How This Viral Ad Saved a Business From the Brink of Death.
‘To think, this ad cured a company’s slump in a certain age/gender demographic of consumers, and largely increased sales as a result of this ad, a 32 second ad rebooted a whole company’
Studied in marketing classes at university, Multiple prestigious awards, 200+ million YouTube views, 0-millions Dollars in sales & 14 years later, this ad still holds the hearts of customers & viewers today.
This ad is a video you will pay to place your ad on.
This ad is the ad your ad could be like.
Here’s how Wieden+Kennedy, the agency that saved Old Spice, a male product business from bankruptcy did it:
The campaign targeted female viewers.
Despite the product's intended market being male, the agency determined that women frequently make purchasing decisions for hygiene products even for male household members.
The campaign features "Man Your Man Could Smell Like," a character played by actor Isaiah Mustafa, known as the "Old Spice Man."
As of the early 2000s, Old Spice held a position as the market leader in the U.S. for men's deodorant and body wash, with a twenty percent market share.
However, the brand was seen as out of style and mostly relied on an old reputation for the coming generation.
Procter & Gamble (the company behind Old Spice) was notorious for selling off several of its older brands, like Noxzema, Sure deodorant, and Comet cleanser, to focus on products that can grow faster. Old Spice was also at risk of being sold if it couldn't show more growth!
One decision before the sell-off changed the destiny of Old Spice & how ads were made forever.
In 2006, Wieden+Kennedy replaced Saatchi & Saatchi as the dying brands’ advertising agency.
Before Wieden+Kennedy, Saatchi & Saatchi Ad spending & strategy for the brand was minimal in the years running up to the handover,
with campaigns aimed at holding on to the brand's primary demographic of men over thirty years old.
Wieden+Kennedy used a marketing technique that was quite unheard of at the time.
Their ad ‘The Man Your Man Could Smell Like’ represented a swing towards humor and lighthearted advertising aimed at a younger demographic, especially women, the opposite of their target customers.
The ad first appeared online on February 4, 2010, and debuted on U.S. television on February 8th during American Idol, Lost, and the 2010 Winter Olympics commercial breaks.
This delay was timed to take advantage of the predicted increase in interest in advertising for the days following Super Bowl XLIV.
Its release was widely commented on in the American media, with features appearing in publications such as the Los Angeles Times and the New York Daily News,
Mustafa was invited to appear on several television talk shows, including The Oprah Winfrey Show.
The Man Your Man Could Smell Like was a popular, critical, and financial success.
By the end of June 2010, it had been viewed online over 11 million times. It had received several honors from the advertising and television industries,
including the Grand Prix at the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival, the most prestigious award ceremony of the marketing community.
At one point in mid-July 2010, videos from the series accounted for eight of the top eleven most popular videos on YouTube.
The created feeling of connection between the Old Spice Man and the real target audience, known as a parasocial relationship, was important to the campaign's success.
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The video combined with the original ad series became one of the "most popular viral campaigns in recent history".
The video has been posted on several channels, it currently has over 62 million views on one channel alone, that’s hundreds accumulatively on YouTube. For an ad, that’s like the best thing ever.
Here’s what people had to say:
My research and articles on viral branding aren’t to make you jump and blindly copy, it’s to fill your knowledge gap on successful branding.
It’s important to ponder this article to see how you can use it to your advantage or remix it according to your business values.
Creating ads that could pass as ‘memes’ & go viral is hit-and-miss, you can’t force virality when it comes to humor.
This was a great ad and a shift in branding, what practical lesson can you take away from this aside from ‘funny ads go viral’?
-Your target audience doesn’t or might not care as much as your target audience's family or friends.
-Your target audience doesn’t make purchasing decisions 90% or most of the time.
-For example, cater to moms if kids are your target customers. Cater to pet owners (our dogs don’t scroll on phones!). Push a campaign to parents about your educational app.
-This coming Valentine's, start cooking up how to cater to your target audience buyer instead. Send curated ads or branding to men about a product/service their wives, girlfriends, sisters, moms, or daughters might love.
Make sure to point out that YOUR product is a product their woman could have… For Valentine's Day. Hypothetically.
-Begin establishing a parasocial relationship with your target customers' relatives or peer groups. Make your product/service a family thing instead (Disney World isn’t just for kids, even though it was intended to be).
-Create an ad for MEMORABILITY.
-You want to foster a scenario where a family member will pitch in for your product to be bought.
-Try to be light-hearted, don’t always go so serious in your ads even though you’re in a serious field or industry.
A great example would be Grammarly, a tool for writing better online.
You would think their ads would be boring advantages about using good grammar, writing essays, AI prompting/assistance, and conducting great E-mails with their tool.
Instead, it’s just these: (all videos are under 1:30 minutes)
You’re probably thinking, I DON’T HAVE THE BUDGET FOR THESE KIND OF ADS.
You don’t need to become a film producer to have brilliant ads like these, for example, here’s an ad by Grammarly too, it invokes the same notion and message, yet gets the work done.
Plus you can use animations or simple video editing to convey any wild actions you want your ads to display.
For example, You want to send a message to your target customers about your sports shoe brand, You want to let them know your shoes are so comfortable, that it feels like they’re floating while walking or running.
Create an animation for that or use AI or Blender, an open-source 3D rendering software.
Look for freelancers on Fiverr or Upwork & you’ve got your problem-solving, enjoyable-to-re-watch, memorable, viral ad.
To drive the branding creativity home, take a look at this ad by Designerr, how can you spin this to cater to a large but targeted audience? Instead of just some guy talking to his screen from his room?
Think of two ads, one with a low budget, and another with all the money you need.
You don’t need a shirtless hot guy holding eye contact with you to go viral. I don’t think I’ve ever skipped a Grammarly ad & it never included hot shirtless guys.
Your customer base might even prefer subtle, sarcastic, and pun-related humor. Think about your target audience, what are their personalities? What will cater to them mostly?
A personal example would be creating an ad for my review tool start-up.
I could cater to the humorous fact of wishing a person could go back in time to never buy that high ticket course.
The possibilities are endless to go viral.