Old Spice : Initial Research

Old Spice: Initial Research 

‘Old Spice’ was founded in 1934 by an American man named William Lightfoot Schultz. Schultz was supposedly inspired by his mother's ‘potpourri’, which is a name given to a mixture of dried petals and spices placed in a bowl to perfume a room- similarly to our modern-day ‘air fresheners’. This is what lead on to the invention of the ‘Old Spice’ cosmetic and fragrance line, starting out with soap products alongside his son. When Old Spice was introduced, William Lightfoot Schultz was interested in maintaining a colonial framework for those products and chose a 17^th and 18^th century nautical theme for Old Spice. Thus, he chose to represent this through sailing ships. Through continuous use and advertising, the various ships have become a valuable trademark identifying the Old Spice product for men. The original ships used on the packaging were the Grand Turk and the Friendship (both generic and notable). Other similar ships used on Old Spice packaging include the Wesley, Salem, Birmingham and Hamilton. The products were manufactured by an American company titled ‘Shulton’ which was also owned by Schultz, where its first product was formed called ‘Early American Old Spice for women’ in 1937, which then closely followed by ‘Old Spice for men’ in 1938. The original Early American Old Spice range consisted of soap, toilet water, perfume, bath salts, dusting powder and a vanity box (known as a combination package). Although this range only went on sale for a few months in 1937, sales grossed $77,000 in that year with most high-end shops selling out in only short periods of time. This made it clear to Schultz that his ‘Old Spice’ label was a success. In 1938, Shulton added men’s toiletries: shaving mug, after-shave lotion, cologne, talcum, and soap, to the Old Spice line, but using a different scent from the original. Total sales for Old Spice in 1938 (men’s and women’s) was $770,000 out of total company sales of $982,000. In 1939, this rose to $3,100,00. The ‘Old Spice for men’ line would go on to become Shulton’s largest selling line, this is what lead on to men becoming ‘Old Spice’s’ main target demographic. With numerous additions and complete new ranges such as Man Power (1962), Old Spice Lime (1965) and Old Spice Burley (1967) Old Spice had grew into a multi-million business. By 1970, Shulton's annual sales were $130 million. New products needed to be developed on a much larger scale, using much larger financial capital. Due to this, Shulton was then to be sold to ‘American Cyanamid’ to maintain its momentum. However, 20 years later ‘Procter & Gamble’ purchased the ‘Old Spice’ products from the Shulton Company in June 1990. The logo was changed from the 17^th and 18^th century trademarked naval ships to a yacht. In 2001 Procter and Gamble licensed development and production of Old Spice in USA, Canada, and Puerto Rico to Universal Razor Industries. This lead to the packaging being changed yet again in 2008. There was no formula change during the time of business changed however the original Old Spice scent was repackaged as "Classic Scent". Since purchasing the Old Spice line, they have continued to provide many of the original Old Spice products as well as introducing several new products that have enhanced the Old Spice line.

Old Spice’s most successful advertising Campaign: “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like”

·       On February the 7th, 2010, Old Spice released one of the most popular viral advertising campaigns in the United States. It involved a series of short videos, which all starred Isaiah Mustafa- an American actor and former NFL practice squad wide receiver. In each of the short clips, Mustafa can be seen wrapped in a towel, whilst the rest of his body is bare.

·       The advertisement is aimed at both women and men, with the intention to promise women that he is "The man your man could smell like”- as titled. It was discovered that women were responsible for more than 50% of body wash purchases, involving purchases for their partners. By using a ‘hunky’ man, the aim was to grab women’s attention and either lead them to purchase Old Spice for their partner, or lead their partner to buy the product in a bid to be like Isaiah Mustafa.

·       It was proposed by an American Advertising agency called Wieden and Kennedy. The videos themselves were directed by Tom Kuntz. The campaign won multiple awards involving: Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Commercial, Clio Award for Television/Cinema/Digital.

·       Wieden & Kennedy quickly followed up with an interactive digital campaign capitalising on the popularity of the "Old Spice Guy" in which he responded to personal video messages from his fans. Its success went beyond with 5.9 million YouTube views on the first day alone. More people viewed the Isaiah Mustafa "response" video on the first day than watched President Obama’s 2008 election-night acceptance speech.

·       As a result of the campaign, by the end of 2010, Old Spice had become the leading body wash brand for US men with sales up 125%. Within a week of the advert’s launch, Twitter followers of Old Spice increased by 2,700% and the number of Facebook fans rose by nine times.