Background

Despite not being a market leader, Filipinos know and like Old Spice thanks to the absurdist American ads starring Isaiah Mustafa. But when Old Spice Philippines previously tried to replicate those ads, they were met with a lukewarm response. How could the brand make the Old Spice humor work for the Philippines?

Describe the creative idea

These days, a hero doesn’t just defy death. He actually dies. And then comes back from the dead. John Snow didn’t stay cold long. Nor Deadpool, nor Batman, nor many of the heroes Thanos vaporized. Heroes now are immortal. How else can there be a sequel? The Old Spice Man has always been the man you wish your man was. An ultimate man. So to be the Filipino Old Spice man for our time, he had to be unkillable. And he had to have a smell that was just as immortal: The Smell that Never Dies. So, the character 00Spice was born. A Pinoy super spy with a super power: he never dies. And the scent of his Old Spice Refresh Body Spray survives every ninja attack and every meteor crash right along with him.

Describe the strategy

Filipino culture is a culture obsessed with scents and smells. When Filipinos describe someone's smell, there’s an accompanying judgement of that person. For example, instead of saying someone smells fresh, they'll say someone smells newly bathed (amoy bagong ligo). Instead of saying someone doesn't smell good, they'll that someone smells like they've been sweating under the sun too long (amoy araw, amoy pawis). Filipinos feel pressured to always smell good all the time - especially men. Given this cultural context and Old Spice's brand of absurdity, the team saw an opportunity to dramatize just how long lasting Old Spice’s scent through the story of an undying hero.

Describe the execution

Old Spice launched the campaign with The Smell that Never Dies, a short film with a sexy signature song and an often shirtless hero inspired by James Bond’s opening credits sequences. The hero has several deadly encounters which he survives thanks to Old Spice. The film was posted on YouTube and Facebook. Two 15-second cutdowns were also released for TV, Facebook and YouTube. Two 6 seconders, one of the product rising out of a snake’s mouth, and one of the product surviving the apocalypse, were release on YouTube and Facebook. The campaign was also supported on Facebook with a promo asking followers to share what other dangers they think The Smell that Never Dies can survive.

Describe the outcome

The video hit over 13 million views on YouTube. It was named one of the top 3 commercials of the year by industry trade press (adobomagazine.com). Consumer sites like (spin.ph) also went into detailed analysis of its plot. https://www.spin.ph/lifestyle/a-guide-to-smelling-good-until-the-end-of-time-by-the-filipino-old-spice-guy-adv-con