The Old Spice Manly Man program is a great example of viral engagement marketing. What I really like, and what you'll see as you go through the video, is how fast it went viral. In a matter of days it became a massive program with deep impact into their target market. Also was an interesting way that they did two-way relationship building, even though it was an anonymous relationship. Using Facebook and Twitter, they had people send in questions for the Manly Man, and then they shot late night responses on video and ran them the next day. So you could actually give them a question and they respond, even though they didn't know exactly who you were. The other thing I like about this program is, it was multi-media. It used every level in the social pyramid to impact their target market. What happened was Old Spice came out with a new line of body washes and they found it they went to males they would likely ignore the product. So instead they went to females with boyfriends and husbands that they want to smell good. Essentially their target market was to women and that became the base for the Old Spice Manly Man program. And so what they did is they started with the Manly Man commercial. Now it's important to understand the first thing they did is they release it on YouTube and Vimeo. They didn't put it on TV. Instead they let it start going viral and then they went and put it on television. And really because it has all the characteristics of being an awesome concept, it was something that was really relevant and it was very, very unique in its time and, as a result, it went viral. So, here's the original campaign. >> Hello ladies. Look at your man. Now back to me. Now back at your man. Now back to me. Sadly, he isn't me. But if he stopped using lady scented body wash and switched to Old Spice, he could smell like he's me. Look down, back up. Where are you? You're on a boat with the man your man could smell like. What's in your hand? Back at me, I have it. It's an oyster with two tickets to that thing you love. Look again, the tickets are now diamonds. Anything is possible when your man smells like Old Spice and not a Ladies, I'm on a horse. [MUSIC] >> The interesting thing is, while they did talk about the scent of the product, notice they didn't try to sell the product. They sold the experience, and they sold to women, and made it a lot of fun to watch. And one of the things you see, whether you're looking at Cadbury Chocolates or this example, cuz he didn't give you a lot of information about the product but it was the experience which was the thing and having engagement. What they did is, they then went multimedia. If you go out even today the Old Spice and the Manly Man are on Facebook. They have all their own Twitter sites. They did the video responses. He has his own blog to answer questions. He has his own website. And they're even on Wikipedia. And the key is they have all sorts of interesting things that are fun to do that don't really sell the product, but they sell the image of the product and they sell Old Spice. So they're really positioning the brand using the Manly Man and even today, years later, it is still a staple that they're using to sell products, and these are very, very popular sites. I'd encourage you to go on social and look for them in Twitter, look for them on Facebook, and so forth, to see what they're doing because it is a great example of how to engage from marketing over a period of time to a high value target market. One of the things they did, as we talked about earlier, is they shot answers to questions that people gave them on Twitter and Facebook. So I want to show you this video where they are actually doing that, and you can see the fun that they have. The other thing that's important is at the end they are going to talk about the impact that this program made as it went viral. And the key is notice there are a lot of social metrics. They also told about the fact that they sold a lot of product but they were also doing in store promotions and other sorts of things to promote it in addition to the social. But the social had a huge impact on positioning the product, as well as a huge impact in terms of driving people to the store to purchase it. So here's how they strengthened the relationship, even though it was an anonymous relationship on the social sites. >> By July of 2010, the Old Spice guy was a cultural phenomenon. On the heels of this overwhelming success, a encore performance was a no brainer. But Old Spice wanted something more engaging. How could the man your man could smell like have a conversation with his fans on a more intimate, personal level? >> [SOUND] You tell me. >> And so the response campaign was born. In two and a half days, a team of creative digital strategists, developers, and producers filmed 186 video responses to fans and celebrities. Polled from questions on Twitter, Facebook, Reddit, and more. These personalized real-time messages were then posted on YouTube, but the campaign also extended to Twitter, oldspice.com, and Facebook. Sparking a sensation that would become the fastest growing and most popular interactive campaign in history. >> Alyssa Milano tweets. Tori asked on Facebook. Dear Huffington Post. Oh hello, dangerous prairie wolf. >> No I can't go hunting with you today, I'm talking to the internet. >> My body is 98% muscle, and muscles can't get sick. Underwater dental hygenistry, I then whip him with his own shirt until death. This voicemail is now done. [SOUND] >> On day one, the campaign received 5.9 million YouTube views, more than Obama's victory speech after 24 hours. On day 2, Old Spice had 8 out of the top 11 most popular videos on the web. By day 3, the campaign eclipsed 20 million views. And 1 week post-launch, the work had been seen more than 40 million times. During this time, the brand's Twitter following increased 2700%. Facebook fan interaction went up 800%. Traffic to Oldspice.com increased 300% and Old Spice became the number 1 all-time most viewed branded channel on YouTube with 65 million campaign views. Best of all the work helped to double sales Old Spice body wash cementing Old Spice as the number one brand of body wash for men. >> [SOUND] Again notice that there a lot of the metrics were basically social metrics but the points made. You see how fast viral happened and how much fun they had. Again it was very, very awesome to watch it. And to be a part of it. And as a result, people told other people exactly like them, which is the definition of viral, to come watch. And as a result, it became one of the biggest campaigns of all time. The reason I like to use this is, not only does it have all the components of the strategy but it's also something that is around today. So you can go out and watch it, and they're using it now, the same figures, if you will, to promote other products. And so, the other thing, and so what they did, is they kept a relationship going. One of the things you need to notice is that when they put it out on YouTube and Vimeo, and this is a Vimeo one, up in the corner they always have a way to tell your friend. So one of the things that's really important, if you want something to go viral, make it very visual, and make it easy for me to tell others like myself About it. And that way you encourage it to go viral. So why, one of the reasons they release it on YouTube and Vimeo first, was allow the viral to happen. And it certainly happened here. So what can we learn? First off, If you hit the target market, you can really have an impact. They wanted to sell to young men, but they really went after the women who loved them, and that worked very well. Multimedia's a must. One of the things you wanna think about Is where is your target market in the social pyramid? And then hit them where they're at, and use multimedia to its best advantage. Even if you're just doing say an article, take a few minutes and shoot a one minute video about the key points of your article and put that out. You can also do an audio version, you know there is a lot of different ways we can get the message out to the different people who like those sorts of media. So a multimedia approach is a must. And then this, this particular one is traditional channels from Nascar to TV to radio to spread the message. And so when we think about an engagement social strategy we're gonna use every channel with our disposal to get to our target market. I also think the use of real time was smart and you saw that also with the Cadbury chocolate. The key is using Twitter responses, really made it fun for people to ask questions about a product that they probably had never considered. And it made it more of a social thing, as opposed to actually talking about the product itself. It made it just fun. And then when you went into the store to buy body wash, Old Spice came to mind. It went viral very, very effective that way. And the key is it was sustainable. This program ran for a long time, and in addition, it still is popular today. So what does it mean for you? First off, think about being awesome. If you want something to go viral, it's gotta be visual, it's gotta be relevant, but more importantly it's gotta be fun. Also consider a two-way conversation. While Cadbury chocolates was a patient market, this one was a hybrid of both a patient and trigger event, but even so, creating the two way conversation made it fun. And fun and making it engaging is really the central part of an engagement strategy. Multimedia across the entire social pyramid was the key thing here and it's something you ought to think about for everything that you're doing trying to reach a market and social. One of things though that is a problem is that it's difficult to replicate viral. In other words while the Manly Man, or the man you want your man to smell like character is still around, it's not as effective now as it was at the beginning, why? Because awesomeness happens once. And then afterwards it's, while it's still interesting, it doesn't become awesome again. So it does show you that there is a limit to how you can do this. But the key is if you constantly are putting out great contents, or like Cadbury Chocolates and Old Spice You can keep an audience very, very motivated over time. It won't have the initial viral yet. But the relationship will be maintained as long as you keep giving them highly relevant and interesting sorts of media and content. So finally thing is that there's selling without selling. If you watch both of these case examples they aren't really selling you the product they sell the experience. They sell you the fun and that position is a product in your mind. And so if you look at a lot of engagement marketing, it really is product positioning so that you will be ready to sell to them when they are ready to buy. And so that's really a key construct of most of these great programs is we're actually giving people information and experiences. Not trying to sell them products and services. Try to sell them and the community will leave, help the community along and they'll stay with you for the long term. And you'll see that is a mantra that goes through all three of these social strategies. Don't sell, help the community, do what the community wants to do.
