6 ms·
How the Old Spice Videos Are Being Made
- hazmattron 16y agoMy only exposure to the Old Spice campaign so far has been through HN, despite generally considering myself a relatively internet-aware individual. Interesting.
- yena 16y agoThe Guardian was running an article on the Old Spice commercials yesterday.
- profitoftruth85 16y agoThey were huge on Reddit. The old spice guy was doing personalized videos to questions redditors posted.
- faramarz 16y agoThe TV commercials were played numerous times during the All-star game yesterday. Clever writing. Look away. now look back. I'm on a horse.
- username3 16y agoI had to look up which all-star game you meant. Baseball's All-Star Game Yields Its Lowest Television Ratings http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/14/AR2010071404936.html http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07...
- GFischer 16y agoOver here (Uruguay) most of us do not know such a thing existed (I believe baseball gets zero coverage, even on local ESPN affiliates). We're still on a World Cup hangover. (football/soccer World Cup, the one held in South Africa this year). Back on topic, this is HUGE for Old Spice. Even here in South America it's making waves: "Old Spice becomes the ad campaign of the year" on an Argentinean blog (spanish) http://www.papblog.com.ar/2010/07/15/old-spice-se-convierte-en-el-caso-publicitario-del-ano/comment-page-1/ http://www.papblog.com.ar/2010/07/15/old-spice-se-convierte-...
- there 16y agothey should stop doing the videos today, if they haven't already. it was fun for a day (or two) but if they continue, they're just going to get stale. everyone that has seen most of them already are going to get tired of seeing links posted everywhere once they reach past the reddit/twitter crowds, and it'll become like those annoying e-mail jokes your parents forward you.
- MJR 16y agoRight, it wouldn't make sense to keep creating the videos past a certain point. They're going to be able to ride the wave as these videos begin to make the rounds in the social networks. What they need to do is come up with a second wave of something that they can pull out in a few weeks or months to refresh these videos or build off them. That way they can keep stoking the fire and the process that gets them this coverage will start again.
- chopsueyar 16y agoWazzzzzzzzzzzzzup?
- deleted 16y ago[deleted]
- noonespecial 16y agoIt reminds me of "Ask a Ninja". It was, in fact, funny for a few videos. Then they got sponsors and showed ads and generally jumped the comedic shark in short order.
- MJR 16y agoThe difference though is that Ask a Ninja isn't an advertisement supporting a product. They tried to take it and turn it into a product, which we all know commercializing anything with growing popularity has a very high potential to take away the very appeal that made it popular in the first place. If they intend to make this more than just a stunt, this needs to be a first step in a major campaign that will include lots of new ideas and tactics to keep it fresh. Hopefully W+K is headed in the right direction and they will keep us entertained and deliver some ROI for Old Spice.
- dctoedt 16y agoI know I'm fast slipping into old-fart-hood (if not already there), but I don't 'get' the videos' popularity -- they struck me as pretentiously pseudo-cool.
- hugh3 16y agoOver-the-top pretentious pseudo-cool! Which means they wrap right around back to cool.
- maqr 16y agoYes. Everyone knows 'cool' follows pacman rules.
- m-photonic 16y agoAsteroids did it before Pac-Man.
- enjo 16y agoI love them, mainly because they're a really fun parody of the ridiculousness that their competitors often run (I'm looking at you Axe). They built a character that all at once oozes likability while at the same time pointing out just how stupid the whole idea that using a body-wash will get you laid is.
- tomjen3 16y agoYou would think so, but I did actually try it, partially to see if I would get me the attentions of girls. But I did wait till it was on sale...
- joezydeco 16y agoIt may have been a stupid idea, but Axe got hundreds of thousands of prepubescent teenagers using deodorant...their deodorant. And men tend to stick with a brand once they are comfortable with it.
- amichail 16y agoWhy not just be more direct and say why your product is better than the competition providing scientific studies as evidence? Why advertise in this way instead?
- adammichaelc 16y agoIf deodorant were a new product that solved a new problem, the informational approach would be appropriate. But since deodorant is a commodity and they all pretty much work, this kind of marketing isn't effective anymore, so the brand-building marketing begins.
- pchristensen 16y agoBecause most people don't care about scientific studies, and your competitor can also "fund" and "report" on a scientific study that favors his product.
- Quarrelsome 16y agoI find that telling jokes is a better way to pick up girls than writing a proof as to why I am a superior mating candidate. Weird, huh?
- aspiringsensei 16y agoI find that writing jokes is a great way to show girls that I am not a superior mating candidate.
- kacy 16y agoHey guys, not sure if you know about this yet or if you're interested, but a group of people over at reddit created http://oldspicevoicemail.com http://oldspicevoicemail.com using his voice. Go check it out if you get a chance.
- snprbob86 16y agoIf it isn't obvious from the actual content: this was suggested by a Redditor and the official TheGuyOnTheHorse Reddit account posted a YouTube video as a submission. This is brilliant marketing. They saw and seized an opportunity to let the internet hive mind further their own campaign. All they had to do was film him standing in a bathroom and multiple fan made voicemail generator sites sprung up within minutes. That is super cheap, super effective marketing, for sure... they let someone else do all the hard work! Absolutely incredible.
- ohashi 16y agoBrilliant campaign. I am glad to see they are getting rewarded. The mix of technology and creativity is impressive. I expect some copycats soon that will get ignored.
- kqr2 16y agoIt's pretty amazing how they made the original Old Spice commercial. I thought it was mostly CG, however, in reality it's a very clever set construction. Making of the Old Spice Commerical: http://www.youtube.com/oldspice#p/f/0/VDk9jjdiXJQ http://www.youtube.com/oldspice#p/f/0/VDk9jjdiXJQ