Creative solutions we like

Look at your man, now look at me!

Posted By: Simon WhiteNovember 9th, 2011

Anyone over the age of twenty will remember aftershave with names like Old Spice, Insignia and Brute. Like many aftershave brands their adverts used masculinity as a sales pitch, even today the high-end aftershave companies try to show us what it means to be a man. Many people think these adverts are just as ridiculous today as the old style old spice adverts back in the eighties.

As Old Spice has a bit of a reputation for being a dad’s aftershave I thought the creatives behind the new advert – Wieden + Kennedy (W + K) – did the only thing they could… laugh at themselves. The new advert makes a mockery of the traditional and often ridiculous way aftershave is marketed. They are not the first company to take his approach. Skoda relaunched with an advert highlighting the general opinion that their brand of motorcar is unreliable, and, closer to home, lynx uses humour and the ‘ordinary man’ to get it’s message across.

Since the advert aired W + K and Old Spice have won a truck load of awards including nine D&AD. I was delighted to hear this because the advert is different and in my opinion brave. W + K and Old Spice deserve all their plaudits on this one because truly great adverts get noticed and talked about. By those standards this advert has ticked all the boxes.

The star of the advert is now a star on Youtube answering fans twitter comments and questions. This is a significant and interesting point because Old Spice had prepared for this in advance and it was part of the brief given to W + K.

See my favorite response below

Tags: Advertising, TV
Posted in Creative