Former NFL player Isaiah Mustafa has made the Old Spice Man a household name, but how many households now own Old Spice products is the question on marketers' minds. It seems the social marketing campaign surrounding "the man your man could smell like" is a viable MVP for Procter & Gamble as the company is seeing major revenue lifts this year.
Earlier this month, officials launched a two-day Old Spice Man viral video campaign on YouTube, Facebook and Twitter where Mustafa directly engaged consumers, answering their queries about the products, manliness and love. Sales reports covering the full period have not yet been released, but AdAge recently relayed data from SymphonIRI showing that sales increased by 106 percent in the four-week period ending June 13 – slightly overlapping with the viral campaign.
Moreover, in the broader 12-week period since Old Spice's introduction of Mustafa to the public via televison spots, Twitter and Facebook, the company has seen consistent growth. Sales in this three-month range have increased by 95 percent over last year and Old Spice gained 2 percent in overall market share.
While officials also attribute some of P&G's sales success to its recently issued coupons, the brand awareness alone generated by Old Spice Man social buzz suggests that other marketers may want to follow in Procter & Gamble's steps with this interactive campaign.
Spokesman Mike Norton told AdAge that P&G has become the No.1 most-viewed sponsored channel of all time on YouTube since launching its campaign, with Mustafa's customized videos gaining more than 100 million followers. The campaign brought Old Spice's Twitter followers to more than 80,000 in number and expanded its Facebook fanbase to 630,000. Moreover, Norton says fan interaction has jumped 800 percent since the personalized videos were released, and traffic to OldSpice.com has increased to 300 percent.
The key to this campaign is how it invites interaction from consumers through myriad social channels. While humor proved the way to deliver product information for Old Spice, marketers should consider building their brands as thought leaders by delivering relevant information and answering consumer queries in a style befitting of their brands through unique social platforms.
Becoming a respected source of information and regularly engaging internet users on their preferred platforms may generate long-term sales for a business; recent data from ExactTarget shows 21 percent of online consumers are open to supporting their go-to news sources as long "as long as the content is consistent with their interests."
