On Advertising (On a horse)

You’ve probably seen the recent Old Spice commercials (“I’m on a horse”). They’ve had the internet talking for a while. Brilliantly written, shot, and executed. Winner of the top prize at Cannes. A client’s dream–an ad that has everyone talking.

So what happens next? Create more spots that will keep people talking? Sure. Build on the momentum you’ve created? Of course. How about talking back?

Huh? I thought advertising was more of a one-way street. Finely craft your message over and over again, put it out there, and hope that is resonates.

Once you’ve done the hard part–building a brand that’s identifiable and connects with people–the tools are there to do more. Who’s going to use them?

Earlier today Old Spice took to Twitter and Facebook and started fielding questions that would be answered–very quickly–by Isaiah Mustafa (the guy on the horse). The results that started pouring in were addicting.

Biz Stone, one of the founders of Twitter, mentioned that they were “cracking up watching the hilarious responses” come in, and shortly after, Old Spice guy had this response for Biz:

Just the responses and the use of the social media platforms is impressive on its own, but when you start thinking of what has to go into this, you realize it’s unlike anything you’ve really seen before. It’s not a live blog, or a celebrity chat.  It’s not a bunch of @replies. These are videos that are written, edited, shot, and uploaded. There are writers crafting the copy that Old Spice guy is speaking in almost real time. In a world where most commercials you see are edited, and revised, and approved by clients, and revised again over and over, these were completed in a matter of hours. And it all fits with the tone of the original ad. To say that this was a genius piece of casting would be an absurd understatement.

I mentioned on Twitter earlier that these video responses feel like a dramatic shift in “advertising.” Putting the word in quotes was intentional because I’m not really sure what this is. These responses aren’t ads. I suppose there’s a proper term like “brand extension” or the like for something like this, but this feels new.

Everyone’s trying to use all the same tools: YouTube, Facebook, Twitter. They’ve been right there for the taking, and the results I’ve seen so far have been hit or miss. Strategies are being built, plans are being revised, and tweets are being ghostwritten. Somewhere, someone had the confidence in a group of very talented people to bypass all of this and just react.

The Internet was buzzing about someone that was selling soap today, and that’s impressive.