In my previous blog, I reviewed how the producers of the Last Exorcism used media site Chatroulette to create a buzz before the movie’s release. While this demonstrates how to effectively incorporate viral video into marketing campaigns to create awareness, a more compelling example is the recent Old Spice campaign that ran this past July.
Proctor & Gamble teamed up with marketing agency Wieden + Kennedy and a smug Isaiah Mustafa to breathe new life into an old brand in a campaign that garnered over 7 million views of their video commercials in just a week. How’d they do it? By igniting a viral video campaign and saturating social media channels for big results at very little cost. What’s pertinent here is that anyone, small businesses included, can use viral video for effective online marketing. The Old Spice campaign can be broken down into the following formula for social media success.
Top 10 Best Practices for Video Marketing
It was a smart move to use video sharing phenomenon YouTube to fuel a viral campaign. YouTube’s reach is massive. Here are some of the staggering stats as of May 2010:
- Over 2 billion views a day
- 24 hours of video uploaded every minute
- The average person spends 15 mins a day on YouTube
- The YouTube player is embedded across tens of millions of websites
- More video is uploaded to YouTube in 60 days than all 3 major US networks created in 60 years
When we consider these stats, and especially this last one, posting your videos to YouTube could eventually be more effective than advertising on TV. Regardless, YouTube is increasingly being regarded as an effective online marketing tool in the marketing mix.
Like most social media sites, YouTube is built on user generated content (UGC). Using social sites to generate content, everyone can be a content creator or a video producer. In their Old Spice campaign, P&G capitalized on this Web 2.0 approach but they took this a step further: not only did the audience interact with the brand experience, they actually participating in the campaign, seeding ideas for more videos and writing copy themselves. This is where agency Wieden broke the social media mold. Let’s take a look at what they did right.
1. Combine Marketing Channels
The campaign kicked off during the Super Bowl in February, when we were introduced to the handsomely pompous and quirky Old Spice Man. A former NFL wide receiver, Mustafa’s looks were meant to attract the ladies, while his bravado would appeal to the men. His character was so-off-the-wall that we wanted more.
Five months later, Wieden acquiesced, sending a message on Old Spice’s Facebook and Twitter pages: “Today could be just like the other 364 days you log into Twitter, or maybe the Old Spice Man shows up @Old Spice.”
The first thing Wieden did right: combine marketing channels to create a viral campaign. The second, they made extensive use of social media, complementing their use of YouTube with Twitter, Facebook, Reddit, blogs and more.
2. Make Extensive Use of Social Media
What made this campaign so radical was that Wieden brought together a team of creatives, tech geeks, social media marketers and writers. Spreading a wide net, the group posted invitations to across social networks inviting people to ask Mustafa questions. Comments were tracked and users who had asked interesting questions and high profile celebrities were responded to directly. Initially, the team produced 87 short YouTube video responses in real time and everyone loved them. Brilliantly, Wieden engaged its audience to help generate content for the campaign.
Exchanges occurred between Mustafa and Ellen DeGeneres, Demi Moore, Christina Applegate, Alysa Milano, George Stephanopoulos, Apolo Ohno, Perez Hilton, tech gadget blog Gizmodo, and Stanley Cup champions Chicago Blackhawks.
One of the most famous responses: to Kevin Rose, the founder of social network Digg, who happened to be sick.
In response to Mustafa’s response, Rose tweeted: “… best get well video EVER from Old Spice.” This went out to Rose’s million-plus Twitter followers, and the campaign went viral. Which brings us to the next key practice: target key influencers.
3 Target Key Influencers (They’ll Tell Two Friends, and So On…)
The Old Spice campaign was infectious, its reach exponential. This is because the marketers focused on key online influencers along with famous people. They targeted people who had huge followings on social networks. The results? An increase in Old Spice Twitter followers by more than 1,000 percent. And on Facebook, almost 600,000 gave the ads a “like it” vote. Finally, on YouTube, the video commercials received more than 7 million views in one week alone. At no cost, the campaign had saturated media channels to vastly improve its reach.
The key with social media marketing is to engage with people that others will find interesting and will follow. This includes bloggers who have considerable following, which will serve to compound your audience and also provide more links to your site to boost your SEO rankings.
4. Engage Your Audience
By responding to people’s questions, this campaign was very personalized and engaging. The creative process rolled into rapid fire release of videos in response to actual dialogue people were having with Mufstafa. P&G engaged their audience to build brand experience and a community of fans.
5. KISS (Keep it Short and Simple)
Another winning element: the Old Spice video format. The spots were interactive and episodic, presenting opportunities for people to share a link to an episode with their friends to feed the viral campaign. The episodes engaged viewers with entertaining content, and consistent, frequent delivery. These are important points because you don’t need to spend $$$ on video production; just maintain consistency of message and delivery.
Keep your message clear and simple. Use humour if it’s appropriate. P&G had to be intimate with their target audience—a large demographic that is largely cynical about marketing fluff. Again, there’s no need for over-the-top production value on your videos; online audiences don’t want spin, they want content that is relevant. And if it’s not relevant, it should at least be entertaining.
6. Humanize Your Brand
Video is a great vehicle for this. Old Spice enriched the brand with a quirky character that resonated with people. They brought the Old Spice Man’s character to life using social media channels and by creating episodes in real time.
7. Show the Product
I like the way it’s discreetly tucked in his towel, snug up against his washboard stomach.
8. Combine Online and Offline
This expands on the first point made above, about using a multi-channel approach. The Old Spice campaign reverberated online and offline, picking up coverage on Fox News, CNet News and in Fortune Magazine. It never culminated in an actual appearance by the Old Spice Man (which is good because it would have demystified his character) but this doesn’t mean you can’t do “on location” meet and greets. Make sure your in-store signage supports your online campaign. Promote your website in any print materials you have. Consider using online or mobile promotions to encourage proximity marketing.
Finally, make sure you set up designated pages on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, etc. where you can build your brand profile. These are great channels that support viral marketing.
9. Tag, Tag and Tag S’more
Tag everything that you post. Don’t be shy about how many keywords you use. Take advantage of YouTube tags and promote your videos through other channels. For example, use StumbleUpon to send videos to your friends, along with Digg and other social sites to drive traffic to your videos.
You’ll find some great tips for optimizing your tags on YouTube here.
10. Experiment to Find What Works
The Old Spice campaign was everything that Web 2.0 stands for – creative, out-of-the-box, user generated and real time. What made this campaign so innovative was its ability to push limits by combining a team of creatives, tech geeks, social media marketers and writers to create reactive ads in real time. P&G took a chance with this format and it paid off.
The great thing about social media is that it’s a fluid medium that allows marketers to track what works and what doesn’t so that they can focus on and refine what works.
And Now for Something Completely Different
When you innovate with social media, you can end up with groundbreaking results.
The Old Spice Man campaign is over, but the media just keeps going viral. On the Old Spice Facebook page, for example, P&G are inviting members to vote for the campaign as Brand Week’s Marketer of the Year Award, which would produce more word of mouth marketing for Old Spice.
Another cool result and an example of the potential social media and UGC: An Old Spice Man voicemail message created by users at Reddit.
How can you get there? Here’s a great blog on how to set yourself up for viral videos on YouTube.
You can also visit YouTube Creator’s Corner.
My next blog in this series discusses how to effectively make Twitter part of your online marketing strategy.
Read Part 5 in the SMM Marketing Series: The Top 10 Ways to Market Using Twitter.
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