More proof creativity sells: Old Spice sales double with latest social media campaign
July 29 2010, 11:09 am | | 15 Comments
More proof for sceptical clients out there on the sales power of creativity, reported by Samuel Axon from Mashable:
You know those YouTube videos with that manly Old Spice guy and his hilarious responses to Twitter fans? Of course you do. So does everybody, it seems, because Old Spice body wash sales have increased 107% in the past month in part thanks to that social media marketing campaign. READ MORE
15 Comments
Easy Tiger, readers of the US rags will be aware that the sales growth also coincided with a massive two for one coupon offer. Other brands with much less creative ads on air but with similar coupon deals also scored similar growth. Brands with no ads but with coupon deals struggled, so in reality all that was proven was that having an ad on tv was better than not having any ad at all.
I find these ads hilarious and the use of social media clever. And I know they have been awarded to the hilt.
I have a simple question, though. What is the idea? What is the brand idea? The actor? A shower? A Horse? One take? Spontaneous, user-requested ads on social media?
I’m not too sure. W+K are clever. These ads are funny. Have they created something that will build the brand into the future? Time will tell, of course. I, for one, though, am not convinced.
Come on you Aussie “Creatives” you know you are all dying to rip off this ad. Who will be the first? You know you want it…go on….
Imagine if they’d connected the brand stuff with the promo stuff. Would’ve sold even more.
After watching the first old spice in this campaign, the brand idea was crystal clear from about the 5th second in:
Old Spice lets you smell like a man. Other body washes and deodorants make you smell like a woman. And women prefer their men to smell like men, not like women.
You can’t see this, 12.47? Really?
12:17 would like to see your sources. Anyone who has been in a supermarket or convenience store knows 2 for 1 is a common offer on products on everything from coke to washing powder. old spice have been doing price promos in the usa for years and this latest result beyond normal for them.
big picture – it was a dying lurky uncle brand now it’s one of the hottest products on campus.
it’s actually a big deal to change deodorants. what you smell like says a lot about you especially if you are a young dude trying to get some. i’m not convinced a price break is enough to gamble with your personal scent. so a 107% bump is pretty great.
12:47 you sound like a mid-level planner who did award school. wieden’s work and ongoing success is never by accident.
So, you’re on a horse? Well I’m on your mum.
Here you go Andrew.
http://adage.com/article?article_id=145096
The Source… another article with hard figures from the client.
http://www.adweek.com/aw/content_display/creative/features/e3i3639278d2189e4efb741cf130fdfc31f?pn=1
why do so many in australia want this campaign to fail? oh i forgot it’s australia.
According to Nielsen data provided by Old Spice, overall sales for Old Spice body-wash products are up 11 percent in the last 12 months; up 27 percent in the last six months; up 55 percent in the last three months; and in the last month, with two new TV spots and the online response videos, up a whopping 107 percent. “Our business is on fire,” Moorhead says. “We’ve seen strong results over all of our portfolio. That is the reward for the great work.” (See also: “OId Spice Campaign Smells Like a Sales Success, Too.”)
Data supplied by consultant Sanford C. Bernstein also show substantial lift for the Red Zone product itself, with sales in the four weeks to July 10 up 29 percent over the level in the four weeks to Feb. 20.
I have to say the Adage article on this is the most interesting. It shows how important point-of-purchase discounting is (and how trackable). And it shows how impossible it is to measure effectiveness of advertising. Who knows what would have happened if not for the great advertising of Old Spice.
This is the problem with most ‘scientific’ analysis of advertising – it is impossible to establish a control – benchmarking response is really the only measure that means anything.
As much as us creatives dream that awarded ads are more effective, just saying and wishing it doesn’t make it so.
And seriously who would believe anything Mashable has to say about SM effectiveness – they are selling this particular snake oil – the same way that CB is selectively reporting on creative driving sales success.
I don’t think anyone wants this to fail, what I think they’re getting at is it’d be damn dangerous to run off to your clients with “more proof” only for them to turn around and say “bullshit.”
I love it (the ads, not the product).
And I think it should suck all awards, fame and glory towards it like it has a tractor beam powered by the Cannes Death Star.
And to help with the next awards entry, they could even claim that Old Spice guy actually revolutionised the whole body-stink category, even driving up sales of rival products.
“Consider the four weeks ended June 13, possibly the best month ever for P&G body wash. Old Spice’s sales were up 106% from the prior-year period, jumping 4.8 share points in a category that grew 17.7%. But sales of Gillette body wash were up a lot more, 277% and 3.9 share points” SOURCE: Symphony IRI
I’m on a graph.
I would have man sex with that man just hoping that some of his man would rub off on this man and I would be more man.
I’m on a blog.
9:45… it sounds like you’re on a lot more than a blog.