The Gift That Keeps On Giving...

Social media has arrived.  It's achieved critical mass.  Old Spice spokesman and now bonafide celebrity, Isaiah Mustafa has helped reinvigorate a brand that has languished in the male grooming products category for years.  With Mustafa's contribution, in addition to the brilliant ad agency behind this campaign -- Wieden + Kennedy, this Proctor & Gamble brand has seen an increase of sales to the tune of 107 percent.  Quite the feat.

Or is it?

Per AdAge, with SymphonyIRI, "(Old Spice) has been consistently gaining market share, even though that's only been enough to erase a deficit for the brand built up earlier.  In the 52 weeks ended June 13, it had a roughly flat share in a category that grew a robust 8.6 percent." 

Further, "Some other men's brands also have been making substantial share gains of late, including P&G sibling Gillette and Beierdorf's Nivea. And the thing Old Spice, Gillette and Nivea have in common isn't Mr. Mustafa, but rather multiple national drops of high-value coupons.  They included buy-one, get-one-free offers from both P&G brands and up to $4 off a single bottle of Nivea Men from Beiersdorf, reflecting unprecedented levels of promotional intensity in the category."

All these stats are a bit hard to swallow -- especially given all the ads we've seen, and yes, enjoyed.  We were engaged.  In fact Mustafa and company shot a series of 186 clips -- a two-day marathon of YouTube personalized videos in answer to Tweets from Old Spice's popular Twitter feed.  The videos generated more than 34 million aggregate views and a billion PR impression in a week, according to P&G.  In a single week, views of the personalized ads surpassed the nearly 29 million viral video views of Mr. Mustafa's four TV ads since February.

I could go on, but bottom line is P&G has won with a carefully crafted campaign, some say gift, that's created awareness, watercooler worthiness and just plain old enjoyment.  We have been and will continue to talk about Old Spice as long as they keep up the good work.  Some of us even buy the products.

And that's really what it's all about, right?

Isaiah Mustafa Reveals Secrets about Old Spice Ads...

Isaiah Mustafa does it again with another brilliant Old Spice Ad.  This time he reveals a few secrets behind the magic...  Here's a photo from Essence.com --

http://bit.ly/b9wujx

Can't wait for Mustafa to get his own series, or be cast as the lead in some big budget action adventure franchise.  He's the next "it" guy.

Isaiah's Back...

I can't help it.  This guy just... does it for me.  Here's a bit of an update.  Someone at NBC got wise and signed Isaiah Mustafa of the famed Old Spice commercials to a talent development deal late Spring 2010.  Finally!  Someone sees what I see -- a talented actor who deserves his own TV show.

Here's the latest Old Spice ad --

HILARIOUS!  I'm happy for him and hope the opportunities keep coming!