Old Spice: The Man Your Man Could Smell Like

Old Spice had an image problem: it was your grandfather's brand, smelling of mothballs and 1953. Wieden+Kennedy created a Super Bowl spot with Isaiah Mustafa — a former NFL practice-squad wide receiver with the deadpan delivery of a seasoned comedian — that opened with the line: 'Hello, ladies. Look at your man. Now back to me.' It was absurdist, supremely confident, and funny in a way that felt effortless. It went viral immediately. Then the team went further — in a move that had no precedent. In 48 hours, a team of eight people set up a live production studio in the same bathroom from the commercial and filmed 186 personalized video responses: to celebrities (Alyssa Milano, Demi Moore, Ellen DeGeneres), to Reddit threads, to individual Twitter users, to a man asking Mustafa to propose on his behalf. The actual proposal response worked — the girlfriend said yes, live on camera, and the footage went everywhere.

The creative team spotted something most brands miss: women purchase the majority of men's grooming products. So they wrote a campaign technically directed at women that men would also find genuinely funny. Both audiences had a reason to share it. The personalized response campaign then turned a one-way broadcast into a live, participatory event — making every fan feel like the campaign was talking to them specifically.

107% increase in body wash sales in the months following launch. 2,700% increase in Twitter following in 24 hours. 30M views in the first week. Old Spice became the #1 male body wash brand within six months — from nowhere. Named Ad of the Decade by multiple industry bodies.