Old Spice ad inspires suave studying habits

Yes, I realize we've all heard enough about Old Spice and its astounding transformation from geriatric afterthought to social media superlative. But we still wanted to end the week with the video shown below, a new and endearing homage to the original "Man Your Man Could Smell Like" spot. Well done, Brigham Young University's Harold B. Lee Library. Well done.

Filed under Griner, Old Spice, Parody
Permalink | Comments (4)

Old Spice guy calls it a day after 184 videos

The Old Spice guy has left the bathroom. After filming, by our count, 184 personalized videos for his fans, Isaiah Mustafa bids farewell, for now, in the clip below. If you didn't get your own video, don't blame him. "I am just one ridiculously handsome man. I can't write to everyone," he points out. The YouTube stunt is already being called the best social-media ad campaign ever, though it would be good to remember that the real-time, responsive nature of the videos wouldn't have meant much without the more traditional element—a brilliant character written by Wieden + Kennedy and performed hilariously by Mustafa. We'll surely see copycat efforts in the coming months. Let's hope the content, not just the delivery of it, is half as enjoyable as this was. Silver fish hand catch!

Filed under Nudd, Old Spice, Personal care, Wieden + Kennedy
Permalink | Comments (9)

Old Spice blitz includes a marriage proposal

Yesterday's blitzkrieg of 100-plus personal YouTube thank-you notes by Isaiah "Old Spice Guy" Mustafa was truly something to behold, and not just because it included a shout-out to AdFreak's own Tim Nudd. The Wieden + Kennedy team's reaction time was pretty incredible, as illustrated by my favorite video, below: a marriage proposal Mustafa made on behalf of a random guy on Twitter. @Jsbeals made this request of Old Spice: "Can U Ask my girlfriend to marry me? Her name is Angela A. Hutt-Chamberlin." Less than three hours later, Mustafa was holding a ring in the glow of candlelight and asking Angela to "make Jsbeals the happiest man in the world and marry him in real life." Obviously, with the request coming from such a beacon of masculine perfection, there was only one answer she could give. Now, that's engagement.

Filed under Griner, Old Spice, Personal care, Wieden + Kennedy
Permalink | Comments (6)

Old Spice guy personally thanks online fans

Old Spice and Wieden + Kennedy are well aware that they have a serious megahit on their hands with Isaiah Mustafa, aka "The Man Your Man Could Smell Like." He's done the two main TV spots, as well as the mustache clip, and now, in a truly fantastic addition to the campaign, he's doing a slew of personalized videos in which he thanks individual people—bloggers, YouTube commenters, Twitterers, celebrities—who've complimented his ads online. Check out his message to Apolo Ohno below, and see a crazy 18 more videos after the jump. The writing is all great, and the work takes the concept of a brand joining the conversation online to wonderful new levels. The only downside, of course, is that he hasn't done a video for us yet.  UPDATE: Actually, he has given us a shout-out, too. Also, these first 19 videos were just the beginning. There must be more than 100 on Old Spice's YouTube channel by now.

Click to read more ...

Filed under Nudd, Old Spice, Personal care, Wieden + Kennedy
Permalink | Comments (17)

Old Spice guy even cooler with a mustache

Isaiah Mustafa is back on a boat, and sporting a completely CGI-less mustache, in this latest Old Spice mini-gem from Wieden + Kennedy. "Use Old Spice Body Wash and get ready for a manly mustache surprise," the YouTube page wisely counsels.

Filed under Nudd, Old Spice, Personal care, Wieden + Kennedy
Permalink | Comments (0)

Old Spice guy walks you through second ad

If there's been one knock against Isaiah Mustafa's second Old Spice ad, it's that the spot appears to use CGI—something the original famously did not. But actually, Mustafa says this one was completely CGI-free, too. In the interview below, from G4's Attack of the Show, Mustafa walks you through the new Wieden + Kennedy ad step by step. Apparently, his legs in the opening shot are prosthetics, and he was wearing a harness and wire the entire time, which is how he's able to swan dive into the hot tub. The one secret he won't divulge is how he changes from shorts into jeans at the end—though he says that was the hardest part of the sequence, which took "36 or 37 takes" to get right. The whole thing was shot on a custom set built—including the man-made waterfall—on a lake in Vallermo, Calif. One final piece of trivia from the G4 clip: Smelling Mustafa in person can lead to pregnancy in women. Via Consumerist.

Filed under Nudd, Old Spice, Personal care, Wieden + Kennedy
Permalink | Comments (2)

'I'm on a horse' guy makes Old Spice return

His first Old Spice ad was just voted the best commercial of the past year at Cannes, and now Isaiah Mustafa is back with an encore. In this new Wieden + Kennedy spot, he log-rolls, walks on water, shows off the cake he baked in the "dream kitchen" he built himself, does a "swan dive" and winds up in a hot tub. At the end, he's perched proudly on a motorcycle instead of a horse. "So, ladies," he says. "Should your man smell like an Old Spice man? You tell me." Hard to argue with the awesomeness.

Filed under Nudd, Old Spice, Personal care, Wieden + Kennedy
Permalink | Comments (10)

Old Spice blows up more Terry Crews spots

Old Spice and Wieden + Kennedy broke three new spots last week for Odor Blocker Body Wash featuring ex-NFL player Terry Crews shouting, punching and kicking his way through odor. Here are three more that rolled out over the weekend—a :30 below (in which we get to travel way, way inside Crews's lovely-smelling armpit, then see him riding a tiger) and two :15s after the jump. Simply explosive.

—Posted by Tim Nudd

Click to read more ...

Filed under Nudd, Old Spice, Personal care, Wieden + Kennedy
Permalink | Comments (18)

Big muscly dude blocks odor with Old Spice

More insane, awesome Old Spice work from Wieden + Kennedy. This time, we get a bodybuilder who punches, kicks, blocks and generally destroys odor—and everything else in his path—in the service of Odor Blocker Body Wash. This guy's on something, and it's not a horse. Plus, he has these crazy talking abdominals. Two more ads after the jump.

—Posted by Tim Nudd

Click to read more ...

Filed under Nudd, Old Spice, Personal care, Wieden + Kennedy
Permalink | Comments (9)

Old Spice smells like a successful mountain

Here's the latest Old Spice spot from Wieden + Kennedy, advertising a new deodorant scent called Matterhorn, described as "a triumphantly fresh scent that smells like the world's most successful mountain." The product demo shows a fresh, snow-covered peak erupting from a guy's armpit, allowing him to expertly carve turkey and blocks of ice into shapes that are pleasing to his blonde companion. There are three other new scents, too. All four make an appearance in this brief spot, and are ranked "fresh, fresher, freshest, freshershist."

—Posted by Tim Nudd

Filed under Nudd, Old Spice, Personal care, Wieden + Kennedy
Permalink | Comments (5)

Old Spice copy set to music of John Denver

Barbara Lippert mentions this in her Old Spice critique today, but we had to post it here: a folksy couple singing the ad copy from the Old Spice "I'm on a horse" commercial to the tune of John Denver's "You Fill Up My Senses." The performers describe it as "the text of the most romantic video [set] to the tune of the most romantic song." You're welcome.

—Posted by Tim Nudd

Filed under Nudd, Old Spice, Parody, Personal care, Wieden + Kennedy
Permalink | Comments (2)

Old Spice expects manly behavior from men

Quickly following up on the now-famous "I'm on a horse" commercial, here's a new 20-second Wieden + Kennedy spot for Old Spice showing men doing manly things—ripping out chest hair, destroying images of teddy bears and pink flowers, crushing hand-strengthening equipment. Also, be sure to keep your Old Spice body wash behind barbed wire, next to the quill, the binoculars and the half-eaten sandwich.

—Posted by Tim Nudd

Filed under Nudd, Old Spice, Personal care, Wieden + Kennedy
Permalink | Comments (2)

Wieden creatives talk about Old Spice shoot

Wieden + Kennedy creative team Craig Allen and Eric Kallman appeared on Leo Laporte's "This Week in Tech" video show to explain the story behind the Old Spice "The Man Your Man Could Smell Like" TV spot. The commercial has developed quite a following—it's gotten about 2 million YouTube views as of this writing. Allen and Kallman tell Laporte that very little computer-based trickery was used in shooting the spot, which involved constructing a set on a beach and employing a crane-like device to move actor Isaiah Mustafa onto the horse for the ad's grand finale.

—Posted by Brian Morrissey

Filed under Morrissey, Old Spice, Personal care, Wieden + Kennedy
Permalink | Comments (0)

Old Spice stresses men's horse-like aspects

Old Spice has a thing for horses. First, we had the showering centaur, who was two things in one ("a man and a very smart shopper"). Now, we get two new spots from Wieden + Kennedy, half-aimed at women, starring "the man your man could smell like"—and in each one, the guys ends up on a horse. Why always a horse? Sociologist who've somehow found time to study Old Spice ads declare it to be a big anatomy joke. "Drawing in the idea of a particularly potent man being 'hung like a horse,' the [centaur] ad implies that users of Old Spice body wash are not only 'smart shoppers' and good 'providers,' but also that they are heterosexual dynamos in the sack with really big penises!" they write. Shameful! Axe did the same thing with Pitman (its disembodied armpit spokes-part) once upon a time. Who knows. The image below, from the second new Old Spice ad, won't refute the theory. See that spot after the jump.

—Posted by Tim Nudd

Click to read more ...

Filed under Nudd, Old Spice, Personal care, Wieden + Kennedy
Permalink | Comments (2)

Old Spice appeals to a range of douchebags

In this funny new spot from Wieden + Kennedy, Old Spice finally explains why it makes so many differently scented products: to satisfy the wide variety of smug, preppy douchebags within its target market! The guy reclining in his leather armchair has some nerve putting his own masculinity in the context of skiers and beach bums with hot girlfriends. Still, one can't help but admire the attitude, and jokes based around the absurdity of overzealous manhood will always be funny. I hope they make more of these ads, and this song plays in the background of all of them.

—Posted by David Kiefaber

See also:
Avoid nasty residue build-up with Old Spice
Wieden, Old Spice go places they shouldn't

Filed under Kiefaber, Old Spice, Personal care, Wieden + Kennedy
Permalink | Comments (3)

Avoid nasty residue build-up with Old Spice

In mulling this "Residue is evil" print campaign from Old Spice and Wieden + Kennedy, a few things crossed my mind. First, the problem surely doesn't rise to the level of "evil." Hitler was evil. The embarrassment caused by deodorant residue can be avoided by lowering one's arms. Also, was there a point where someone said, "Hey, this playground ad's not nearly heinous enough. Let's add a gratuitous view of some girl's butt!"? And is it wise to berate one's potential customers as "idiots," "weirdos" and "chumps"? Hey, Old Spice, that stinks! I should find a groovy co-ed sauna to sweat off the anxiety I get from looking at nasty ads like these, but I'd better stop at the drugstore first and pick up some Nair for Men.

—Posted by David Gianatasio

See also:
Wieden, Old Spice go places they shouldn't
Old Spice, Wieden slide into more silliness
Old Spice is right for all your hairy growths

Filed under Gianatasio, Old Spice, Personal care, Wieden + Kennedy
Permalink | Comments (15)

Old Spice Swagger ads are scientifically iffy

The guys at Old Spice make good deodorant, but they're piss-poor scientists. Their test subject in the "Arm vs. Arm" spot above had obvious advantages beyond whatever he used to make his armpits smell nice. And the guy whose arm withers in the spot below clearly had some sort of pre-existing condition. There are two more spots here (all are from Wieden + Kennedy), and they seem rigged as well. (Surely that martial artist's third arm wasn't a complete surprise.) Still, a little embellishment is worth it if you're trying to get people to make their own Old Spice Swagger ads for a chance at $10,000. However, I'm not sure if that prize money is enough to buy "helicopters made entirely of diamonds and nuclear-powered toothbrushes," though. So, don't go to Old Spice for accounting, either.

—Posted by David Kiefaber

Filed under Nudd, Old Spice, Personal care, Wieden + Kennedy
Permalink | Comments (0)

Old Spice takes LL Cool J from zero to hero

This spot for Old Spice's Swagger, by Wieden + Kennedy, has opened a window into LL Cool J's adolescence. Even as a dorky teenager with a high voice and a higher forehead, hot girls still talked to him. Thanks, that gives the rest of us so much hope. I'd be more impressed if Swagger had helped LL overcome an even more embarrassing stage of his development. Also check out a second spot with Brian Urlacher.

—Posted by David Kiefaber

Filed under Kiefaber, Old Spice, Personal care, TV, Wieden + Kennedy
Permalink | Comments (3)

Wieden, Old Spice go places they shouldn't

The Skittles sheep boys will be bleating their approval of this new Old Spice spot from Wieden + Kennedy—advertising’s first recognition in a while of the all-too- often-marginalized human/animal hybrid segment. VFXWorld has a little background on how Digital Domain made the centaur look real. “Of course the centaur needed to look plausible, but an effect like this can get creepy really quickly,” says DD’s Vernon Wilbert. “The suds made it work. It worked better because the suds and the soap go places where they shouldn’t. That made it real ... and it made it funny.” Via Adverganza, whose headline made us laugh also.

—Posted by Tim Nudd

Filed under Freaky, Nudd, Old Spice, Personal care, Wieden + Kennedy
Permalink | Comments (5)

Old Spice is right for all your hairy growths

Copyranter and Adverganza have both dug up yet another entertaining ad for Old Spice, a brand that has been magically transported from my dad’s medicine cabinet to the dorm showers of Evil Dead fans. One especially nice touch with this spot—aside from the scene-stealing medical dummy—is the unexpected twist at the end of the 15-second version.

—Posted by David Griner

Filed under Griner, Old Spice, Personal care, Wieden + Kennedy
Permalink | Comments (0)

Old Spice, Wieden slide into more silliness

It doesn’t take much to make people laugh. This new Old Spice spot from Wieden + Kennedy, for example, shows a guy who slides all the way from second base to home plate, while also delivering a witty, many-claused endorsement of the product, which he picks up while rounding third. The YouTube uploader describes it in simpler terms: “This dude totally keeps on sliding and it is hilarious.” See some earlier Old Spice spots here and here.

—Posted by Tim Nudd

Filed under Nudd, Old Spice, Personal care, Wieden + Kennedy
Permalink | Comments (5)

Bruce Campbell’s lounge act for Old Spice

Wieden + Kennedy has brought Bruce Campbell back for another Old Spice commercial. This time he’s entertaining some ladies (“including Siberian supermodel Irena Pantaeva,” according to the press release) in his bachelor pad. He woos them “with his musical prowess as he performs his own unique arrangement of an old standard”—a song that Burger King reportedly has been itching to use in its own advertising ever since it came out in ’83. Watch Bruce’s earlier Old Spice commercial here. UPDATE: And it gets even better with this behind-the-scenes footage from the shoot.

—Posted by Tim Nudd

Filed under Old Spice, Personal care, Wieden + Kennedy
Permalink | Comments (10) | TrackBack (0)

Would you buy Old Spice from this guy?

Following up on the Bruce Campbell spot, here’s an ad for Old Spice that tries to tweak the testimonial approach, which is apparently stale, by making it seem like a big joke, complete with a bogus and hairy product demo and lines like, “Old Spice performs in real man’s situations, like basketball, recon and Frenching.” By Wieden + Kennedy.

—Posted by Tim Nudd

Filed under Old Spice, Personal care, Wieden + Kennedy
Permalink | Comments (19) | TrackBack (0)

Bruce Campbell is wondering if you have it

I missed the debut of this Old Spice spot while I was away. Starring the inimitable Bruce Campbell, it may be the first ad in history that nerds everywhere are hailing as a masterpiece. I might even have to watch Evil Dead 2 myself tonight. The campaign also features a microsite, with a cool 50-question quiz. By Wieden + Kennedy. Spotted at American Copywriter.

—Posted by Tim Nudd

Filed under Old Spice, Personal care, Wieden + Kennedy
Permalink | Comments (6) | TrackBack (0)