Old Spice Goes Viral - The UpStream

Old Spice Goes Viral

posted Saturday Jul 17, 2010 by Scott Ertz

Old Spice Goes Viral

The Internet is an interesting place. You never quite know what is going to happen next in the viral world. The only thing you know is that there will always be something exciting coming around the corner. This week we had the pleasure of watching hundreds of Old Spice commercials made over the course of just a few days.

The "commercials" were filmed in the same style as the TV commercials but with a twist: they were all in response to messages and comments they received online. All produced real-time and posted back to the Interwebs. Assuming no breaks, they produced a commercial every 7 minutes or so.

Hit the break to find out how they did it and to see the spots.

The marketing company Wieden + Kennedy spent time provoking questions and comments on social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter and waited for the responses to come in. As high-profile people or companies and social network stars, such as Alyssa Milano, Digg founder and former G4 star Kevin Rose and Gillette razors sent in questions and comments, Isaiah Mustafa, the "I'm on a horse" guy, would respond to them by name.

How are they doing this? Iain Tate, Global Interactive Creative Director at Wieden, said,

We're looking at who's written those comments, what their influence is and what comments have the most potential for helping us create new content. The social media guys and script writers are collaborating to make that call in real time. We have people shooting and we're editing it as it happens. Then the social media guys are looking at how to get that back out around the web... in real time.

With that said, how do you get through days of constant live recording while keeping the customer happy? Well, Old Spice gave them almost free-will to do what they needed to keep the channel interesting and compelling. Tate explained it:

There is such great trust {between the companies}. But we are being very responsible. They have given us a set of guidelines and if we get close to the edges we contact them... If the message that comes out of this is that you can make TV commercials in 30 minutes, then we're all out of a job. This is something new. We're operating on Internet time but with a level of quality you'd get on a TV slot. That combination was what really got many peoples' attention.

Now, while Old Spice has been successful here, we expect to see other companies give this a try and come across as offensive or annoying. Until then, enjoy all of the videos made by Old Spice.

YouTube no longer supports this embed.
Advertisement

Login to CommentWhat You're Saying

Be the first to comment!

We're live now - Join us!
PLUGHITZ Keyz

Email

Password

Forgot password? Recover here.
Not a member? Register now.
Blog Meets Brand Stats