But is Mustafa moving product?

7/29/10

Isaiah Mustafa, Old Spice pitchman extraordinaire, is winning advertising awards, breaking YouTube records, and spawning massive amounts of viral videos, but is he selling any Old Spice?

Yes he is. The brand began to reverse share losses as soon as the campaign began airing in February, and sales were up 95% from mid-March to mid-June. They’re up 106% from mid-May to mid-June, which suggests that results are accelerating in sync with the campaign. It will be interesting to see what the sales figures look like for July, since 100 million people viewed the personalized videos in the first six days that they aired. (Neff, 2010)

While some have suggested that success lies at least partially with an aggressive couponing campaign that has been running simultaneously with the effort, I disagree. This campaign began with a brilliant consumer insight, i.e., many men use whatever soap is in the shower. This led in turn to the decision to target women, to convince them to buy the product for their men, and thanks to a very cheeky bit of creative (a tip of the hat to Wieden & Kennedy) a legend is born. I for one, can’t wait to see how things turn out. Stay tuned!

Neff, J. (2010, July 26). How Much Old Spice Body Wash Has the Old Spice Guy Sold? adage.com. Retrieved July 28, 2010, from http://adage.com/article?article_id=145096