Old Spice's Personalized Video Responses

I once stated to a friend that many ad campaigns to come will be great, but none will ever get a place in my heart like “The Most Interesting Man in the World”. I mean, the guy can speak French... in Russian, his clothes don’t have the courage to wrinkle, and his charm is so contagious, vaccines have been created for it.

Well - I was wrong, and will one day apologize to that friend for lying to him.

Old Spice’s “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like” has found a spot of equal, maybe even greater, size in my heart. (Previous ads blogged about here and here)

Yesterday (July 13th), Wieden and Kennedy took social media advertising to a whole new level. They got gorgeous Isaiah Mustafa (THE man your man could smell like) to create personalized video responses to people who Tweet, post YouTube comments, or Facebook about Old Spice.
…They even added in a couple completely random Yahoo Answers responses.

The result? People were in a frenzy trying to come up with questions for Old Spice to answer. One guy even got Isaiah to propose to his girlfriend for him.

Wieden and Kennedy – you’re brilliant.

Check out one of the responses… and the full channel below.



Old Spice YouTube Channel

Old Spice's "The Man Your Man Could Smell Like 2"

Unless you live under a rock in a cave on some remote island, you have probably seen Wieden and Kennedy’s hilarious Old Spice commercial starring the gorgeous deep-voiced Isaiah Mustafa (blogged about here if you actually are that person under a rock in a cave on a remote island… or you just want to see it again).


Well, they’ve done it again. In one fluid shot, Isaiah stands on a beach, log rolls, bakes a cake that says “You’re beautiful,” builds a dream kitchen with his own hands, swan dives into a Jacuzzi, and ends up on a motorcycle - all the while talking to us ladies. He does not, however, end the commercial with, “I’m on a motorcycle.”

What a babe.

Old Spice's "The Man Your Man Could Smell Like"

I have to throw out a thank you to my friend Eric for bringing this commercial to my attention, because now I just can't get enough of it. This Old Spice spot by... get this... Wieden + Kennedy Portland (again! Shocker. They're everywhere), and featuring gorgeous actor Isaiah Mustafa first aired on Youtube on February 4. In this spot, the "man your man could smell like" (who may be giving the Most Interesting Man in the World a run for his money) tells you to look at your man, then back to him, back to your man, and back to him again. He tells you to look away while the scene changes to the beach, and suddenly he has tickets to "that thing you love" and then those tickets turn into diamonds. Oh but that's not all.... he's on a horse. What's so great about this commercial? It's different.... Really different. What else is great about it? It was done in one shot - sure, it took 3 days, and the final version didn't come out until the 57th take of the third day, but it was worth it.

By the way - if you have 20 extra minutes, the making of video with creatives Craig Allen and Eric Kallman is seriously interesting.

Dodge Charger's "Man's Last Stand"

So just now I had my tv on as background noise while I was typing out some notes, and I can honestly say that I had been paying no attention to what was on. Randomly however, a commercial came on that caught my attention. Thank god for PVR, because I was able to rewind and see what it was that turned my head.

It was the Dodge Charger Super Bowl ad that I somehow missed a few weeks ago. This spot, by Wieden & Kennedy Portland (Is it just me or does it seem that a lot of talked-about ads are coming out of this agency?) is a string of "sacrifices" men have to make. It shows a series of 4 different men staring blankly into the camera as the voice of Michael C. Hall of Dexter names off these so called sacrifices, such as "I will get up and walk the dog at 6:30am. I will eat some fruit as part of my breakfast. I will shave. I will clean the sink after I shave. I will be at work by 8am. I will sit through 2 hour meetings. I will say yes when you want me to say yes." ...blahblahblah - woe is me, ending with, "And because I do this, I will drive the car I want to drive." Cue macho shots of car speeding down the highway. "Charger. Man's last stand."

Sure this ad really did catch my attention while a series of others didn't, but I can certainly say that it is not my favorite ad of 2010 and it really doesn't make me want a Charger. Sorry Wieden & Kennedy. I do love a lot of your stuff though.

Procter & Gamble's "To Their Moms"

So when I first saw this spot (by Wieden + Kennedy Portland), I was wondering what the hell it was about. This minute long ad features children throughout different events in the Olympics - press conferences, signing autographs, the athlete march, shaving their faces, getting bandaged up, skiing, figure skating, playing hockey, luging, the list goes on, but by now I think by now you get the point. At first it made me think of that annoying Wonderbread commercial. You know the one - where a bunch of sets of twins dressed up like Olympic athletes taste supposedly healthier bread and say they taste no difference. But this ad isn't annoying... not a bit.

It then ends with "To their moms, they'll always be kids."

My mom decided to switch to Tide. Good job Procter & Gamble, good job.

Coke "Sleepwalker"

The Super Bowl brings in both great and awful commercials every year. This was one of the cuter ones. Wieden and Kennedy Portland's 60 second spot (that's something like $5.2 million) for Coca Cola (mmm!) features a man sleepwalking through the dangerous African savannah as his subconscious pulls him towards the refreshing bottle of Coca Cola (can you tell I'm a fan?). He passes by a leopard, walks into an elephant, just avoids a snake, and pets the head of a hyena. Cute.

Target Holiday 2009 Campaign

Now don't get me wrong, Wieden + Kennedy Portland have got some great ads out there (LOVE The Levi's "Go Forth" campaign - commercial here), but I have to say, I'm not a fan of their Target ads. Their new holiday campaign has two commercials in particular that I'm thinking of. The first features a family on Christmas morning. The mother opens up a big screen tv, and she and the father bicker about how Santa should have realized they were in a recession. The second is a couple at a restaurant exchanging gifts. The girl opens her box to find a necklace, and says that she didn't think they were really "there yet." He says it didn't cost that much.

The point? Buying at Target isn't all that expensive. Effective? Not for me.

Of course, I've always been a big fan of Peterson Milla Hooks' Target ads. I think that their Target commercials were not only extremely visually appealing but also postmodern... and I love postmodern. They'd sell me some cheap clothes and makeup over a bickering family or an awkward couple any day.

NOTE:
The videos have been removed from Youtube, but can be found here:
Family
Couple


And just because I love them so:
Peterson Milla Hooks' Target ad 1
Peterson Milla Hooks' Target ad 2