Old Spice Guy doubles sales, gets movie deal

Old Spice Guy doubles sales, gets movie deal

July 28, 2010

Lesley Ciarula Taylor


A lot more of you smell like the man your man could smell like.

Old Spice body wash sales zoomed 107 per cent in the last month, spiking after the most popular video ad campaign ever, according to data from The Nielsen Company.

“Our business is on fire,” James Moorehead, brand manager for the men’s cologne, deodorant and body wash, told BrandWeek magazine.

Behind it all is Isaiah Mustafa, the Old Spice pitchman with the caramel voice and chiselled chest whose videos have been watched more than 30 million times in YouTube.

A week-long social media campaign starting July 13 saw him produce 186 customized videos, collect 90,000 Twitter followers and sign up 675,000 Facebook fans.

And soon, you’ll be able to get more than 33 seconds of Mustafa at one sitting.

Mustafa has told The Hollywood Reporter that he has a role in Warner Bros.’ Horrible Bosses, starring Jennifer Aniston and Jason Bateman.

In a Q&A with The Reporter, Mustafa talks about the fluke that made him the Old Spice Guy, how he stays in shape, and what he hopes for the future.

“It’s a smaller role, but who wouldn’t want to be in one of these funny, irreverent comedies?” he says of his film part. “I’m playing a cop because I play these authoritative characters well.”

Sales for Red Zone body wash, the product the Old Spice Guy was initially pitching, reached $1.6 million in the four weeks ended July 11, a 49 per cent increase over the four weeks ended Feb. 21, SymphonyIRI Group data show.

Overall sales for all Old Spice body wash products are up 11 per cent in the last 12 months and 27 per cent in the last six months, according to Nielsen data supplied by Mike Norton, director of external relations for male grooming at P&G.