DIGITAL BRILLIANCE HISTORY LESSON
Now I know what it must have felt like to watch the lunar landing! Watching the twitterverse buzz over the @oldspice’s video replies to tweets and comments from across the web made me feel like I was witnessing (in real-time) an epic paradigm shift and birth of the benchmark for which all ad campaigns will be measured for years to come.
The first seismic shift happened in 1999 during Super Bowl XXXIII with the Victoria’s Secret’s spot promoting their Webcast fashion show. Then in 2001, BMW created a stir with their high quality film shorts featuring world-class directors and in the process building mindshare on the desktop with their branded video player. Even still, these campaigns were more about branding and less about action (and even less about interaction). In 2004 Burger King’s Subservient Chicken was the first campaign to successfully deploy a viral tactic that was launched from just a handful of the ad agency’s staff to grow to 5 million visits in the first 5 days. Dove’s 2006 Campaign for Real Beauty that was elegantly executed and honest and it too created some buzz.
But these campaigns were all BT (before twitter).
Since Twitter meteoric rise, marketers and advertisers have been trying to figure out how to leverage it’s potential. In a world where ad agency’s traditional leadership relies on mass-media to move the needle, this brilliant Wieden+Kennedy Old Spice campaign shook that suits out of their office chairs to face the nemesis – the web and more pointedly social media! Nothing demonstrates this more than comparing AXE’s efforts to Old Spice’s. Let’s face it, this campaign has left AXE looking like your father’s Oldsmobile.
ALMOST PERFECT
In spite of its brilliance I still wanted more!
Mobile
Where’s my mobile app? We want more!! I’d be curious to see how many queries for “Old Spice” were done in the iTunes store! How about an Augmented Reality app the scans a QR tag on either a POP display or Print ad that launches a Old Spice guy video related to the printed piece.
PR
I want to know who @Jsbeals is! I want meet his girlfriend! This is HISTORY!!! Get the mainstream media to write about the power of social media with the angle of interviewing some of the real-people to whom you replied.
POP
Where’s the POP support for the campaign??!!! Gerard makes a great point in his blog post!
Location Based Engagement
How about FourSquare/Gowalla? When I checked-in at Target on FourSquare I was hoping to see an offer to drive my purchase.
Build a subscriber list, get my name and home address and send me something amazing in the mail!
NOT SO PERFECT
It looks as if AXE left the Social Media strategy to the PR firm Edlemen. Which brings up another debate – who should OWN social media? PR, Client, Ad Agency? If nothing else, this campaign has made a compelling case for the ad agency to lead. I believe the answer should be dictated by the client’s situation, resources, and passion for the channel. If you are BP, uh yeah, PR should be manning the social media ship. But certainly in this circumstance, the payoff is HUGE when the ad agency leads. No matter who’s leading, the big lesson is that for a campaign to reach its potential digital/social media must be on equal footing with TV. Amazing things can happen if you do, and if you don’t, well… look for yourself.
OLD SPICE VS. AXE STRATEGY SHOOTOUT
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| Launch Date | ~ Sept 2009 | ~ Jan 2010 |
| Brand Voice | Spokesperson: Old Spice Guy (Actor, Isaiah Mustafa)
Old Spice did a great job of humanizing the brand in a way that plays well to social media. You know your talking to a brand, but you feel like the brand is your fiend. There’s the critical ingredient of brand authenticity perfectly mixed with entertainment that you feel compelled to root for Old Spice. |
Spokesperson: Jennie Averbrook (Edlemena PR Employee)
AXE isn’t driving the voice posts because posts are sparse. And when they appear, they tend to be very promotionally driven. Occasionally, there will be replies to conversations, sometimes even defending the brand. They do a good job of putting a human face in the conversation, but it almost seems like they looked around and said – “Oh, you have a facebook profile? Ok, you are in charge of our client’s brand on Facebook”. |
| Features | Talk to OS Guy
Leave comments to Old Spice in hopes of getting a video message. Hillarious responses. Store Buy Merch including “I’m on a horse” tying back to the TV campaign. I’d like to see the merch go viral too. Perhaps do a deal with Threadless.com – unleash the masses!
Downloads Yawn. #fail where’s OS Guy? Interns Seems like leftovers from previous campaign. Pointless and diluted the OS Guy experience. #fail It would have been cool if OS guy called out the interns and mobilized them to support this campaign. Pole Poll Made me smile but this too seems like an artifact from a previous campaign, diluting the experience for me. Photos User generated content complete with buxom blonde (is no place safe….jeez). It would have played better if we were guided with what upload and rewarded with video message. Videos Behind the scenes and user generated videos complete w/ spammers. Again, it would be great to see focus on what is being uploaded. Polls Witty questions – 20,683 people voted!! |
AXE W.A.D.D
Facebook app that allows you to report “boring” friends because they suffer from “Women’s Attention Deficit Disorder”. To date 11,777 “WADDS” tagged. This is on-brand as the least-common-denominator humor that would attrac their target audience.
Axe Rise Test Link to their microsite where you answer questions on a web cam that that records me without my permission, asks me inocuous questions that are recorded only to be used to be edited into a canned video with sexual innueandos. Ha ha got me. WHERE IS MY DELETE BUTTON!??? I don’t want this on the internet. I’m calling my atty to see if he can find the delete button. #EPICFAIL AXD Indie Run Info on their promotion encouraging to donate clothes on the spot then run in their underwear. Seems fun and charitable. Will it move product? AXE Hair Action Oh, boy….what can I say….surround sound experience of sexy girl running their fingers through your imaginary hair breaking into an imaginary catfightfighting over you with no video . I know I’m getting old, but do they think even horny college (or younger) kids think this is funny much less want to share this?! #fail JenniewithAXE Personalizing Axe through the employee of the PR firm. Um..Jennie seems sweet and all, but…what? See “Spokesperson” notes. Videos AXE produced videos and TV spots (love them!) and 5 fan generated videos. Polls 2 polls with a total of 20K responses! |
| Fans/Likes | 595,056 People Like This | 274,503 People Like This |
| Fan Engagement | Each wll post by OS guy garners hundreds, sometimes thousands of “like” and hundreds of replies. Amazing level of engagement. | Jennie post interesting finds and does a good job of keeping a conversation going with a couple of cross-promotional posts, but most of the comments are fan driven quips and comments about the product and how much they LOVE it (a lot of 1-liners) or their experience at AXE events |
| Comment Highlights |
Old Spice: Well friends, like all great things this too must end. (508 replies!)
Think about it people…these are people saying, “please keep trying to sell me Old Spice!” Amazing eh? |
AXE : Amy K here, your AXE Hair Spokestylist! For Giveaway Wednesday on Twitter, I want to see ur favorite summer ‘do. Follow @AXE and tweet a pic for a chance to win an AXE hair gift basket! So, what’s your favorite summer style? –Amy K (22 Replies)
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| Sentiment | Obviously extremely positive sentiment that is tying back to purchase intent. Comments include:
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There’s a good deal of positive sentiment in the posts. Mostly 1 line proclamations of their adoration for the brand. This is good, be it would be great to start a conversation as Old Spice has done.
Dylan Andrew: ughh u should smell my gym locker room these idiot kids spray it EVERYWHERE and it stinks! Reply Thread:
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| Launch Date | January 2006 | June 2005 |
| Gist | Packed with OS Guy’s video responses to comments from across the web as well TV spots | Uploaded AXE TV spots. Of course the spots are fantastically clever and witty. There are scenes from promotional events and even hidden camera show featuring Olivia Munn (call me <wink>). |
| Stats | Channel Views: 7,258,771
Total Upload Views: 72,505,746 Subscribers: 104,612 Channel comments: 16,901 #3 – Most Subscribed (All Time) – Sponsors #1 – Most Viewed (Today) #1 – Most Viewed (Today) – Sponsors #1 – Most Viewed (This Week) – Sponsors #7 – Most Viewed (This Month) #1 – Most Viewed (This Month) – Sponsors #2 – Most Viewed (All Time) – Sponsors |
Channel Views: 3,670,200
Total Upload Views: 4,274,193 Subscribers: 4,418 #91 – Most Subscribed (All Time) – Sponsors |
| Highest Rated Comments of Most Viewed |
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| What the??!! | @Jsbeals: @OldSpice Can U Ask my girlfriend to marry me? Her name is Angela A. Hutt-Chamberlin #Johannes S. #Beals
Reply (hint – she said yes!!!) Just think about it…a BRAND proposed to a guy’s girlfriend on YouTube via TWITTER!! |
Smell my finger? Ah…<blush>…a girl asking a girl to smell her finger??! Contrast with a marriage proposal and you get the gist. |
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| Followers | 84,253 (3,307 at start of the campaign) Rank: #2,172 | 1,688 Rank: #71,645 |
| KLOUT Score | 96 | 25 |
| Top Retweets | RT @OldSpice: Well friends, like all great things this too must end. Watch Video>>
Possible Reach: 147,266 RT @OldSpice: hello twitterers, @twitter I haven’t had any luck taming whales. Watch Video >> Possible reach: 120,210 |
RT @AXE: Well @mrwright8413 both #undierun were amazing, the students were great. In terms of clothes collected, ASU is winning with 530 …
Possible reach: 4,508 RT @likeaffabieber: Tapi lo tetep keren seeel hahhahha byk klii cewe yg ska ama lu RT @axe Possible Reach: 4,366 |
| Sentiment and Passion | Positive Sentiment: 11:1
Passion: 28% |
Positive Sentiment: 2:1
Passion: 17% |
| What the??!! | First ever Brand to Brand Twitter conversation (?) @Starbucks to @oldspice You look cold. Need some coffee? Reply to Tweet >> @Gillette to @oldspcie – shameless plug, but at least they adimitted it!
Brilliant to engage celebrities such as @Alyssa_Milano who retweet and even responded with a charitable challenge to which Old Spice donated $100,000!!! Brilliant to engage influential bloggers and media outlets! Ashton Kutcher was the first @oldspice tweet I saw referencing @kevinrose. Of course both retweeted. Reach from those 3 tweets alone = 7,419,952 at a CPM of $0.00!!!! |
Stream seems to be about promoting product events, or personal insights. This was particularly intriguing conversation:
@codyks: @AXE I use Body wash/shampoo/Deodorant/ and a spray (@tamajama really digs the spray, Dark Temptaion) Reply Thread:
Customer engagement, swag, or bribe? What do you think? Did he follow before or after the offer? |
I guess I will have to go out and buy my husband Old Spice… until now that was the smell of my father, now it has a whole new image DEEPER DIVE
Why Axe Bet on Consumers for Global Twist Launch
The Old Spice Social Media Campaign by the Numbers
AXE Ads BlogBehind the Work: Old Spice Responses
Axe vs. Old Spice: Whose Media Plan Came Up Smelling Best?
NYT: Old Spice Argues That Real Men Smell Good
The Team Who Made Old Spice Smell Good Again Reveals What’s Behind Mustafa’s Towel
QR+RETAIL=Killer App or App Killer?
Is anyone old enough to remember Merry-Go-Round clothing store? If you are old enough to remember, you’ll probably chuckle when I say it was my first job right after I quit Burger King at the tender age of 16. I LOVED working in retail. You should have seen my skinny tie and bandanna collection! I went on to manage Benetton stores all through college (this is the 80′s folks – United Colors of Benetton, remember?), then later worked for The Limited stores. I STILL LOVE RETAIL! In fact, I can outlast my tween daughters on a day at the mall!
I also LOVE digital. So a couple of years ago, when I first heard about Augmented Reality(AR) apps and saw QR Codes and glyphs in action, my first thought went straight to how they can be used in a retail environment. What is commonplace today in Japan is shaping the vision of the future in the U.S. with great videos showing how the analogue and digital worlds can be integrated into a unified user experience. Great right? Well not exactly.
As I was shopping with my daughters today when we stumbled into The Gap. Much to my surprise I see a QR Code on a display (only 1 in the entire store). I of course was curious and got out my favorite QR reader on my iPhone, NeoReader (try it, it will work from this web page). First of all, the display was on a table that was about 2 feet high. I debated internally if I wanted to get on a knee in the middle of The Gap to scan, but in the end, my curiosity got the best of me. It took a second to register the QR tag on my screen but I finally got the happy “ding” and my browser launched! My excitement was completely squashed when I saw this…
NooooOOoooo…. what a let down and major #fail. So we’re not quite here yet are we? But it did start my wheels turning? What are the killer apps for QR codes in a retail experience?
KILLER APPS
Engage me
It’s easy to go with a simple link to a product page. But what are you going to ask me to do next? Give me social tools to share my adoration for this product. Let me save this in a favorites list that I can refer to later or email to my Aunt Helen as a hint for my birthday. Think and engage!
QR Codes Clicks = Purchase Intent
Don’t use QR codes to show them 5 angles of the product they can hold in their hand. Give them details that will help inform their decision and feel smart about their purchase.
Listen to Your Customer
This is your chance! Your customer clicked on the QR code indicating interest. 100 clicks on product A, but only sold 1 today? Why?? They are holding their mobile device and in the perfect scenario to provide you feedback. Ask one question – “do you like this? yes/no”. Feeling lucky? Ask “why/why not?”! Feed this data back to your buyers. Just imagine the data you could capture if this was a branded app where you know the demographic profile of the respondent! WOW this can be powerful.
Make it Easy
It was interesting to me that I had to think before I scanned! Me, the uber geek was contemplating NOT scanning a QR code. I have to admit, I felt like a dork scanning a QR code and it was only worse that I had to kneel down to do it. Place codes at eye level for signage.
Commit to the QR
Train the staff on what the QR tags are. Give them talking points at two levels for the novice and the expert. This becomes part of your brand experience. You NEVER want to have your associate say “I don’t know” even if it’s NOT a sku.
Cross-Media Optimize the Campaign
Use the QR Code to launch to the video of the TV spot that features the product their holding in their hands and vice versa. Use QR codes on print ads with a call to action the rewards the customer with a promotional offer then list nearby stores based on their location. And if you REALLY want to get crazy think about linking location based systems (LBS) such as Foursquare, Gowalla and even now Facebook Places. Why not have them checkin via QR code?
The QR Opt-in
Email marketing is not dead! Ask for their email address and reward them with an offer that they can redeem in the store at that moment! What do you think the redemption rate of that coupon would be? What was your cost of acquisition and the lifetime ROI of that one simple click??
Beyond the Sign
Think of new places to put QR codes. Put them on the price tag with product specific information. Heck, put them on the LABEL. When that tween goes home after a day at the mall, they invite their friends over for an impromptu fashion show! Empower their friends to scan the tag then snap photos of their friend wearing that item to share. Just imagine them posting their new outfits on DailyBooth.com holding the price tag w/ the QR code. Their friends can instantly scan and engage the exact product with the nearest store location.
Educate Me
Most people will walk by and never notice the squiggly squares. Talk up the codes! Tell your customers about QR codes and why they will enhance their shopping experience. GONE is the day of “can I help you find something?”!
Inform Me
When I was in the dressing room today, I needed a different size shirt. How amazing would it be if I could scan the QR code on the price tag to see if the RIGHT size was even in stock? Make the QR code a customer service tool, NOT just a marketing tool.
APP KILLERS
Admittedly, QR Codes can be borderline gimmicky. Think gimmick, you’ll get gimmick. But on the other hand if you can think of ways that ENHANCE the brand experience in a very simple way you can bridge the analogue world with the digital to build loyalty, engage, spark dialogue and spread word of mouth.
What do you think? Are there any great application of QR codes you can share?