Old Spice becomes awesome

Back “in the day” my Dad wore Old Spice. It was one of those gifts you gave Dad on Father’s day or at Christmas, the red gift box with the ceramic containers. But, it was more or less all one scent, and a strong scent at that. Probably because nearly everyone smoked back then, and you had to have a scent that could be smelled over stale cigarette smoke.

Then, decades later, Old Spice started doing some fun commercials.I remember one with Bruce Campbell and a really big picture of a sailing ship that was particularly entertaining. But, it harkened back to the “man’s library”, and still made you think of the old, Old Spice. Didn’t get me to want to try it, but did show they had an idea what an entertaining ad looked like.

Now, they’re really hitting paydirt. Shirtless Old Spice Guy (@IsaiahMustafa on Twitter). He’s handsome, has a great speaking voice, and looks amazing without his shirt. And the deadpan, hilarious delivery of rapid fire zings delight everyone I’ve mentioned it to. If having a set of commercials that make you back up your DVR to watch them wasn’t enough, now they’ve started doing personalized video replies to random mentions on the web, and publishing them on their YouTube channel. Now, they’ve got people thinking “maybe this isn’t your Father/Grandfather’s” Old Spice anymore. Maybe I should try it, if Shirtless Old Spice Guy uses it!

This is the best, and most entertaining use of YouTube, Twitter, and scouring the net looking for blog mentions I’ve ever seen from a company. Absolutely brilliant. And unlike so many great advertisements you’ve seen where you can’t remember the product, you know exactly what company you’re dealing with here.

Jul 13 2010