Friday, January 26, 2007
Can One Commercial Change a Brand?
Ok, how about two? Through Bruce Campbell’s experience commerical (the quiz is pretty good too) and the one below, Old Spice is suddenly making a bit of a splash. I’ve had the Campbell one sent to me over and over (and I still like it when it comes on tv, which is pretty amazing) and the other is a strong follow-up (assuming it came out shortly after the experience one).
Could a few more turn Old Spice cool? Make it a younger brand? Apparently that’s a popular question and the goal of Wieden & Kennedy, the agency behind the spots.
The NY Times has some more details, including a description of one of the print ads:
To underscore authenticity for Old Spice, the campaign gives a prominent role to the brand’s original trappings and trade dress, including the cursive script logo, the clipper ship from the fragrance bottles and the vintage whistled commercial jingle. But they are treated playfully rather than reverentially, in a manner Ms. Taylor described as an “inside-the-joke feeling.”
For example, a print ad for Old Spice fragrance, featuring a 1968 photograph of the actress Faye Dunaway sprawled out before a roaring fire, declares, “If your grandfather hadn’t worn it, you wouldn’t exist.”