Swan Dive!

AdAge weighed in here with some sales info: http://adage.com/article?article_id=145096

Excepts:

The question is: How much Old Spice body wash has he sold? And the answer is a bit of a mystery.

The bottom line: Mr. Mustafa and Wieden & Kennedy are clearly selling some body wash, but they may not be responsible for the bulk of Old Spice’s sales gain this year.

How much of Old Spice’s recent gains — of that 106% bump measured by Symphony IRI in June, for example — come from Mr. Mustafa’s ads and how much from the coupons? “It’s impossible to know,” said P&G spokesman Mike Norton.

Nor is it clear how much Old Spice’s 106% gain will disappear from P&G’s top line when coupon redemptions, which don’t figure into scanner data but do come off the company’s top line when financial results are reported next month, figure in.

You asked what we thought was the best direction for a brand in troubled economic times (entertainment or direct sales messages), and I think Old Spice nailed it with the entertainment factor. The body wash category has grown 51% in 5 years (largely due to campaigns like Old Spice Man), and is now worth over three quarters of a billion dollars—that’s worth the investment.

It’s too early to measure the full results of Old Spice Man, and I’m sure when they do, the results will be very impressive. You don’t get 100 million views on YouTube and not attain a lift in brand affinity and sales. At least not with creative that is simply that good. As the CMO I would be thrilled with the fact that my campaign is rewriting the record book for sponsored online videos. Talk about rock star results.

It’s worth noting that Old Spice isn’t suffering from “short term sales declines.” In the wake of negative sales reports, Weiden + Kennedy is reporting that the campaign is doing a lot better than speculated. They report a 107 percent increase in sales on body wash, although one product in their line up, Red Zone After Hours was declining: http://bit.ly/aVidpK

All too often I see great creative get dismissed because people simply can’t believe that entertainment can induce sales. As a creative director I’ve spent years researching that very topic, in great detail, as I want to ensure that I’m always presenting my clients with the best value for our services. Time and time again innovative viral campaigns like Old Spice Man or Dove Evolution (Ogilvy and Mather, Toronto) or Subservient Chicken (CP+B, Miami), blow away the competition in terms of ROI because the consumer embraces it and takes it to heights that retail sales messages would never achieve.

It used to be that award-winning creative was slammed for not embracing digital. I think it’s very refreshing to see traditional ad shops do such a wonderful job of working on the social media landscape. These are exciting times for marketers on both the creative and analytical sides.

Keeping the campaign going in the face of (maybe) short terms sales declines is only a business decision: do you have the financial stamina to keep the media buy going in the face of sales declines (or flat liner results) with the promise of an eventual uptick or do you bail out?

This decision isn’t unlike a decision to dump a stock you buy and which declines shortly after: do you believe it will come back or don’t you.

Second, thanks for sharing my thoughts with your audience. Surprising to me that more agencies don’t see/take the opportunity that digital provides — namely a chance to get back into the driver seat with strategy and marketing guidance. I hope more jump on the bandwagon and decide it is time to catch up on all of the changes in digital, mobile and social to regain our rightful seat as the guide of our client’s marketing investments.

Congrats again.
@TomMartin
Founder
Converse Digital