I’m sure Tyler Durden would say it better, but I’m also fairly sure he could easily see that cracking the viral code means you have to first acknowledge there is no viral code. So look at your creative, now look at Old Spice, now back to your creative…back to Old Spice. This is currently the creative everyone wants to smell like.
The problem is few marketers have the (cough) moxie, never mind the market penetration, to attempt creative like this. It’s hilarious and it’s risky, but that’s why it’s genius. For the creative lot it falls into the “I wish I made that” category and for the consumer and pop-culture junkie alike it falls into the “OMG, have you seen this spot?!” category. Which means it’s very spreadable content. People want to be the first to share and there’s a ton of equity in that for Old Spice.
Not only that. It’s a proof of concept for everything to follow. Which made the campaign almost easy to scale. Again, I’m assuming there were some savvy folks pushing that agenda and the client was picking up what they were putting down, all of which seems to be
the case.
Is there an element of luck involved? Sure. But do you have any idea how hard it is to accomplish what they did in the first “I’m on a horse” spot, in camera? Most reading this probably don’t. It’s not easy, and it’s not cheap. I think it was something like 3 days on location to nail it. How about the casting? Can you imagine anyone else but Isaiah Mustafa playing this role? Think he was everyone’s first choice? Maybe? We’ll probably never know.
Sure the assignment may have been “viral” or included a “viral video” but these guys came up with an over the top idea and got it produced. It’s really well done and they have The Emmy to prove it! Did it turn into a wildly popular spreadable campaign Old Spice continues to capitalize on? Yes.
My point is there is a LOT that goes into creating any successful campaign, viral or otherwise, especially one as ambitious as this. These W+K creative’s have no doubt written their ticket to whatever they want in the agency world. How’d they do it? A big idea. A really strong idea, well executed and then scaled based on the success.
The moral of the story: Think big. Don’t think small because the aspect ration is. If this is the creative you want your brand to smell like, get ready to take some serious risks. They did.
I’m on a horse.
The problem is few marketers have the (cough) moxie, never mind the market penetration, to attempt creative like this. It’s hilarious and it’s risky, but that’s why it’s genius. For the creative lot it falls into the “I wish I made that” category and for the consumer and pop-culture junkie alike it falls into the “OMG, have you seen this spot?!” category. Which means it’s very spreadable content. People want to be the first to share and there’s a ton of equity in that for Old Spice.
Not only that. It’s a proof of concept for everything to follow. Which made the campaign almost easy to scale. Again, I’m assuming there were some savvy folks pushing that agenda and the client was picking up what they were putting down, all of which seems to be
the case.
Is there an element of luck involved? Sure. But do you have any idea how hard it is to accomplish what they did in the first “I’m on a horse” spot, in camera? Most reading this probably don’t. It’s not easy, and it’s not cheap. I think it was something like 3 days on location to nail it. How about the casting? Can you imagine anyone else but Isaiah Mustafa playing this role? Think he was everyone’s first choice? Maybe? We’ll probably never know.
Sure the assignment may have been “viral” or included a “viral video” but these guys came up with an over the top idea and got it produced. It’s really well done and they have The Emmy to prove it! Did it turn into a wildly popular spreadable campaign Old Spice continues to capitalize on? Yes.
My point is there is a LOT that goes into creating any successful campaign, viral or otherwise, especially one as ambitious as this. These W+K creative’s have no doubt written their ticket to whatever they want in the agency world. How’d they do it? A big idea. A really strong idea, well executed and then scaled based on the success.
The moral of the story: Think big. Don’t think small because the aspect ration is. If this is the creative you want your brand to smell like, get ready to take some serious risks. They did.
I’m on a horse.
Powered by Compendium