Marketing
Actor Bruce Campbell has appeared as a parody of himself in a series of commercials for the product line. Actor Neil Patrick Harris has appeared in Old Spice TV commercials as a parody of his Doogie Howser, M.D. character. Isaiah Mustafa has received fame from endorsing Old Spice in the commercial The Man Your Man Could Smell Like. Old Spice also sponsored NASCAR racer Tony Stewart for 10 years, ending their sponsorship deal in 2010. Terry Crews has appeared in 16 hour odor blocker commercials. Old Spice also has a sponsorship deal with the NFL, and featured Ray Lewis in a series of commercials in 2010.
Old Spice is well known in the USA for their jingle, a catchy whistle used in just about every Old Spice commercial. Over the years, the whistle has changed from minor to major (and back to minor), shortened, and now the whistle does not have music behind it. In the UK, Australia and South Africa, the brand was advertised with "O Fortuna" from Carmina Burana by Carl Orff.
Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim directed several new Old Spice commercials starring actor Terry Crews.
On July 14, 2010, Old Spice launched the fastest growing online viral video campaign ever, garnering 6.7 million views after 24 hours, ballooning over 23 million views after 36 hours. Old Spice's agency created a bathroom set in Portland, Oregon and had their TV commercial star, Isaiah Mustafa, reply to 186 online comments and questions from websites like Twitter, Facebook, Reddit, Digg and others. The campaign ran for 3 days.
On July 26, 2011, Old Spice launched a new campaign on YouTube featuring a challenge between Isaiah Mustafa and Fabio entitled Mano a Mano in el Baño (hand-to-hand in the bathroom). Mustafa said he wasn't worried, even though Fabio has been "the epitome of the sex symbol as a pitchman." Mustafa emerged as the winner.
In February, 2012, Old Spice launched a new campaign called "Smell is Power", bringing back Terry Crews for the ads.
Read more about this topic: Old Spice