Old Spice
Featuring Isaiah Mustafa
By the mid-2000s Old Spice was the scent your grandfather wore, sales were sliding, and the brand was basically a punchline. The obvious fix was to quietly modernize the packaging and run some ads of young men doing young-man things. Instead, Procter & Gamble and Wieden+Kennedy chased a research finding most teams would have glanced at and ignored, then built a Super Bowl spot and a wave of personalized video replies around it.
For founders and operators, this case is about a question that lives upstream of any creative: who is actually making the purchase decision, and are you even talking to them. It sharpens how you identify the real decision-maker in your chain, who may not be the person using the product at all. The campaign's mechanics are famous, but the insight underneath them is the part that transfers, and it is the part the case withholds until you work for it.
Frequently asked questions
What was the Old Spice repositioning campaign?
Old Spice was a fading brand seen as the scent your grandfather wore, with sliding sales, until Procter and Gamble and the agency Wieden+Kennedy chased a research finding most teams would have ignored. They built a Super Bowl spot and a wave of personalized video replies around it, reviving the brand in 2009 and 2010.
What insight drove the Old Spice campaign?
The insight was about who actually makes the purchase decision. The research pointed to the real decision-maker in the buying chain, who may not be the person using the product at all, and the campaign was built to talk to that person rather than the obvious user.
Why did the Old Spice campaign work?
It worked because the team identified the real decision-maker and spoke to them directly instead of defaulting to the assumed user. The famous mechanics, the Super Bowl spot and the real-time personalized video replies, got attention, but the underlying buyer insight is what made the creative connect and sell.
What can marketers learn from Old Spice?
The lesson lives upstream of any creative: figure out who is actually making the purchase decision and confirm you are talking to them, since the buyer is often not the user. That insight transfers far beyond the campaign's specific execution. CaseBook turns this into a move you apply to your own company, with an AI coach that reads your answer.