I knew when Old Spice dropped these ads, they would fail. I knew they would suck. The first issue is, the brand is Old Spice . The most obvious angle to me would be to frame LL Cool J the old school rap star as an old school artist who uses old school/traditional deodorant. The theme should have been on keeping tradition...Instead they tried to make something old (the positioning of the brand) mix with something new ("swagger") a new school term. They should have either went straight old school, or went with the new rapper like Souljah Boy or Plies (Lord knows he could use some deodorant) and pushed for a completely youth angle. They weakly mixed old and new and came up empty. I dont even know if they sell "swagger" anymore. Not sure I care either. For the record, I dont know ONE person who liked the ads, or bought Old Spice because of these ads.
Anyway here it is:
-Beyond Urban Branding
P.S. I think using names like "swagger", "hyphy" (and i helped promote hyphy juice energy drink) etc., is usually a bad idea. They are too short term and by the time the campaign is launched, theres a new word out and your company looks like they are trying too hard. Here is an example of what happens when urban slang goes wrong on CNN. Man I remember when this aired, it was nails on a chalkboard. And I LIKE her normally. Another mainstream FAIL to have an urban discussion. Not even TJ Holmes could save this piece.
Anyway here it is:
-Beyond Urban Branding
P.S. I think using names like "swagger", "hyphy" (and i helped promote hyphy juice energy drink) etc., is usually a bad idea. They are too short term and by the time the campaign is launched, theres a new word out and your company looks like they are trying too hard. Here is an example of what happens when urban slang goes wrong on CNN. Man I remember when this aired, it was nails on a chalkboard. And I LIKE her normally. Another mainstream FAIL to have an urban discussion. Not even TJ Holmes could save this piece.
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