2010 OLD SPICE AD CAMPAIGN CASE STUDY

1. 2010 OLD SPICE AD CAMPAIGN CASE STUDY

2. First launch and target audience • Originally launched as ‘Early American Old Spice’ by William Lightfoot Schultz’s soap and toiletries company in 1937 • It was first targeted to women, with men’s products only being released before Christmas at the end of that year • Introduced: June 19, 1937 • Product type: originally targeted to women; now men’s grooming products • Previous owners: Shulton Company • Owner: Procter and Gamble 1973 America

3. Target audience continued • When Proctor and Gamble (P&G) took over from the Shulton company in 1990, they decided to shift its target audience from the older generation of 40 to 60 year olds, to focus on the younger generation of 13 to 34 year old men. • Old spice soon grew in prominence after P&G released new products under the brand and it’s men’s deodorant line (Belch and Belch) became leaders in the market. Old Spice Ad Campaign from the 1990’s

4. products • Old Spice’s cologne has been its staple product, available in its original scent as well as newer Pure Sport. In 2006, Old Spice introduced a fragrance, OS Signature, which won the magazine FHM’s 2006 grooming award for best sporty fragrance. Old Spice Red Zone products include a ‘scratch-and-sniff’ version of the signature fragrance. • In 2014, Old Spice expanded its product line-up to men’s hair care with the introduction of shampoos, conditioners and styling products. These products include: • Gel • Putty • Pomade • Paste • Wax

5. Product lines • As of 2018, Old Spice has seven main lines of grooming products and each line features a variety of products and scents: • Classic collections (classic and fresh) • Wild collection (bearglove, wolfthorn, hawkridge, foxcrest, lionprideand krakengard) • Fresher collection (timber Fiji, denali, amber, citron, wildrerness/relax and tundra/cooling) • Red zone collection (pure sport, swagger, aqua reef, after hours, champion and live hour) • Red collection (captain, ambassador, nomad, desperado) • High endurance collection (pure sport, original and fresh) • Hardest working collection (lasting legend, pure sport plus, stronger swagger, tougher timber, fresher Fiji, extra fresh and steel courage

6. Key challenges, problems and competitors Axe Body Spray Proctor and Gamble had two key challenges: • The first is they had to draw on long-standing history and expertise of the brand and reposition it to make it relevant to young men • The second was they had to target both men and women in order to generate a conversation about body wash • The biggest competition for Old Spice is the Unilever Axe brand. They are the market leaders in Latin America and Europe. Axe’s advertising campaigns relied on suggestive images of provocative women and evocative taglines and by 2009 stiff competition had resulted in Old Spice falling behind and big losses in market share. • Other competitors include right guard and, later, dove.

7. Market research • Severe competition from axe and right guard prompted Old Spice to revitalise their brand image. To do this they approached advertising company, Wieden and Kennedy. Research done by Wieden and Kennedy found that Old Spice’s target audience of the 13-34 year old males were perplexed from the many types of body grooming products. Most men perceive body wash as being a female product which is unnecessary for them to use. Old Spice also lacked a manly image and has the fixed perception of being used for old people, which did not appeal much to the target audience of the younger generation males. This prompted Wieden and Kennedy to relocate Old Spice as the easy, masculine choice for serious men amidst the complicated, crowded and confusing, body product category. Furthermore, research also found that most purchases regarding body cleansing made by men were decided by their female counterparts. Old Spice decided to directly reach out to women by telling them “I am the man your man could smell like”.

8. 2010 campaign • In February 2010, Old Spice released the ‘Man Your Man Could Smell Like’ campaign • Objective: the main objective was to change the perception of Old Spice being the product of the baby boomer generation in order to fit and appeal with Old Spice’s new target audience of younger men, which resulted in the creation of the ‘Old Spice Guy’ • Target Audience: though the target audience of Old Spice is men aged 13-34, the campaign was targeted to women as purchases regarding body cleansing body cleansing were decided by their female counterparts. The aim was to spark a discussion between women and men about the benefits of having masculine-smelling body wash for men over ‘female-scented’ brands

9. 2010 ad campaign • The commercial: it was a 33 second video filmed featuring IsaiashMustafah as the ‘Old Spice Guy’ explaining the benefits of using Old Spice over ‘lady-scented’ body wash brands. • Launch: the video was released on social media platforms rather than at the Super Bowl, Wieden and Kennedy could secure engine keywords that would direct users to the commercial when searching for Super Bowl commercials in order to generate buzz. The video was soon released on Youtube on February 4th 2010, before going on TV soon after. Old Spice’s website and social media pages were altered in order to adapt to the commercial. The website displayed youthful males participating in ‘masculine’ activities. Their facebook and twitter pages also featured images of the ‘Old Spice Guy’. Print ads also accompanied the release.

10. 2010 ad campaign • Advertisement: the advertisements aimed to get males and females to start a conversation about the campaign. Therefore adverts were aimed to be placed where men and women would be viewing them together. For example, American Idol, the Winter Olympics, the TV show Lost and most importantly, in cinemas during the weekend of Valentine’s Day. The campaign soon became popular and spread, achieving millions of views and multiple parodies. The ‘Old Spice Guy’ also made appearances on talk shows such as Oprah and Ellen DeGeneres. • Reception: Sales for Old Spice rocketed and they became the leading brand of male body wash in 2010, beating their main competitor, Axe, by 67% Along with a rise in sales, followers increased by about 2700% and 60% for twitter and facebook. Youtube subscribers increased from 65,000 to 150,000 as well as traffic to the Old Spice website increasing up to 300%

11. What do I know about old spice? • Set up in 1937 – for women • Men’s products– shaving soap and aftershave marketed with nautical theme • Sailing ships used for packaging • 1970s, shifted from being a shaving brand to a fragrance brand • June 1990, Procter & Gamble purchased Old Spicefragrances, skin care ant antiperspirant & deodorant brands from the Shulton Company • Throughout 2000s, Procter and Gamble introduced many forms of deodorant, body washes and body sprays under the Old Spice name • In 2008, the original Old Spice scent was repackaged as ‘Classic Scent’, both in the after shave and cologne versions. Changed packaging to plastic. Shower gel sold with slogan: ‘The original. If your grandfather hadn’t worn it you wouldn’t exist’