If you haven't seen the ads yet, they feature Isaiah Mustafa, a football player from the NFL who hasn't left his mark playing football, but by playing the man everyone wants to be or be with in the Old Spice ads. The pure beauty of the ad does not come from Mustafa's bare chest or his deep voice (although those each add to the complete package), the beauty comes from Old Spice not taking itself so seriously. When you have a man jump from a waterfall into a hottub to have it erupt with him on a dirt bike, what does that really have to do with selling deodorant? Nothing really other than two things. The more humorous the video, the more viral it should be and thus the more people who should see the video and product. And second, the videos seem to take a jab at the beauty industry itself which often portrays impossible conclusions after using particular products.
The commercials themselves have gained plenty of ground on the internet and establishing their own viral economy. However the pattern usually peaks then dries out with sporadic resurrections as time wanes on. The genius or cleverness of this latest incarnation is the use of Social Media to continue sharing the message. Using YouTube as its voice, Old Spice has eyes on various social media channels like Facebook, Twitter and blogs. Old Spice seeks out and encourages interaction and responds in kind to the public's questions and fandom. Mustafa doesn't push a product in most of these videos, he just answers fan's questions in the same eloquent yet exaggerated speech portrayed in the commercials.
I imagine it takes a bit of time to filter through all the online responses, come up with witty replies and record them in turn. However, Old Spice is immortalizing their presence and message by keeping the content current and interesting and encouraging this viral phenomenon.
I've decided. It's genius. My husband just said he might have to buy some Old Spice now.
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