The decisions that made it
The Turnaround · Crisis & Reinvention
Old Spice's Viral Hit Sold 180 Videos. Whether It Sold Body Wash Is Another Question.
The Old Spice Man is the canonical proof that you can sell men's products to the women who buy them. But the famous '2x sales' figure bundles three different windows, the 52-week number tells a far calmer story than the peak figures suggest, and a buy-one-get-one coupon was running alongside the campaign.
8 min
The Culture Doctrine · People & Control
Old Spice Didn't Win the Super Bowl. It Won by Refusing to Run.
The famous 2010 ad never aired during the game — it went online three days early, on purpose. The doctrine everyone copies is the wit. The real one is darker: P&G was ready to kill the brand, and that's exactly why the campaign could be so reckless.
8 min
The Repositioning · People & Control
Old Spice Sold Manliness to Men. Its Comeback Sold It to Women.
Everyone remembers Old Spice turning a 'grandpa' brand into a young-man's brand. The real insight was colder: 60% of men's body wash is bought by women — so P&G aimed the joke at the buyer, not the user, and body wash sales doubled by July 2010.
8 min