Have you seen those great new commercials for Old Spice? If you haven’t, check out the ‘I’m on an internet’ channel on YouTube before you read this- and get ready for a good laugh.
I love these commercials because they’re funny, smart, memorable, and undeniably Old Spice. There are lots of ads that make you laugh but are so loosely tied to what they’re selling that you’ll remember the ad but not the product behind it a day or so later. Entertaining, perhaps. Good for sales? Probably not.
Old Spice did a several really smart things with this campaign that any business–including a nonprofit–can learn from.
- They didn’t ignore their reputation. Old Spice embraced their reputation as an old-school manly cologne/product, and all of the possible clichés that come with it. Then they turned them on their head–making it current, funny and hip. Your organization’s reputation is key to your brand’s success, and it’s hard to control or shape. Why not admit what’s working and what’s not and use it- rather than fight it?
