Who knew men’s body wash and deodorant could create such a buzz?

In case you missed the hype last week, Old Spice attempted to change their image from the dusty bottle in your grandfather’s bathroom and appeal to the younger generation with a hip new advertising campaign.

It began with a TV commercial which first aired during the superbowl.

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They cleverly moved their campaign to the social media space by airing 186 videos of “The man your man could smell like”, directly responding to tweets and comments.

The creative campaign has been discussed in many different blogs and publications including ReadWriteWeb’s look at the making of the videos behind the scenes, Globe&Mail’s look at various parodies, to John Bell’s discussion on how to reproduce the effectiveness of the campaign.

We’d like to highlight what businesses can take away from the “Old Spice” success story.

1. Find out who your “influencers” are and what motivates them. The rise in social media has given businesses opportunities to engage with customers in different and more personal ways. Brainstorm ideas for this engagement with a good understanding of what would resonate with your target market.
2. Innovation and creativity go a long way. The Old Spice creative team saw an opportunity to utilize technology in a creative way and the results were outstanding.  Are there new, fun and innovative ways you could communicate with your customers?  Ask around – your employees may be a good source of ideas for creativity and innovation.
3. Don’t be afraid to take risks. Risks can often yield great results and are the hallmark of great leaders. Just be sure to have a clear understanding of your objectives and how you will measure success.

While we’re all waiting to see the impact of Old Spice sales to Proctor and Gamble’s bottom line, I can tell you from personal experience that I recently noticed an unfamiliar bottle in our medicine cabinet yesterday.  A product of marketing influence from a creative campaign? Perhaps…

Join the conversation: What has your business taken away from the Old Spice campaign?