Hello Ladies…would you please buy Old Spice?
Posted on | July 26, 2010 | No Comments
Author:
Jason Voiovich
Ecra Creative Group
Key Points:
1. Isaiah Mustafa (aka “the Old Spice guy”) has continued the reinvigoration of the once-moribund brand with a breakthrough advertising and social media campaign.
2. However, some of the first sales reports don’t look promising, with one report showing Old Spice down 7%. Then again, other reports say sales are brisk. It is simply too early to tell.
3. But asking one campaign to both “reposition” and “boost sales” may be too much to ask in a crowded segment. Patience is warranted here.
The newest Old Spice campaign could be the hottest ad campaign of the year.
It is arguably the best use of social media in an advertising campaign thus far, with spokesperson and former NFL player Isaiah Mustafa responding to several tweets via YouTube videos.
Have a look at one of the most popular “responses” here:
This video, alone, has reached nearly one million views. And there are dozens of responses like it. Add to that the significant broadcast airtime and the viral nature of the original ads themselves (not to mention several very smart parodies) and you get a lot of exposure for the Old Spice brand and its now-instantly-recognizable spokesperson.
Here’s the rub: The ads don’t seem to be driving sales of Old Spice in the Health and Beauty aisle at your local Wal-Mart or Target. The latest national media news puts Old Spice sales down 7%.
The knee jerk reaction would be to claim the ads are more about the ad and more about the persona than they are about the brand, and that misdirected focus is pulling attention away from Old Spice and heaping onto Mustafa.
Other analysis points to the creative approach itself. Mustafa is talking to “the ladies” assuming they will be the influencer on the purchase of the Old Spice brand. Previous campaigns spoke directly to the men themselves. Perhaps men really are the buyers after all?
Further “explanations” point to the generational-skipping strategy P&G used when it took control of the brand – going directly to younger men and first-time deodorant buyers. Perhaps the younger men like the ads, but aren’t translating that to brand selection.
An even more obtuse perspective claims men feel a bit threatened by Mustafa’s portrayal of the “handsome man ready to whisk your woman away”. Do men really enjoy being emasculated by an ex-NFL player? Will they really want to emulate him?
If you believe all that, and you’re the brand manager for Old Spice, you’re faced with a decision: Kill the campaign now, before it does more damage, and switch to an activation-focused approach to drive incremental sales. Or stick with the approach and give it more time.
I’m not sure this is the right way to look at the situation, however.
First off, a few weeks is not enough time to evaluate any campaign, let alone one that is working to reposition a brand. A 7% drop in sales could be the result of several factors outside of anyone’s control, especially for the brand that holds the top spot with about 20% of the $1 billion men’s deodorant market. But not everyone agrees on the numbers. A recent AdWeek article showed sales of Old Spice rising sharply as a result of the campaign. Mixed results should not really surprise anyone; it is simply too early to tell.
Second, Old Spice has been on a long road of repositioning since P&H acquired the brand in 1990. At that time, Old Spice held the unsavory position as something your grandfather wore (mine did), lurking in an off-white bottle in the medicine cabinet. During that same time, the metrosexualization trend gained steam – men watched “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy” for fashion tips, they headed to the salon in unheard of numbers, and started to wear skinny jeans.
P&G saw the opportunity to hold fast to the “classic” image of the man’s man – from the NFL-themed “Red Zone” line, to redesigned packaging, to the “swagger” ads, to snarky demos, to LL Cool J. Mustafa is just the latest in the series.
And by all rights, they’ve succeeded. During the last 20 years, Old Spice clawed its way ahead of Right Guard for the men’s top spot.
There’s no question youth-oriented brands Tag and Axe present a challenge, and organic/natural brands have gained traction, but I wouldn’t stick a fork in Mustafa just yet.
P&H can always run sales promotion-focused spots and FSIs – ideally using Mustafa to help drive home purchase decisions using classic price incentives.
But the real challenge is holding the positioning high ground, and that is precisely what Old Spice has done.
Related Links:
Old Spice Red Zone sales drop 7%, despite hot ads
AdWeek: Spice It Up
Old Spice’s Extreme Makeover
Tags: Isaiah Mustafa > Old Spice
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About
Jason Voiovich
Ecra Creative Group
Phone: 651.209.2778
Principal and co-founder of Ecra Creative Group, a Minneapolis, MN based creative services firm specializing in brand development, reputation process management, naming/trademark, and product launches to drive measurable business results.
