The custom YouTube video @oldspice wrote just for me!
So Old Spice paid to be the “sponsored trending topic” on Twitter yesterday, which coincided with their launch of a great new social media campaign. If you haven’t seen it, this campaign involves Old Spice monitoring the @oldspice account replies, writing some witty reply copy, and having their beloved spokesmodel Isiah Mustafa act it out for us. Here’s a good overview on Mashable. He got people with massive numbers of followers to tweet about it to their minions, and obviously this went viral really fast.
My friend George G. Smith Jr. sent a tweet to @oldspice on Tuesday. And I replied. And then George’s girlfriend Alana replied. And we tweeted back and forth about it:
George: Hey @oldspice, got any advice on how to impress my girlfriend who wishes that she could have a guy who smells like you?
Me: @GeorgeGSmithJr is “find a new boyfriend” an option?
Alana: @joshmishell that’s pretty harsh! Luckily for this one, she’s on twitter
cc: @georgegsmithjr
Me: @amedmunds hehe – well, i figured you’d see it, and i just wanted to give mr. g smith jr a little crap. don’t really dump him.
Alana: @joshmishell thankfully I don’t take everything on twitter seriously
cc: @georgegsmithjr
Me: @amedmunds i try not to take @georgegsmithjr too seriously, either.
Alana: George where’s the witty backlash? RT @joshmishell: @amedmunds i try not to take @georgegsmithjr too seriously, either.
George: @joshmishell I bet you would take me seriously if @oldspice made a video for me! #helpmeoldspiceguyyourmyonlyhope
Me: @GeorgeGSmithJr we’ll just have to wait and see. p.s.:this is not the @oldspice you are looking for.
Last night the Old Spice dude replied to us via YouTube video. As of writing this, they’ve posted 203 videos so far. Very cool to be one of the lucky ones! This video has more than 117,000 195,000 370,000 750,000 (!) views already. (if video error happens below, click here to watch it at YouTube).
It’s a pretty awesome thing for them to do. Even though I did point out that, as a Jew, we’re contractually obligated to God to say that we don’t care about bacon (even though it’s mighty tasty).
Canned replies are not a good idea in Social Media, and these short and sweet one-on-one “conversations” are the perfect recipe for getting people to conversate about their brand.
But the question begs to be asked: The next time these people go to Safeway to buy anti-smell stuff, are they going to choose Old Spice? Obviously that’s what they’re banking on, and I bet it will work.
Here’s what George had to say about it:
Any time you can combine Bacon, my ego, and hilarious jokes into one video – you obviously are doing something right…..
All in all this is a brilliant campaign, especially because it really has nothing to do with one of the most boring (but oft-used) things in the world – soap. But it’s got the entire social media community talking about them. The only thing I question is that they paid Twitter to be the sponsored trending topic because it definitely would have trended that way anyway. But it guaranteed that they’d be on that list.
I also love that these custom spots are directly connected to their other television spots. It’s important to have an integrated campaign that works across all their communication channels.
Will I buy Old Spice next time? Maybe, I’m not sure. But I can definitely tell you that I won’t pass right by them next time I need some body wash or deodorant. I can’t wait to see more stuff like this from big brands.














