The latest ad from Old spice india is already creating buzz. With more than one and a half million views already, this ad has sure grabbed enough eye-balls. Stats have been disabled for the video for now.
There are multiple facets to the theme, execution and brand proposition offered by this ad.
For starters, Old spice India, with this ad, brings on television - Milind Soman, the first and probably the only super male model of the country to the small screen after a long time and more importantly, in an avatar which accentuate his presence.
The underlying theme for men's deodorants have largely been same across all brands. Fog and Nivea, very recently did something on different lines but still the underlying proposition largely remains same. Unfortunately, this ad, though with a peculiar set up and execution theme, does not strike a very different chord than the chore.
Firstly, this ad is heavily inspired by the Old spice ad on the theme - "The man your man can smell like" which was a wildfire in online ad trade. The ad starring Isaiah Mustafa was thronged by monologues which made it difficult to break attention for the viewers. The underlying proposition was - Old spice does wonder to its consumer and makes him uber-attractive to his female counterparts
In the latest Indian version, Milind Soman is seen to be undertaking the similar task. The ad starts with him donning just a towel and a pair of sunglasses(and of course a gold chain shouting out loud -'MAN') to add to the "kewl" quotient. He later talks about his realization on how being a macho is not about gelled hair. One can't miss a cue dropped when while being uber-cool he is sipping tea in a silverware (trying to break more myths on "kewlness"). He then invokes the lady-luck of all deodorant brands, the 'sweetheart'(How did fairer skin become an inevitable part of men hygiene?) to hand him over a bottle of old-spice deodorant. The ad ends with the 'sweetheart' sitting in his lap but not before he has pushed hastily a brief and desperately timed sales-pitch where he insipidly asks people to buy Old-spice to become 'mantastic'. The newly coined word 'mantastic' just seems to be a substitute for "macho-ism". Ans all this is happening when the background music is being played on sitar.
There are highs and lows for this advertisement and i'm sure marketeers were betting more on highs than they were worried about lows. For example, Milind Soman seems to be a great choice for the product and brand considering his reputation of being bold and due to the fact that he has been a male super-model, a coveted profession for many. Bringing him onscreen with a low 'apparel budget' was also a way to strengthen his
'desirable' rapport with women. The set-up easily breaks out off the clutter from run-of-the-mill deodorant ads where audience at the start of ad itself can zero down the ad to be for either a condom brand or a deodorant(sadly yes!). Background music is intelligently chosen to aid the set-up.
Alas! The highs ends here, and i have not even touched the product and the brand proposition. The biggest problem as mostly with clutter-breaking ads is, when the ad takes over the supposedly central figure of the whole idea- the product or brand.
The 'Mantastic' theme seems to be halfhearted one. How Old spice builds it from here, will be important. The flat speech on do's and dont's of macho-ism looks more like an interview which audience didn't ask for. The "Sweetheart" ends up adding the same 'old spice' to the ad only bringing it closer to the other deoderant ads by emphasizing the 'Use deo to get girls' theme.Informing the audience about ingredients which are largely chemicals (or at least sound so) doesn't help the cause either.
Overall, the ad gives some new and intelligent avenues while falls flat miserably at some points. How it helps P&G in terms of top-line, that is yet to be seen. But for sure, this ad is a great learning for marketing students on what to do and what not to do while conceiving an ad concept.
Cheers,
There are multiple facets to the theme, execution and brand proposition offered by this ad.
For starters, Old spice India, with this ad, brings on television - Milind Soman, the first and probably the only super male model of the country to the small screen after a long time and more importantly, in an avatar which accentuate his presence.
The underlying theme for men's deodorants have largely been same across all brands. Fog and Nivea, very recently did something on different lines but still the underlying proposition largely remains same. Unfortunately, this ad, though with a peculiar set up and execution theme, does not strike a very different chord than the chore.
Firstly, this ad is heavily inspired by the Old spice ad on the theme - "The man your man can smell like" which was a wildfire in online ad trade. The ad starring Isaiah Mustafa was thronged by monologues which made it difficult to break attention for the viewers. The underlying proposition was - Old spice does wonder to its consumer and makes him uber-attractive to his female counterparts
In the latest Indian version, Milind Soman is seen to be undertaking the similar task. The ad starts with him donning just a towel and a pair of sunglasses(and of course a gold chain shouting out loud -'MAN') to add to the "kewl" quotient. He later talks about his realization on how being a macho is not about gelled hair. One can't miss a cue dropped when while being uber-cool he is sipping tea in a silverware (trying to break more myths on "kewlness"). He then invokes the lady-luck of all deodorant brands, the 'sweetheart'(How did fairer skin become an inevitable part of men hygiene?) to hand him over a bottle of old-spice deodorant. The ad ends with the 'sweetheart' sitting in his lap but not before he has pushed hastily a brief and desperately timed sales-pitch where he insipidly asks people to buy Old-spice to become 'mantastic'. The newly coined word 'mantastic' just seems to be a substitute for "macho-ism". Ans all this is happening when the background music is being played on sitar.
There are highs and lows for this advertisement and i'm sure marketeers were betting more on highs than they were worried about lows. For example, Milind Soman seems to be a great choice for the product and brand considering his reputation of being bold and due to the fact that he has been a male super-model, a coveted profession for many. Bringing him onscreen with a low 'apparel budget' was also a way to strengthen his
'desirable' rapport with women. The set-up easily breaks out off the clutter from run-of-the-mill deodorant ads where audience at the start of ad itself can zero down the ad to be for either a condom brand or a deodorant(sadly yes!). Background music is intelligently chosen to aid the set-up.
Alas! The highs ends here, and i have not even touched the product and the brand proposition. The biggest problem as mostly with clutter-breaking ads is, when the ad takes over the supposedly central figure of the whole idea- the product or brand.
The 'Mantastic' theme seems to be halfhearted one. How Old spice builds it from here, will be important. The flat speech on do's and dont's of macho-ism looks more like an interview which audience didn't ask for. The "Sweetheart" ends up adding the same 'old spice' to the ad only bringing it closer to the other deoderant ads by emphasizing the 'Use deo to get girls' theme.Informing the audience about ingredients which are largely chemicals (or at least sound so) doesn't help the cause either.
Overall, the ad gives some new and intelligent avenues while falls flat miserably at some points. How it helps P&G in terms of top-line, that is yet to be seen. But for sure, this ad is a great learning for marketing students on what to do and what not to do while conceiving an ad concept.
Cheers,
