Everyone and their brother (and sister) has weighed in one way or another on this Old Spice campaign. If you don’t know what it is, for my non-marketing community members, here’s a snippet below (my personal favorite, a funny note to his daughter).
So here’s the deal. The creative did capture attention. But there’s been a lot of debate on whether it has been successful. Some reports say a 7% drop, others say a 107% increase. There are various other bits I’ve seen all over the web, with everyone getting up some post on how brilliant or flawed the engagement was, or whatever one of thousands dissected viewpoints to get a few more eyeballs to their blog.
Here’s the reality. They’re almost all full of it.
Because we really don’t know (yet) how effective it is. It is too early.
Sure, there’s some numbers released – but until we get 60, 90, 120 days out – we don’t know what the impact is and anyone who says otherwise is participating in punditry, not reporting, and although fun, not that useful for actionable decisions for the rest of us who are interested in making money for our clients.
Politics Isn’t Just For Elections
A lot of this politics. Much like if you go to sites like the Michigan Truth Squad for politics, you find every candidate has a spin and an agenda, stretching the truth to fit that aim. Same here, with so many dollars at stake amongst the ad and media business. Social media focused folks heaped unbridled praise. Those who are skeptical look for every hole possible. This has turned more into intrigue than science. Of course, that intrigue is more impressions of Old Spice, so from their perspective, it may or may not be a bad thing.
But as professionals, we’re supposed to measure and actually find out what the real response is. Did it move more product? I think there’s not enough of that thought. For actionable data, we’ve gotta be patient instead of trying to fill RSS readers and Twitter streams with half-cocked information. And then when we get that info, look for the real trends as opposed to what we want to see. So as hard as it is to pull away from the gossip for some, it’s probably best, if you want to use this experience to improve yourself, to have a little patience and wait till there are solid results and then make some decisions.
And then take that lesson with you to future endeavors, too.
There is long-term value in impressions for brand recognition purposes but the product itself has to back up the social media campaign for true success.
For example, I hadn’t heard of Old Spice in decades until a couple days ago, now “silverfish hand catch” and “Old Spice” are everywhere. As a consumer, I will go to the store and look for it. I’ll open the lid and smell it. If it smells like silverfish, there isn’t any social media campaign that will make me buy, but if the scent is pleasing, it will result in a positive purchase experience.