by Ellen Curtis, Creative Commander
If
you are in marketing and or breathing, there’s no way you haven’t heard about the massively pervasive and successful Old Spice advertising campaign. I’m sure there are millions of marketers doing as I am now writing blogs about how Old Spice did it. (A google search shows there are 1.7 million results on those key words, “Old Spice Marketing.”) All you really need to do is to go to the source: the agency that created it. http://bit.ly/bWygXp. I’m sure there are millions of CMO’s asking their agencies to give them an “Old Spice” campaign. So how do you “Spice” up your marketing.

Look at your advertising. Now look at Old Spice advertising. Back to your ads. Now back to their ads. Sadly, your ads don't look like their ads. But they can if you follow these three simple steps.
- Have a great idea. Of everything that is written about the Old Spice campaign, the most obvious point is missing. It started with a great idea. It’s simple, like all great ideas. “Smell like a man, man” doesn’t get any more basic.
- Share it smartly. While the viral video portion of the Old Spice campaign has garnered most of the attention, Old Spice used both traditional media (TV and print including couponing) as well as social media (Youtube, Facebook and Twitter) to reach out and engage their target audience.
- Execute it brilliantly. Using a celebrity isn’t new. But the choice of Isaiah Mustafa, actor and former wide receiver in the NFL, was an exceptional good one. And of course, the writing and art direction was top notch. Notice all the parody spots on Youtube (919 last count). Imitation is indeed flattery.

