We All Loved That Old Spice Campaign, But What Next?

My fellow InSites bloggers Crystal Borde and Chris Connelly have given the campaign kudos in previous posts (see here and here, respectively) and there have been countless articles written about its success. Yes, we all laughed out loud and loved it. So, how much of a success was it?

According to this blog post on AdFreak Old Spice agency Wieden + Kennedy provided these stats on the success of this integrated effort:

• The YouTube/Twitter social media response campaign was “the fastest-growing and most popular interactive campaign in history.”
• More people watched its videos in 24 hours than those who watched Obama’s presidential victory speech. (Which most of us can agree is kinda sad.)
• Total video views reached 40 million in a week.
• Campaign impressions: 1.4 billion.
• Since the campaign launched, Old Spice Bodywash sales are up 27 percent; in the last three months up. 55 percent; and in the last month up 107 percent.

View Wieden + Kennedy’s video presentation on their campaign below.

That’s incredibly impressive, but now what?

In typical PR firm fashion, my colleagues and I were discussing successful viral campaigns recently and the Old Spice campaign came up. We talked about how successful and funny the campaign was, but where does it go from here? Most companies and individuals can only dream about creating a great viral campaign, but what will Old Spice do now that it has a whole new segment of people paying attention to it?

Part of a strong integrated media strategy is knowing what the next step is if you succeed – especially in the fast-moving world of social media.  Gaining attention is only half the battle.  For example, looking at the Old Spice Twitter feed since the campaign ended reveals that messages have fallen off and direct engagement with followers has disappeared.  Now that Old Spice has a captive and engaged audience, can they keep it and use it to continue driving sales?  Only time will tell.