The Man Your Man Could Be: Old Spice Online Success

I'm sure you've all aware of the Old Spice campaign at this stage, if not click here to see it.A huge number of ads that we look at are really interesting and provocative but at the end of the day the end goal of most ads is to get the consumer to purchase the good. I'm sure most people would probably agree that Old Spice was quiet a dated brand and this new campaign has really reinvigorated their brand by looking at who they were targeting and who is actually doing the buying when it comes to body wash. Much like Brylcreem did in the late 90s they've sought to move away from their traditional older loyal users and attract younger men to the brand(as well as their girlfriends).

Recently Old Spice have come out with a video to show how successful their campaign has been. Here are some of the stats shown in the video below:

Old Spice accounted for 75 percent of conversations in the category in the first three months of 2010.
• Half the conversations came from women.
• The YouTube/Twitter social media response campaign was "the fastest-growing and most popular interactive campaign in history."
• Total video views reached 40 million in a week.
• Campaign impressions: 1.4 billion.
• Since the campaign launched, Old Spice Bodywash sales are up 27 percent; in the last three months up. 55 percent; and in the last month up 107 percent.

A lot of the stats shown in the linked video are a little fuzzy and while they may show a heightened awareness of the brand the stats that I think really matter are those at the end of the list. Old Spice have managed to find a way to transfer online interest in the brand into sales and I think that that is the real success of this campaign.

The Age of Event Sponsorship is over

One of the main points I sought to get across in my progress this morning was that the age of huge corporate sponsorship of sporting events like the World Cup is well and truly over. Associations like FIFA can no longer guarantee exclusivity to its partners. This World Cup has in my opinion proven that a well-timed ad or the ambush of a major event is far more effective than sponsorship of the actual competition.

Dutch brewer Bavaria hijacked to great effect the Holland v Denmark game last week. However the consternation which FIFA have kicked up has played into the hands of Bavaria, giving them a massive amount of prime time media coverage. Paddy Power are even happy to hijack an event which they themselves sponsor, such as the Cheltenham Festival.

Official sponsors of the World Cup have been fairing very poorly when it comes to association with the competition. A study by Nielsen found that Nike has created a significantly bigger "online buzz", based on an analysis of blogs, message boards and social networking websites, and association to the World Cup than any other brand.

Nike, which is not an official sponsor of the World Cup, had more than twice as many references in relation to the World Cup than official sponsor Adidas.Adidas had the second highest level of mentions, and therefore share of World Cup buzz, with official sponsors Coca-Cola, Sony and Visa filling out the top five slots.

Carlsberg, which recently launched its own star-studded "best team talk in the world" TV campaign, ranked sixth. The brewer is not an official World Cup sponsor. Official beer sponsor Budweiser did not appear in the top 10 in the report.
Adidas recently struck back with a TV ad featuring celebrities in a remix of the famous cantina scene from the 1977 Star Wars film. The ad launched on 5 June and given Nielsen's research only covers the period 7 May to 6 June the German sportswear giant will be hoping its digital buzz factor has significantly increased since the report.

These examples show that compelling, savvy marketing can establish this sort of connection in the eyes of consumers without having to write that expensive sponsorship check

Gavin McCarthy








Ad of the Week

McDonalds "Come as you are" Campaign

Following on from this mornings discussion in progress about McDonald's latest ad campaign "Come as you are" I would like your opnions on other ads featured in the campaign. The first ad below features two "silver-surfers" adopting new identities online and interacting with one another. The second ad features a mother and daughter and illustrates the similarities between the two as they both manage to lose their bags in the same day. The campaign sees its brand move away from its usual focus of the traditional family set-up to recognizing a wider clientele. Is this a good move in the right direction or should McDonalds revert back to the likes of it's happy easygoing "I'm Loving it" campaign??

Cadbury's Chocolate Charmer

On Friday 9th April at 7.45pm, Cadbury Ireland launched its latest Dairy Milk advertisement for their Chocolate Charmer campaign. It follows previously successful Cadbury ads – Gorilla, Eyebrows and Airport Trucks - and cost them €500,000 to make. The campaign will include TV, experiential marketing, online and PR. It shows the chocolate charmer at work, using his magic to whip the milk and chocolate together. A Cadbury spokesperson announced that the aim of this ad is to show people the joy of creating chocolate.

Tiger Woods Ad

Here is the new Tiger Woods advertisement for Nike with a recording used from his late father Earl. One quote underneath the video on Youtube stated, "Totally exploitive. Tiger woods just sold himself and his father out at wholesale. Its obviously a money thing for him. The guy has no integrity." On the other hand, it's being hailed as a great idea that has sparked a lot of interest for both Nike and Tiger Woods. The question is have they gone too far or is it marketing at it's best?

Pepsi New Strategy

A £700 million revamp of the Pepsi brand has begun. The first phase involves relaunching the UK website with the new logo being used for the first time. The second phase involves a social media campaign in which they want people to show their wild sides. This is based on the popular series of advertisements they ran recently. Also, Pepsi wants people to tell them how they should spend £13 million on charitable causes. The third phase involves ambush marketing the FIFA World Cup (which is kindly sponsored by Coca-Cola) by launching viral and traditional media advertisements using the controversial Thierry Henry and other soccer stars. It will be interesting to see if a reference is made to the Irish qualifier game. So, it seems they have a comprehensive strategy there but it will be interesting to see if the investment level is warranted.

The MDP's Favourite AD

Ok guys,

Following on from progress this morning, I am starting a poll to find out what the MDP's favorite AD is? My favorite AD is the "Coco Madamosille" AD featuring Keira Knightly. I love this AD because it communicates the attributes of the product very well. All the elements of the AD (music, product placement ect.) combine together to create a very effective AD for Chanel.

Do you like this AD? Why? What is your favorite AD?