W+K Team Slaves Away in Portland Crafting Old Spice Video Barrage

Old Spice is fourth most subscribed YouTube "sponsors" channel.

Wieden + Kennedy’s team is holed up in the agency’s Portland office conjuring up video responses involving anything from fresh water fish to virtual chainsaws at a rapid-fire pace. The agency is crafting personalized YouTube video responses to users’ questions featuring the towel-clad Old Spice Guy.

For the past two days, Proctor & Gamble’s Old Spice brand has been the talk of the Twittersphere. The brand’s topless mascot, “the Old Spice Guy,” has been personally answering questions posed by users on Twitter and YouTube via short video updates on the brand’s YouTube channel.

In around 24 hours, Old Spice’s agency, Wieden + Kennedy, has already published over 100 individual video responses, some of which have exceeded 90,000 views. Among those videos are responses to questions from celebrities including Ellen Degeneres, Alyssa Milano, and Justine Bateman, and one user has even used the opportunity to propose to his girlfriend. (She said yes, of course.)

In an e-mail sent to ClickZ News this morning, Maggie Entwhistle, Management Supervisor at Wieden + Kennedy, wrote, “The whole team here in Portland is cranking on getting the responses out – determining comments to respond to, writing the comments, shooting and responding as we speak.”

The agency “is thrilled [the campaign] is such a hit,” she continued.

 

Another recent response today had the Old Spice Guy offering a female fan a freshwater fish he caught “just for” her.

“Old Spice dude responds to my query AND mentions chainsawing. SO GOOD,” wrote Cliff Bleszinski, design director for Epic Games. The response involves “chainsawing someone’s digital self” shirtless.

To help kick start the campaign, W+K made use of Twitter’s promoted trending topics ads, which drove users to a Twitter search for the brand. The agency coupled that with a promoted tweet from the brand’s official @oldspice account, through which the Old Spice guy has been posting links to his latest video replies and retweeting posts from users talking about the brand. This morning, the Old Spice Twitter account was accumulating new followers at a rate of around a thousand an hour.

Meanwhile on YouTube, Old Spice’s account has now amassed a total of over 57 million video views, and is currently the most viewed channel of the day. It’s is also the fourth most subscribed channel of all time in YouTube’s “sponsors” category, according to the video sharing site. Alongside Twitter and YouTube, the brand is also plugging the campaign via its Facebook page, prompting users to “Talk to Old Spice Guy” via an application on its page.

The campaign is scheduled to run until this evening, according to Entwhistle, but given the enormous viral success it’s currently enjoying it seems highly unlikely that will be the last we see of the Old Spice Guy in the social media sphere.

Subscribe to get your daily business insights

Whitepapers

US Mobile Streaming Behavior
Whitepaper | Mobile

US Mobile Streaming Behavior

5y

US Mobile Streaming Behavior

Streaming has become a staple of US media-viewing habits. Streaming video, however, still comes with a variety of pesky frustrations that viewers are ...

View resource
Winning the Data Game: Digital Analytics Tactics for Media Groups
Whitepaper | Analyzing Customer Data

Winning the Data Game: Digital Analytics Tactics for Media Groups

5y

Winning the Data Game: Digital Analytics Tactics f...

Data is the lifeblood of so many companies today. You need more of it, all of which at higher quality, and all the meanwhile being compliant with data...

View resource
Learning to win the talent war: how digital marketing can develop its people
Whitepaper | Digital Marketing

Learning to win the talent war: how digital marketing can develop its peopl...

2y

Learning to win the talent war: how digital market...

This report documents the findings of a Fireside chat held by ClickZ in the first quarter of 2022. It provides expert insight on how companies can ret...

View resource
Engagement To Empowerment - Winning in Today's Experience Economy
Report | Digital Transformation

Engagement To Empowerment - Winning in Today's Experience Economy

1m

Engagement To Empowerment - Winning in Today's Exp...

Customers decide fast, influenced by only 2.5 touchpoints – globally! Make sure your brand shines in those critical moments. Read More...

View resource