Old Spice

Old Spice
Product type Men's grooming products
Owner Procter & Gamble
Country United States
Introduced June 19, 1937 (1937-06-19)
Markets Worldwide
Previous owners Shulton Company
Website www.oldspice.com

Old Spice is an iconic American brand of male grooming products encompassing deodorants and antiperspirants, shampoos, body washes, and soaps. It is manufactured by Procter & Gamble, a multinational corporation based in Cincinnati that is one of the largest consumer-goods companies in the world.

Originally launched as Early American Old Spice by William Lightfoot Schultz's soap and toiletries company, Shulton Inc., in 1937, it was first targeted to women, with the men's product only being released before Christmas at the end of that year.[1] Over time as the men's products found more success it began to focus exclusively on those. Old Spice now sells male grooming products including top-selling antiperspirant/deodorant sticks and body wash. With 75 years as an American icon, Old Spice is the authority on the male grooming experience and has leveraged this heritage to become one of the top-selling anti-perspirant/deodorant stick and body wash brand with guys of all ages.


History

Old Spice products were manufactured by the Shulton Company that was founded in 1934 by William Lightfoot Schultz. Schultz was inspired by his mother’s potpourri, and as a result, the first Old Spice product in 1937 was a woman’s scent called Early American Old Spice. The product was received well, and therefore followed with Old Spice for men in 1938.[2]

The men's products were dominated by shaving soap and aftershave lotion, marketed with a nautical theme. Sailing ships in particular were used for the brand's packaging. The original ships used on the packaging were the Grand Turk and the Friendship. Other ships used on Old Spice packaging include the John Wesley, Salem, Birmingham, Maria Teresa, Propontis, Recovery, Sooloo, Star of the West, Constitution, Java, United States, and Hamilton.

In the 1970s, Old Spice shifted from being a shaving brand to a fragrance brand by introducing signature scents like Old Spice Burley.[3]


In June 1990, Procter & Gamble purchased the Old Spice fragrances, skin care and antiperspirant & deodorant brands from the Shulton Company. Throughout the 2000s, Procter & Gamble introduced many forms of deodorant, body washes, and body sprays in several scents under the Old Spice name.

In early 2008, the original Old Spice scent was repackaged as "Classic Scent", both in the after shave and cologne versions. The white glass bottles gave way to plastic, and the grey stoppers to red. Old Spice Classic shower gel was sold using the slogan "The original. If your grandfather hadn't worn it, you wouldn't exist.” Today, the company is often cited as a success in viral and interactive advertising for the brand’s ability to reposition itself in a highly competitive market.

A stick of Old Spice shaving soap from 1976.

Products

Old Spice's buoy-shaped bottle cologne has been its staple product, available in its original scent as well as newer Pure Sport. In 2006, Old Spice introduced a new fragrance, OS Signature, which won the magazine FHM 's 2006 Grooming Award for Best Sporty Fragrance. Old Spice Red Zone products include a "Scratch-and-sniff" version of the Signature fragrance. Old Spice launched the Hardest Working Collection in 2016 with antiperspirants and body washes, offering the best protection and performance yet from the company.[4]

In 2014, Old Spice expanded its product line-up to men’s hair care with the introduction of shampoos, conditioners and styling products.[5] These products included:

As of 2016, Old Spice has six main lines of grooming products and each line features a variety of products and scents:

Advertising

An advertising campaign featuring Isaiah Mustafa became popular after the first advertisement, titled The Man Your Man Could Smell Like, went viral.[6] Old Spice launched a series of TV commercials in India titled "Mantastic Man" starring supermodel and actor Milind Soman in 2013. The Make a Smellmitment commercials debuted in 2015, promoting Timber (or Swagger) and Bearglove.

An advertising campaign developed by Wieden + Kennedy in 2010 featuring Isaiah Mustafa became popular after the first advertisement, titled The Man Your Man Could Smell Like, went viral.[7][2] Following the success of this campaign, Old Spice introduced Fabio Lanzoni to challenge Isaiah Mustafa for the Old Spice Guy title in an online advertising campaign.

Old Spice Pure Sport High Endurance deodorant.

Building on the success of “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like”, Old Spice released, “The Response Campaign”. The viral campaign was an experiment in real-time branding and over the course of two and a half days, the brand filmed one hundred and eighty-six videos featuring Isaiah Mustafa engaging in conversation with fans and celebrities. The campaign earned over 40 million views after the first week, was viewed more times than President Obama’s 2008 acceptance speech, and lead to Old Spice securing the spot of #1 all time most viewed branded channel on YouTube.

Old Spice has partnered with the NFL and featured football stars including: Ray Lewis, Greg Jennings and Wes Walker in various TV and digital campaigns. In 2012, former NFL player Terry Crews was featured in the brand’s viral hit “Muscle Music”. The interactive video allowed people to make music through different musical instruments rigged to corresponding muscles on Terry’s body.[8]

In 2013, Old Spice launched a series of TV commercials in India titled "Mantastic Man" starring supermodel and actor Milind Soman.

The commercial “Momsong” went viral in 2014 as a part of the brand’s Smellcome to Manhood campaign.[9]

The Make A Smellmitment commercials with Isaiah Mustafa and Terry Crews debuted in 2015, promoting Timber (or Swagger) and Bearglove.

In early 2016, Old Spice introduced a new brand character, the Legendary Man, with two TV commercials “Rocket Car” and “Whale” to launch the Hardest Working Collection.[10] Old Spice also launched a series of digital infomercials with Canadian actor Steven Ogg. Later on in 2016, the brand introduced two additional Old Spice characters, actors Thomas Beaudoin and Alberto Cardenas, in an advertising campaigns for the Red Zone product collection.[11]

Awards

Over the years, Old Spice has been cited for their award-winning advertising that has cumulated in 37 awards as of 2016 at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. Most notably, the brand was awarded two Gold Cannes Lions for Creative Effectiveness for “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like” in 2011 and “Smellcome to Manhood” in 2016.

References

  1. ↑ "How Old Spice Has Always Remained New ~ Fragrance Reviews ~ Fragrantica". Retrieved 2016-08-02.
  2. ↑ "The Brand Your Brand Could Be Like: How Old Spice Went Viral". 2014-12-18. Retrieved 2016-09-09.
  3. ↑ Hirschman, Elizabeth C. (2016-01-22). Branding Masculinity: Tracing the Cultural Foundations of Brand Meaning. Routledge. ISBN 9781317386056.
  4. ↑ "Old Spice Ups Innovation, Performance Ante with New Hardest Working Collection Line of Anti-Perspirant/Deodorants and Body Wash | Business Wire". www.businesswire.com. Retrieved 2016-09-09.
  5. ↑ "Old Spice Expands Lineup into Men's Hair Care, Now Has Guys Covered from Head to Toe | P&G News | Events, Multimedia, Public Relations". news.pg.com. Retrieved 2016-09-09.
  6. ↑ D'Zurilla, Christie (August 6, 2015). "Terry Crews, Isaiah Mustafa are 'the "Expendables" of advertising' in new Old Spice spots". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 19 August 2015.
  7. ↑ "Old Spice Response Campaign Was More Popular Than Obama". www.adweek.com. Retrieved 2016-09-09.
  8. ↑ "Terry Crews Makes Muscle Music With Old Spice (And Now It's Your Turn)". 2012-08-28. Retrieved 2016-09-09.
  9. ↑ Times, Los Angeles. "Old Spice's 'Momsong' commercial is another viral hit". latimes.com. Retrieved 2016-09-09.
  10. ↑ "Old Spice | The Hardest Working Collection | Wieden+Kennedy". www.wk.com. Retrieved 2016-09-09.
  11. ↑ "2 New Old Spice Guys Kick Off Hilariously Weird 'Smell 'Em Who's Boss' Campaign". Retrieved 2016-09-09.
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