Old Spice + New Media = Sensational Success

This post first appeared on the Oxstein Labs blog.

Isaiah, the new Old Spice pitch man, makes the men laugh and the ladies swoon.  His commercials generated so much heat that television could not contain him.  Now Isaiah and Old Spice are social media darlings spreading viral smiles across the globe.

Isaiah is now in the pantheon of commercial celebrities like the “What’s the Beef?” Wendy’s Lady and the Burger King King who most recently showed up on chat roulette giving away coupons in a smart social media play. While Isaiah is at his peak, and after the World Cup domination of Twitter has ended, Old Spice rolled out this campaign that everybody’s talking about.

In a brilliant PR move,  Isaiah has spent the last couple of days responding directly to bloggers, journalists, celebrities and random Twitter followers through well crafted, funny and sensual You Tube videos.  He even asked a woman to marry a man who requested that Isaiah deliver the proposal for him. The “Isaiah Talks to You” social media marketing campaign hits high notes few have seen.

The Old Spice You Tube channel is bursting at the seams with entertaining videos that you can’t help sharing with others.Though you won’t have enough time to watch them all at least check out the Alyssa Milano response above (which will surely get Isaiah a date) and the Justine Bateman response.

Rick Bakas gives a good overview of why this social media marketing campaign is so effective with some points that are worth repeating. The big takeaway for anyone interested in beefing up their social media marketing is to connect with influencers who care about your product or service.

Isaiah’s first videos responded to bloggers and journalists that had written about the Old Spice commercials.  They have huge audiences, and like all people, they like to hear their own name.  If Isaiah responded to you in a You Tube video how many people would you tell?

The main ingredients of the Old Spice social media marketing campaign come together to show how online and offline branding can work amazingly well together with good strategy.  What we can all learn from this, besides the fact that sex still sells (especially when the bare chested man speaks directly to the ladies by name), is that social media marketing has hit the mainstream.

Major corporations are building relationships with their audiences in more and more creative ways.  Social media has moved the needle to being a very powerful tool that any brand can use to generate awareness, interest and more sales.  So who is your Isaiah and when are you rolling out your next campaign?