Old Spice conquers the Internets, LOL

by Dave Weigel

Marshall Kirkpatrick's write-up of the strategy behind Old Spice's guerrilla YouTube campaign -- one that comes after they hired video comedy dada-ists Tim and Eric to record even crazier videos -- leaves you with a less grimy feeling than the usual advertorial. Yes, even after you read this disclaimer:

Disclosure: Wieden + Kennedy is an occasional consulting client of the author's. But this story was too cool to abstain from telling just because of that.

Well, I'm not a consulting client of anyone, and I adore the concept -- a handsome, arrogant character answering basically anyone who 1) sends him a question he 2) has time to answer. Simultaneously, the Morlock "I'll click on anything" side of the Internet and the Eloi "I only read Boing Boing on my iPad" side decide that it's funny, and indulge the joke. It churns for a day. It wins a place in meme history. And now that we know the joke, it's over. These concepts are approaching the lifespan of fruit flies while getting us closer and closer to the phony interactivity of Max Headroom. As deodorant concepts go, that's fairly exciting.