The internet is a scary place. It's kind of like an inner city playground. It's awesome to play with all the swings and toys during the day with your friends but, you really don't want to be there after dark or wonder too far off.
That being said the current generation that's rising up is being exposed more and more to ridiculous stuff and is becoming increasingly difficult to impress and impact consumers. However, some companies are embracing the digital age and using its lower overhead and open creation format to really help build their brand. One company who is really embracing this and growing is Old Spice.
While most people know Old Spice from their witty television commercials they actually did an entire digital marketing campaign in which they aired the campaign from start to finish entirely on youtube, tumblr, twitter, o and released an album on bandcamp.com.
The campaign centered entirely around the Old Spice Wolfdog who took over Old Spice as their Director of Marketing. The wolf explains to its wolfings that it will be instituting things like "computers" and "tennis balls" in the office to help promote productivity. The campaign was an instant hit and immediately developed an online cult following.
Ok, so this campaign was cutesy, tongue and cheek and had all the makings of a solid internet campaign but how did it really do? Well according to Mediabistro.com the 7 day campaign garnered over 4,000,000 impressions for Old Spice's new line of products. Not too shabby by internet standards.
Also you have to remember that aside from simple banner ads and production costs the campaign was incredibly low budget to execute compared too say a 7 day television spot. The campaign was also timely and allowed Old Spice to respond directly to comments and questions almost instantaneously. While the campaign was solid and its execution nearly flawless there's a lot of room for improvement and I'm curious to see what the "Love my smelf" brand comes up with next.
This was a really interesting post. I know that Old Spice has always had great ideas when it comes to viral marketing. I personally never saw or had even heard of the campaign mentioned above until this post. I researched it and enjoyed the campaign. As someone who has been involved in Public Relations and some experience in Marketing I think it shows a true connection between brand and audience when you receive that type of response. The thing that has always amazed me with Old Spice is that it is a men's product, but they gear their marketing to women since that is who usually purchases the items. Great post, thanks for bringing this awesome campaign to my attention.
ReplyDelete