
Reality: Old Spice sales are actually up 107% in the last month - sferik
http://adweek.blogs.com/adfreak/2010/07/hey-old-spice-haters-sales-are-up-107.html
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proexploit
The percentage change may be questionable based on the objections raised by
pkaler & jacquesm but I still think there's an obvious effect and it may not
be just due to "easily convinced consumers".

In the past, my impression of Old Spice was that it was old fashioned, for
seniors, etc. I'm just one consumer, but if this was a common perception, it
looks like Old Spice identified their weakness and targeted it. If you ask me
today what my impression of Old Spice is, it's quite different. They're a
company willing to make unique commercials and take some risks. They have new
scents are targeted at a younger crowd (I remember seeing After Hours in
stores) and I no longer view the company as "old" Old Spice. Even though my
perception has changed, I don't view it as being convinced or tricked as a
consumer, but a reinterpretation of a company based on their actions. I've
been wrong before.

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anigbrowl
Like you, I'm unsure whether this is confirmation bias or not - but as I hit
40, my impression is that this is the 3rd time I've seen 'Old Spice'
transition from being 'generic present for Dad' to being hip for young men.

I don't know whether it's something to do with the economy (since it's very
affordable compared to designer brands) or whether the firm identified a
generational cycle affecting their sales and made a conscious decision to
build a long-term strategy around it, which Proctor & Gamble have just
perpetuated. I remember buying Old Spice for my Dad, then buying some of their
wares for myself back in the 90s because it amusingly 'retro' or ironic, and a
few years from now I'll be the grateful Dad getting a bottle for Christmas.
During the same period they've switched their logo from an old-fashioned
3-masted sailing ship to a sporty modern yacht...and back again.

Yes, bottle - the after-shave comes in the same container that it did when I
was a boy and thought OS epitomized grown-up man stuff. Back then it was
advertised (on TV at Christmas, and in the cinema all year around) with a 30
second clip of a guy surfing, set to Carl Orff's 'Carmina Burana' [1]. That
seems like cheesy nostalgia now, but back in the 1970s it was the media
equivalent of a hand grenade - overtly masculine, movie-quality eye candy, and
unquestioning self-confidence. Sound familiar? And notice, if you will, that
it's both new and 'classic'. Rather like their marketing strategy :-)

[1] <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6rbZr7YoqK0>

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boredguy8
If you like a commercial, odds are decent that it came from Wieden + Kennedy,
perhaps most famous for creating "Just Do It". Remember: heading into the
'90s, Reebok dominated Nike. The coining of "Just Do It" and the attendant
campaigns were perhaps a major factor in propelling Nike to the forefront of
their market. W+K also made Honda's famous "cog" commercial.

They're also doing some work that may be interesting to the HN crowd over at
<http://www.wk.com/incubator>. If I were a far more brilliant and creative
person, I'd love to just hang out with their directors: they do a consistently
good job in an area that's very hard to get right again and again over time.

~~~
Goosey
It is a little unclear from your post: are you just speculating that since it
is a good commercial it came from W+K, or are you saying that it DID come from
W+K in a roundabout way?

It's really interesting to hear some of their past success, but randomly
attributing any good campaign to them seems a little strange to me. :)

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newmediaclay
This campaign DID come from W+K. So did the "Write the Future" World Cup
campaign.

~~~
philwelch
Ironically, the "write the future" World Cup campaign featured a bunch of
players who, for the most part, played poorly in the World Cup, didn't make it
past the first knockout stage, or in one prominent case (Ronaldinho) weren't
even called up to their country's squad.

Great commercial, though. Their "Take it to the Next Level" from two years ago
was great too.

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pkaler
Don't believe numbers from Nielson, NPD group, Marc, Ad Mob, etc. The only
real numbers are GAAP that come out of the accounting department. This is true
for Old Spice, iPhone vs Android, game consoles, etc.

~~~
jacquesm
That, and any campaign has the built in risk of simply driving a lot of sales
forward, but not to increase the total sales volume by much, and that effect
can only be established a long time after the campaign has run.

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jdminhbg
I didn't follow up on the "sales are down" stories too much, but it did seem
pretty hard to believe that they had data 48 hrs after the campaign ended.

~~~
Elite
The data from the story saying their sales were down was for the 52 weeks
ending in April or May.

And even those numbers were suspect, as there was another retail data source
that said the opposite -- that sales were slightly up..

I never believed for a second that the latest campaign ended up as a LOSS.

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miah_
Proving once again that consumers are easily influenced.

~~~
hugh3
I enjoyed the Old Spice ads so much that I considered going out and buying
some just as a way of saying thanks. Call it a charitable donation to support
the arts.

(I still haven't actually bought any, though, as I still can't get over my
mental image of Old Spice as "really cheap cologne.)

~~~
sliverstorm
Have you considered that maybe it's not that Old Spice is really cheap
cologne, but all the other stuff is stupidly overpriced cologne? The fact that
most of the mainline colognes bear the name of _extravagant_ product lines or
music superstars should be a clue.

As an example to support my argument, I'm in the process of making a classic
cologne that requires some alcohol, (preferably very hard alcohol), some
things from your spice cabinet, a few leaves, and more alcohol. I decided to
grow my own leaves, and thus am currently in the 'grow the tree phase', but
really that's not even necessary.

~~~
mwerty
I want my cologne to be associated with expensive stuff, not economy.

~~~
jasonlotito
I want my cologne to be associated with expensive stuff. I don't want my
cologne to be expensive stuff.

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hugh3
If you use enough cologne that you actually care how much it costs, you're
using too much cologne, and I can probably smell you from here. A decent
bottle might cost you sixty bucks, but it'll last years. Pennies per use.

~~~
jasonlotito
I generally don't use cologne. =) But your point still stands, and is an
interesting way of looking at it.

I guess it's a case of not knowing if their really is a difference between the
expensive stuff and the cheaper stuff.

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kadavy
I wonder what the campaign cost to run in comparison to these increased sales.

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TheAmazingIdiot
Hmm. The guy is tremendous, the commercials are funny. And they're memorable.

And I still dont like aldehyde based scents, and prefer my herbalist to make
my own scents. They cost a bit more than normal, but last years. Guess that's
the kind of people I associate with being a witch and all.

~~~
khafra
What normal do they cost more than? I'm a big fan of Creed's Millisime
Imperial and L'Artisan's Voluer de Roses, but if your herbalist could outdo
those two in their own categories and last longer, I'd pay a bit more.

~~~
TheAmazingIdiot
Considering that I am not an herbalist, and only dabble in some aspects of
oils and creams, I can somewhat answer that.

Last I know she was in the Kansas City area going to Lillies War, part of the
SCA. She travels the world for different botanicals, and buys else what she
cannot retrieve. She extracts these botanicals herself. The last I heard, she
had 6 different amber oils, all dependent on the amber used.

The most impressive thing about this all is her: she can separate each
individual scent from already-done compounds. And she has this cool ability
that if she meets you, she 'knows' the perfect scent for you.

I will see if I can get permission for me to give you her contact information.
Usually after Lillies War, she's swamped.

~~~
hugh3
_And she has this cool ability that if she meets you, she 'knows' the perfect
scent for you._

Yeah, I met a used car dealer like that once.

