It’s incredibly difficult to run a successful marketing campaign in the first place, but running a second act, or continuation of the first campaign, is nearly impossible. You can integrate your campaign by adding social media elements, hoping to increase the advertisement’s lifespan and reach; however such elements will open you up to sophomore criticism, where Fans will make or break your attempt to extending the first campaign.
Old Spice’s Round One
Everyone knows the Old Spice Guy and how amazingly successful that marketing campaign was for the brand. Awareness grew, Fans increased, and Old Spice advocates were everywhere. The brand won numerous advertising awards for their “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like” campaign. We’ve spoken about it many times here on the Quaintise blog.
The campaign broke into a whole new realm of integrated marketing by producing hundreds of Youtube videos where the Old Spice Guy actually names bloggers and Fans who commented on the campaign, increasing brand trust and equity.
It was a hugely successful campaign, and yet over a short period of time it was time for Old Spice’s marketing team to decide what to do next. The new problem became how to engage fans as effectively in 2011 as they had in 2010.
Old Spice’s Round Two
The answer came when the marketing team decided not to abandon this successful campaign to move on to another, it was to create a round two. Round two involved a grander scale of engagement, and another Old Spice Guy. Fabio returned to the screen to shoot hundreds of Youtube shorts and commercials in a battle to, once again, change integrated marketing forever.
Round two depended a great deal on Fan comments, as it had in 2010, where fans literally became a part of the brand’s story. In 2010, Old Spice seamlessly weaved fans into their overall storyline, incorporating fans into many Youtube videos and ultimately into the brand story. In 2011, with two Old Spice Guys, they remarkably were able to achieve that same effect.
According to Mashable, it was actually a fan that made the suggestion regarding how the story of this campaign would end, and Old Spice took heed. Round two was just as successful, it not more successful, than round one. Old Spice netted more than 22 million YOutube views in only one week, and held the top two YOutube Channel spots for an entire month. Round two attracted more than 53,000 Youtube comments and over 68,000 new Facebook fans.
Maintaining Your Brand Story
If we’ve said it once, we’ve said it a billion times; remain authentic and true to your brand message and story. If you are even going to attempt a ‘round two’ in marketing to expand on the success of round one, you absolutely must have a strong brand presence, a strong brand message, an authentic story, and complete commitment to that story.
Old Spice was able to create success with round two because they built such great brand equity with their storyline in round one, and were able to stick to that story throughout the entire round two campaign. Not only were they able to stick the story, there were also able to engage fans in integrate them into the story as well.