Incito MentisA blog by Syed Abdul Karim

For a brand that started out in the year 1937 as a fragrance for woman Old Spice  has certainly come a long way. For Procter and Gamble, a company known for it’s classic (read as formulaic) approach to advertising since the 1950′s that included x times of product mentions/product shots followed by media bombardment to drive a message, it too has come a long way.  Although the relationship between P&G and Old Spice is relatively recent – dates back to 1990 when Old Spice was acquired from the Shulton Company who originally created the brand, the last three days are anything but formulaic, dated or conventional.  In fact, Old Spice has sowed the seeds of something remarkable that defines the new communications paradigm for brands in the 21st century.

I think it is a brilliant case study on “how to build brands using social media”. We have seen a surge of branded activity in social media off late. The ingredients are the same – a large chunk of Facebook mixed add a spoonful of Twitter with a dash of YouTube. But as we say, a great idea is one that combines commonly known elements to create something new and unexpected. This is what has been done with Old Spice. The character from the TV Commercial – Isaiah Mustafa responds to individual comments made in social media through a video and he does so persistently over three days with a total of nearly 200 video responses.

Brands engaging people on social networks is not something entirely new. If you are on Facebook you get engaged on Facebook, your tweets get @ replies on Twitter and so on. The power behind the Old Spice campaign was the video response. This was the creative leap taken by W+K.  The character that personifies the brand talks back to you in the form of a video. He would pick up your tweet, your status update on Facebook, a comment on YouTube or anywhere else on the web and talk back to you!  This was the big idea!

To do justice to the idea, the execution was nothing short of being flawless. Isaiah Mustafa, the Old Spice guy, acted out his role brilliantly. It was a mix of bold performances, combined with wit and humor. The best part of it all was the branding – subtle yet obvious.  Besides what Isaiah did for Old Spice he did a lot for himself – from being an unknown actor to overnight celebrity (he apparently inked a deal with NBC that would land him in one of their upcoming sitcoms).

From the film that kicked off the campaign (it won the Film Grand Prix at the Cannes Lions 2010 last month) to the film that started this 3-day social media frenzy, along with a couple of my favorite video response by the Old Spice guy, all have been linked below for your viewing pleasure! Enjoy.

Old Spice -Questions

Old Spice – Responses – Re: chmown | Old Spice

Old Spice – Responses – Re: @knitmeapony| Old Spice

Old Spice – Responses – Re: rahnyc4 | Old Spice

Old Spice – The Man Your Man Could Smell Like (The one that won the Film Grand Prix)

The entire series can be found here.

In the Luciola Global Consumer Trends report one of the trends covered is Virtunity. What is Virtunity? It’s how digital technologies like the internet and mobile are enabling individuals to live and interact within virtual communities and in some ways allowing us to indulge and explore our alter ego.

Now another dimension is being added to Virtunity, something touched upon in the report, and that dimension is money. Currency is taking a whole new meaning as community members use virtual money in some very interesting ways. One of the pioneers of virtual currency is Second Life with their Linden Dollars. By the end of 2009 the value of SL’s virtual economy was as high as $567 million, a 65% growth over 2008. While the world grappled with a recession there was one economy that was certainly booming! Now it seems the rest of the world is catching up.

Facebook too has become a big player in the virtual goods business. Imagine this; people are paying $1 for a virtual gift which so far contributes about $30 million to Facebook, a good 10% of their total revenue. No wonder Facebook has recently moved to trademark its Virtual Currency Platform.

Another big contributor to the virtual goods economy is gaming. In this arena World of Warcraft has led the way. To progress in the game players need (virtual) gold. To facilitate players an entire industry had been setup in China to farm for this virtual gold and sell it for real cash! Estimates for this industry stand at anywhere between $200 million to $1 billion. So much so that the Chinese government has had to intervene and put on ban on trading of virtual goods!

According to a report by the European Network and Information Security Agency (ENISA), which is an EU agency the worldwide annual trade of real money for virtual goods amount to nearly 1.5 Billion Euros. In another report by an analyst from Wedbush Morgan Securities social gaming is expected to grow to a $4 billion by 2013, which today largely comprises of sale of virtual in-game items. It seems traditional banking has one more challenger to their age old system.  With 4.6 billion mobile phones to 1.6 billion bank accounts, the ‘under-banked’ are already a big potential area for mobile network operators especially after the success of models like M-PESA and SMART Money. But from what we are seeing micro-transactions for virtual goods is also turning out to be a big business as well especially for targeting the younger population between the ages of 13-24.

So far gaming companies and social media networks seem to be the prime beneficiaries of this virtual economy. Is there an opportunity for mobile network operators here as well? Apparently so! Mobile payments companies like Zong, Boku, Paymo make it all look very easy! They are integrating with wireless operators and have a reach of over 1.5 billion customers worldwide. They simply enable a customer to pay for virtual goods using their mobile phones and get charged through their prepaid balance or mobile bill! Another player Mobile First has also entered the arena combining social gaming with their service. These are indications of how ease of use and mobility are being combined to make transactions in the virtual economy fast and simple.

Reposted from the Luciola Blog