social media tools to facilitate their differentiation strategy
- Social Media Relationship Management (SMRM) tool: aggregates information about users from variety of
variety of platforms to give a visual representation of the typical social media follower
- Social Media Monitoring (SMM) tool: this tool tracks “mentions” of the product, such as hashtags and other
tags.
This therefore provides old spice with a better idea of where their traffic is being generated from.

15. Old Spice Social Media Tools
Old Spice is currently on the following social media platforms.
- Twitter
- Facebook
- Tumblr
- Instagram
- Youtube
Below are some appropriate tools Old Spice can use as part of their social media strategy, as well as
the advantages and disadvantages of these social media tools.
- Tweroid (twitter): This is a tool that measures the effectiveness of posts. This is measured by in time between
the post
date and engagement. Although this is a very useful Twitter tool, it only measures engagement, not depth of
feedback
- LikeAlyzer (facebook): Like Tweroid, LikeAlyzer analyzes page traffic on Facebook. However, LikeAlyzer also
highlights
area’s for improvements. LikeAlyzer also displays are a business page ranks amongst its competitors.
- Curalate (instagram): Curalate is a great monitoring tool for instgram because it monitors conversations about
specific

16. Best things about Old Spice’s Social Media
❖Very Interactive with its followers
➢ Instagram’s Choose Your Own Adventure Game
➢ “Shirtless Old Spice Guy Responds” campaign on
Youtube
❖Research before releasing social media
campaign
❖Tries to respond humorously
❖Campaigns grow naturally
❖Connect with new audience and force

17. How can Old Spice improve?
❖Introduce a loyalty rewards program
➢ Encourages purchases from followers
➢ Creates brand loyalty
➢ Creates brand engagement
❖Participate in real engagement with
fans to create better relationships
➢ Currently Old Spice tweets only funny or
quirky things
➢ Youtube response videos as well as
twitter responses are comical

18. References:
❖ Amézquita, L. (2014, September 3). 4 Ways You Can Instantly Improve Your Social Media Marketing. Retrieved October 24,
2015, from http://www.b2binboundmarketer.com/inbound-marketing-blog/4-ways-you-can-instantly-improve-your-
social-media-marketing
❖ Bradley, Tony. "Social Media Lessons from the Old Spice Man Campaign." PCWorld. Web. 28 Oct. 2015.
❖ Cattachio, C. (2010, July 14). How Old Spice showed us what a social media campaign is all about. Retrieved October 24,
2015, from http://thenextweb.com/socialmedia/2010/07/14/how-old-spice-showed-us-what-a-social-media-campaign-
is-all-about/
❖ Nudd, T. (2015, July 31). Old Spice Creates a Loony Sci-Fi 'Choose Your Own Adventure' Game on Instagram. Retrieved
October 24, 2015, from http://www.adweek.com/adfreak/old-spice-creates-loony-sci-fi-choose-your-own-adventure-
game-instagram-166190
❖ Ojha, Utsav. "Marketing and Social Media Campaigns. (Old Spice)." Marketing and Social Media Campaigns. (Old Spice).
Web. 28 Oct. 2015.
❖ Rose, R. (2010, August 25). 3 things you don't know about Old Spice's success. Retrieved October 24, 2015, from
http://www.imediaconnection.com/content/27453.asp#multiview

19. References:
❖ Smith, D. (2011, August 18). 5 Marketing Lessons From Old Spice. Retrieved October 28, 2015.
❖ Borowska, P. (2014, April 2). What Can Old Spice Teach Us About Effective Marketing? Retrieved October 28, 2015.
❖ Ojha, Utsav. "Marketing and Social Media Campaigns. (Old Spice)." Marketing and Social Media Campaigns. (Old
Spice). Web. 28 Oct. 2015.
❖ Rose, R. (2010, August 25). 3 things you don't know about Old Spice's success. Retrieved October 24, 2015, from
http://www.imediaconnection.com/content/27453.asp#multiview
❖ Old Spice (2015). History of Old Spice. Retrieved from the Old Spice website
(http://news.oldspice.com/about/history_timeline
❖ Procter and Gamble (2014). Purpose, values and principles. Retrieved from the Procter and Gamble website
https://www.pg.com/en_ANZ/company/purpose-people/purpose-values-and-principles.shtml