Do writers recognize when their work is going to catch on like wild fire? The recent Old Spice viral video series has caused a wave of gut busting chaos induced hilarity.The strangest realization for me is that I was already a customer (since 1996) and hadn't realized it. As I watched and listened to Isaiah Mustafa state "Silverfish Handcatch" for the 6th time I realized that I use Old Spice as an underarm deodorant. But I'd never swap because of a funny video and Old Spice aftershave sucks ;).
I've gotta tip my hat to one hell of a project marketing team. The combination of over the edge writing and actor execution/presence made for an irresistible watch. These guys killed it. As a follow on they made comment response videos exploding in popularity after Digg founder Kevin Rose's get well video response (staged?) and share on twitter. Pro technique to sustain a few viral videos into a series.
While the writers could be working on Saturday Night Live or other films I can't believe their amazing effort will result in a sustained boost to product sales. In the short term their efforts will be profitable for Old Spice, but folks will quickly return to their favorite after shaves and under arm deodorants. Maybe some won't and that's more than the cost of the video campaign?
Update:
This Behind the World: Old Spice Responses interview captures the production process and how the team pulled it all together so quickly. It was a strategic campaign with creative folks working 3 days straight.