The Old Spice Guy has demonstrated how social media can almost instantly create a mega-hit. In case you’ve missed him, Old Spice Guy Isaiah Mustafa burst on the advertising scene in February and the ads he shot –featuring his great abs – not only became a hit, but went viral on YouTube with more than 55 million views to date.
Then, starting this week, Old Spice Guy started producing personalized videos in real time to folks who had commented upon him online. He sent these out via Twitter and has created a sensation. The 87 short comedic YouTube videos made Tuesday plus the 74 or so made Wednesday have now been viewed more than 4 million times and counting, according to Read Write Web.
He’s working incredibly fast, about 11 hours a day while standing topless in a shower setting. The campaign is being led by a team of creative types, tech geeks, marketers and writers gathered in Portland, Oregon by marketing agency Wieden + Kennedy.
The group seeded various social networks with an invitation to ask questions of Mustafa’s character. The responses were tracked and users who contributed interesting questions and/or were high-profile people on social networks are being responded to directly and by name in short, funny YouTube videos. The group has made videos in response to Digg founder Kevin Rose, former TV star Alyssa Milano, Perez Hilton and many more people, famous and not.
Whether the videos will lead to more Old Spice products sold is unknown, but as Mashable says, “it definitely creates a brand identity that people will be interested and excited to engage with.”
