Old Spice, Viral advertisement

Lessons from a Super Successful Viral Video Campaign – Old Spice commercial

In this article I discuss the development of the now infamous Old Spice commercial and show just why the video became so viral.

Almost everyone has seen the latest Old Spice commercial which has gone mega viral. It stars Isaiah Mustafa a former NFL player who is now often referred to as the ‘Old Spice man’. The ad itself is called ‘The man your man could smell like’ and created by an agency called Weiden + Kennedy.

The advertisment aired in February 2010 and on on July 14th 2010, Isaiah returned in 181 Youtube videos answering questions that the viewers had sent in. This response video marketing netted the company over 6 million views within 48 hours and Isaiah become a household name.

But, did the agency really do anything brilliant or is there some other explanation as to why the advert is so popular?

Here are some key factors to consider:

• The original ‘Old Spice’ advert that started this series of ‘smug’ and ‘over the top’ style promotion aired in early 2007, some three years earlier.

• Since then there have been a number of videos (possible 2 or 3 a year), that build on the same style, using different actors.

So, this concept is nothing new to the firm or the customer. They have been following it for three years and the YouTube comments suggest there is a fan base for their style of advertising. Old Spice already had a cult following, which would make the process of going viral, a little easier.

• The advert recieved some great mentioned in media and even won a film award

International recognition obviously is a major boost to any commercial, but what it proved again is that the style of advertising was working and that it was standing out from the crown.

The next step in the campaign is genius. They took the winning formula and added the extra step of creating 181 video responses to questions viewers asked via social media sites such as Twitter. Now, it must be remembered that the writing for these ads was great and amusing to watch, but the video were kept very simple (Isaiah wrapped at the waist with a towel, standing in a bathroom).

Here are perhaps other factors which helped:

• Social media only campaign, meaning no/lower advertising costs and the ability to produce lots more videos

• 181 people who have their question answers and are likely catalysts to send the video to their friends (the start of being viral)

• Good build up with questions being asked on social media sites and an anticipation of what is to come from excited followers.

Of course, the advertisements themselves were great, but I do not believe that was enough to create the viral effect. What we have here is a story of a video developing over a number of year, improving the formula and adding viewers along the way. They kept at it until they reached the ‘tipping point’, the magic point where something goes from being good, to becoming astronomically good because of a sudden increase in attention.

They worked hard for this over a number of years, and their success is a result of all the good work that was put in before them. The ‘smug’ and ‘over the top’ style only worked because viewers knew to expect that from this series of commercials. It was just a few magical touches which helped push this advert into orbit, but all due to the hard-work before it.

The lesson for anyone else hoping to make a viral video is clearly seen by the ‘Old Spice’ example. Build a concept that you are consistant with, build on it and increase your fan base over time. Lastly, keep adding magic touches and one day, you also will reach the ‘tipping point’

1) You listen to too many people:

This is my pet hate.

1. Take action, don’t try to gather mentors, they are not trophies and all have different ways of doing things so will leave you confused
2. Learn as much as you can from one mentor before moving on to the next.

Like people on here who gather tons and tons of advice, but never take any action.

2) You do not have a mentor:

I speak about this all the time to my clients

1. Of course you can do it without a mentor it may just take you 3 or 4 times as long

3) You focus on too many things at once:

1. Try the rule of three (I wrote about it on my blog).  Ask yourself, what are the three most important aspects of my business. What three things do my customers like best about my product and what three things are my priority today.
2. Think in three’s, don’t over complicate

4) You never finish things:

This is like how i used to be, your mind is in many places at once and you end up starting on something new before you finish something off.

1. Learn to accept that something finished is better then 100 half finished projects
2. Don’t aim for perfection, just finish it. Once finished improve it until its great. (concept of continuous improvement, relieves the pressure and makes finishing something fun)

5) You don’t listen to the advice given:

You make excuses as to why it will not work for you without trying hard enough at it.

1. If you trust the person, trust the advice… try it
2. If you want the lifestyle the advisor has, understand they may know something you do not know or understand yet.

6) You don’t really believe you can be successful:

By not believing you can give up easily and make excuses why something will not work without even trying it. You make it more difficult for yourself so you don’t have to risk anything and can give up easily and go back to your normal routine life like all your friends. Being different from your friends and being successful is alien to you.

1. Understand most people are not successful on their first few attempts, and that’s why it’s called a learning curve.
2. Hang out or surround yourself with people who are successful. There is a reason why this is widely known amongst the successful.
3. Believe it is possible or just give up, your wasting your time and energy.

7) You’re just too lazy:

The sooner you learn that luck comes to those who make an effort to find it, the quicker you will start looking for it and stumble upon it.

1. Do something, you learn by doing.

8.) You cannot learn to prioritise:

Goes hand in hand with number 3. You spend most of your time on secondary tasks when the most important stuff gets left behind.

1. Remember the rule of three. Ask ‘What are the three most important things I should do today’
2. Make a list of all tasks, number them, 1 = urgent, 2 = should do, 3 = would be good to do.
3. Do 1′s first, then 2′s forget 3′s until you have done all 1 and 2.
4. If more 1′s and 2′s get added to the list, accept they are more urgent and happily wipe them off.
5. Put all you tasks on ‘post it’ notes, then feel the satisfaction of screwing them up and throwing them away when the job is done.

9) You do not have anyone to hold you accountable…

The best athletes do it, miss training they have a forfeit.

1. Find an accountability partner and help yourself become accountable (preferably your mentor)

I can bet, because this title is negative, it will draw more response …  change your thinking and habits for success to find you.

Feel free to add any points I have missed to make it an ultimate resource for newbies.

Lastly if you came here via Digg and like what what I write please add me (Venturetothetop) Im in the comments for this article. I Digg one of my articles every Tuesday, so if I’m on your friend list I will be easy to spot.

‘First – Just be good enough’

Too many people strive to be perfect right away, which, although an admirable ambition, often paralyses and slows down the entire process.

I found a perfect example of this concerning Pixar and the work that went into the making of Toy Story 3.

I provide the link to the article below, but here are the important points:

• A concept is formed and completed using staff voices and comic book style animation (still screens) – They dont attempt to animate it straight away, they dummy model it so that the concept is at least complete and it is easy to see all the relavent parts.
• There is a secondary stage of production where more detail is added to each scene and animation begins
• Each of these scenes is analysed and improved to make it better and better (one scene can take months)
• A deadline is set after which no further changes are made -  quote from the source:

“I could keep on making it better. We’re just forced to release it.”

Here is how it relates to your new project (whether a website or ebook)

• Any first draft should outline the entire concept using simple hand drawing and keywords
• When you are happy with the direction of the concept and are happy it fits together add more detail (better pictures, more wording, more detail)
• Obtain feedback and put even more gloss to your product to take it the extra mile from being just good enough to being even better and standing out from the crowd.
• Set a deadline, work hard towards it and then release it to the world. Just the same way Pixar have to stop trying to perfect everything forever…

I will write a detailed article soon as to how I concepted one of my newest projects based on my principle of ‘First – just be good enough’…

(Click here for the link to the Pixar article)

For some reason new business owners spend a great deal of time on planning activities. Yes, this is of course good, it’s never a good idea to enter into any business venture without doing your research first. However, the point I am about to make is that you only need to know enough to get started, then you should perfect things and expand as you go along. Why? Because otherwise you get caught in a trap of  ‘Information Overload’ which ends up slowing you down.

Take this example of a client of mine:

Aim – To start an Internet based business to sell her bags which are hand made by herself.

Experience – She has sold them previously at events and fairs and they sell well.

Reason for wanting an Internet based business:  Sales decline in Winter months due to lack of events to attend, so an Internet based business will allow her to continue selling all year round.

So, you see that is a great business that has existing sales, and just needs to be converted online. After the initial discussion we didn’t meet for two months, so when we finally did, I asked her for an update.

Current situation: Still no Internet site, but have spent over $1000 educating herself on Internet marketing and is currently studying Up-selling (the art of selling additional products to a customer once they are ready to checkout on your online store)

My reply:    OK… but have you at least sorted which software you are using and which hosting service you will use?

Her: No, I will do that once I know how the store will work..

Me: ARRRHHHHHH !

Do you see what happened here? She forgot to focus on what was really important and got lost in the detail.

YOU DO NOT NEED TO WORRY ABOUT UPSELLING UNTIL YOU HAVE CUSTOMERS!

So obtaining customer should be you No.1 priority. For that to happen, you need a simple sales page, hosting and a way to take payments.  But at the beginning – KEEP IT SIMPLE.

I tried to explain, that by wasting two months without an online store she was possible losing customers. And regardless of whether she was learning ‘upselling’ or not, that was definitely money she was losing.

Folks, I cannot stress this enough. Make sure whatever you are doing is ‘Just Good enough’ first and then work on perfecting it. According to Pareto’s law it is only 20% of what we do that is important, so don’t waste your time trying to perfect something when there are more important things to focus on.

Want to know how this story ends?

We went back to her home office and took the following immediate action:

1. Found a good hosting company (the same one I use and recommend) – 10 minutes work
2. Brought a good domain name and transferred the DNS to point to the right host – 10 minutes work
3. Searched for a free website template, made some simply changes, added 3 pictures of her product and some contact information.  – 30 minutes
4. Decided it was easier at this stage to take payment by cheques until she decided on a merchant account or paypal.
5. Waited for the site to go live (have to wait for DNS – so out of our control)

We put less then one hours work into the site and it was up and running. Yes, it was not the prettiest site I had seen but it was good enough and it did the core job. Of course, she was going to work on improving it, but at least now she had started, and was able to see what needed to be done.

You want to know what happened? She went to a event that weekend where she was selling her bags, and she added a leaflet in every bag telling people about her website. When she had got home, she had received 2 emails from people, who had purchased from her that day. They had shown the bag to some friends and they wanted one too, but they didn’t know how to get one, so when they saw the leaflet they tried the website!

You see, if we focus on what core functions are important we can get started and make something good enough to work. Do not get stuck in a spiral of ‘Information Overload’  just get started with what is important.