Lessons from The Old Spice Man, @OhDoctah & @Alyssa_Milano: Connect with One, Reach Many
Other than posting 180+ wildly hilarious (and popular) personalized YouTube videos over two days, Old Spice and their spokesperson, former NFL player Isaiah Mustafa, have schooled every so-called social media expert, brand manager, internet nerd and platform creator in a two-day crash course in succesful online branding.
Between July 13 to the early morning hours of July 15, Old Spice and their agency partner Wieden + Kennedy posted fan response videos to the Old Spice YouTube Channel and Twitter account, @OldSpice. Old Spice had seeded discussion across many of the most popular social media platforms, including Twitter, Facebook, Reddit, YouTube, Yahoo Answers, and even tackling 4chan, to start generating fan comments. According to ReadWriteWeb, Old Spice and the agency then worked with Mustafa to film personalized response videos to the most interesting commenters and biggest names across Hollywood, social media and sports.
The most significant impact this campaign will have cannot by found in the staggering number of video views, Tweets, comments, press and star power the campaign attracted the two days that it was “active,” but instead will be found in the (still to be determined) lasting attention it brings the brand and also the ripple effect of the campaign on online and social media marketing.
Old Spice took the time to personalize their message to not just one or two fans, but instead appeared to have found a critical mass for their one-on-one attention that made each person who tweeted, posted to Facebook, commented on Youtube, commented on reddit or inquired on Yahoo Answers feel like they had a chance to be involved and get their own video from Mustafa.
Not to say the attention of celebs like Ashton Kutcher, Christina Applegate and Alyssa Milano, athletes like Apolo Ohno and the Stanley Cup winning @NHLBlackhawks and social media gurus like @KevinRose @jason (Jason Calacanis) and @skydiver (Peter Shankman) didn’t help things along, but personalizing videos for close to 100 “real people” was the real game changer.
The last video from the Old Spice man, an apparent final farewell, was posted at 2:15 am on Wednesday July 15:
Despite the lack of new content, total views of the response videos have skyrocketed to 18,893,006 today from just over 9 million as of Friday. The @OldSpice Twitter account had 65, 411 followers on Friday and currently has over 85,000 followers despite the lack of new Tweets. Mashable went behind the numbers on Friday, and the stats have only continued to rise since their summary analysis.
As is the norm with many viral videos, the parodies have also been popping up across the Interwebs. One of the most successful emerged from the brain of Owen Stone, of OhDoctah.com. Owen posted a response video claiming he was in fact the real man, not Mr.Mustafa, and that he uses Dove. In Owen’s case, Dove was not behind the video and was not even aware he was filming it.
Result: Stone’s response has had 155,000 views to date and made the CBS Evening News on Friday, prompting Katie Couric to close out the week’s broadcast with ” I like the guy with the keg,” a reference to Stone touting his so-called keg as what women prefer over the Old Spice man’s six-pack.
Stone has also received a flurry of attention to his post on his own site, YouTube and the blogosphere.
“I’m surprised about the overwhelming positive response. I expected to get bashed, but instead I received over 300 comments that were all positive, and 90% of the comments on YouTube are positive,” Stone told VaynerMedia today.
Due to Stone’s creative response and coverage from CBS, and influential Tweeters @aplusk (Ashton Kutcher) @KevinRose (Digg founder Kevin Rose) and @garyvee (VaynerMedia co-founder Gary Vaynerchuk), his video had another result- a phone call from Dove.
Stone told us he has a follow-up scheduled with the Unilever-owned brand this week about next steps and potentially working together on a project.
Stone, who also does some social media consulting, concurs that the biggest key to the enormous success across almost every measurement for the Old Spice campaign was that it was centered around “personal contact with regular people. People need to communicate directly with their fan base.”
One of the biggest names to get a video from Old Spice ( or in her case, multiple videos) Alyssa Milano also posted a video response of her own. Milano’s response also made the news, this time CNN.
In the video, a towel-clad Milano challenges Old Spice to donate $100,000 to to the National Wildlife Federation, in the wake of the BP oil spill in the Gulf. @OldSpice posted the following response Friday the 16th, the last public message to come from the Old Spice Twitter account:
The ball is in Old Spice’s court for a next move, but Milano might have brought yet another level of success to this campaign.
Author: Stephanie Bagley
Stephanie is the resident sports media chick at Vaynermedia, working with the NHL to explore ways the league can use social media to engage fans and grow excitement around the game. She also hits the sports circuit as a freelance reporter for ESPN the Magazine, where she has been lucky enough to write since 2007. She also likes to talk...a lot...whether it is on a social media panel, the occasional guest spot on a hockey radio show, or on her pink BlackBerry. When not on Twitter and/or otherwise socially engaging, Stephanie enjoys snowboarding, cooking Italian food, the sport of hockey and taking years off her life watching her favorite teams, which include, but are not limited to, the New York Jets and the New York Mets
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I thought Alyssa Milano's dollar amount was a bit high for an immediate response and it might get lost over time. Congrats Owen, it was a clever video. =)
I think the biggest factor for success in this campaign was that they took the time to respond to so many people. They didn't just @reply people on twitter they actually took the time to film a creative personalized video. I think those two factors really helped to make this campaign successful. This goes back to caring about your community. Just like Gary and you guys at Vaynermedia try your best to respond to all emails, comments, and @replys the hard work translates into loyal customers and fans. Very good job by Wieden + Kennedy and Old Spice. Good post @StephBags, keep up the good work!
@AverageJo
i.wish good health to rvrry body its the most important after long sickness .am back to see whats new.good luck for all
I've heard quite a few people say “will this really convert to Old Spice sales?”. I don't know how much it will convert, but next time I go to the store I'm going to pick up a bottle of body wash simply because I like the what they did here and thought the effort was fantastic.
Thanks for your thoughts and kind words, Joe! I agree that the time and effort that went into creating the personalized videos was a major factor in the massive amount of attention the campaign garnered. As you point out, Old Spice showed they really cared, putting the brand on the radar for many. Caring is key!
I responded to the “keg” guy and he answered right back. More power to him! I thought it was smart of him to capitolize on the Old Spice Guy's videos. Funny thing is the first I saw of the Old Spice Guy's videos was from one of my Twitter Followers. Nice post Stephbags!
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