Old Spice Guy: Engagement Worth Watching

I'll be the first to admit it. Old Spice reminds me of my grandfather. Not that its a bad thing - one whiff of Old Spice and the memories come flooding in so fast that I'm practically moved to tears. I loved my Grandfather. He used to eat apples to the core, love the Chicago Cubs, chew Double-Mint gum, love us up and down, and yes, sport Old Spice. (Personally, I have always been a Drakkar Noir girl but that might be revealing a little too much about my self.)

So a few months back, when I saw the Old Spice Guy for the first time, at first I thought, what is that? The second time, I hit rewind 2X because I thought it was so funny. The third time, it was showcased at South by Southwest, highlighting humor in advertising and social media. Now, Isaiah Mustafa has signed a development deal with NBC and is known as The Old Spice Guy.




Now Old Spice Guy is replying to Tweets and Facebook mentions with personalized video's. Everyone from the Huffington Post to Demi Moore are getting personal replies from Old Spice Guy, in a towel, hanging out in the bathroom.

Maybe I am a little bit of a geek but since I work at Scout Labs, I am super excited when I see a company leverage things that are going well and turn them into social media phenomenons. It's special because it doesn't happen that often. That said, I think that the Old Spice team has done an awesome job making Old Spice sexy (and funny) again.

• So far this week, the Old Spice Guy's buzz in the social web is up 859% with almost 4000 mentions.
• Mentions of Old Spice spiked when Isaiah Mustafa, aka Old Spice Guy, signed a development deal with NBC and again with personalized YouTube Videos.
  
• On Facebook, anyone can ask Old Spice Guy a question and you might get a video response! Some video's have been up for only 1 day and now have +40,000 views.
• OldSpice on Twitter has 42,012 followers 
• Old Spice has their own YouTube Channel (I just joined 73,000+ subscribers)
• Old Spice guy is well on his way into the English vernacular
• Major news sources like Huffington Post, LA Times, the UK's Guardian are writing about this campaign.

Every day, I hear reasons why big brands can't engage in social media or reasons why its difficult to scale. I'm not calling BS here - it IS hard. What I am saying is that its time to think outside the box. These video's have got to be inexpensive to produce and distribute. They are personalized for individuals and accessible for the masses, all at the same time. They've leveraged social media touch points in many different directions. They've modeled for all of us how to put the puzzle pieces together.


So next time you watch these commercials, think to yourself, 'What about my product makes people laugh? What is ironic? What is provocative? What is timely?' And take those things online. Make them easy to share. Make them accessible to your fans, err customers, err audience, err, anyone who cares.

'Smell Like A Man, Man' is a brilliant campaign. Smart, sexy, funny and engaging. Clearly, Old Spice isn't just for grandpa's anymore.
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Original post at www.scoutlabs.com/blog
Written by Erin Korogodsky @erinkoro