Old Spice: 5 Year Plan
Old Spice aimed to reinforce its brand as the epitome of masculine confidence and swagger. They sought a campaign that would resonate with a male audience, breaking through category clutter with humor and memorability, ultimately driving product relevance.
Creative Idea
It comically exaggerated corporate ambition with surreal physical transformations to embody extreme confidence.
Old Spice leveraged absurd, surreal humor and visual exaggeration to transform mundane corporate ambition into a display of over-the-top confidence, effectively linking its Swagger product to a bold, unconventional sense of self-assurance.
The Corporate Interview That Swapped Heads
The Physics of Swagger
To achieve the surreal visual of heads retreating into suits like turtles, director Tom Kuntz and the team at The Mill utilized a hybrid of practical and digital effects. The actors wore oversized, custom-tailored suits to provide the physical space for the "shrinking" effect, while the final body swap was executed through sophisticated digital compositing. Thomas Beaudoin was cast specifically for his ability to maintain a "deadpan intensity" while his physical proportions were being manipulated, ensuring the absurdity never broke the professional tone of the scene.
Launching at the ESPYs
The spot debuted on June 27, 2016, during the ESPY Awards, a strategic move by Wieden + Kennedy to capture millions of immediate impressions from the target male demographic. This launch was the centerpiece of the "Smell ’Em Who’s Boss" initiative, which aimed to pivot Old Spice from a single brand spokesperson to a rotating cast of "personalities." By featuring Beaudoin as the face of the Swagger line and Alberto Cardenas for Desperado, the brand successfully segmented its scent profiles to drive specific product relevance.
Satirizing the Five Year Plan
The script intentionally weaponized corporate clichés - such as "retiring on top" and "saving the wildlife" - to resonate with a younger audience tired of traditional interview tropes. The mention of "Linda" at the end of the spot became a recurring punchline, serving as a final nod to the "corporate gravitas" that defined the campaign's aesthetic. This satirical approach helped Old Spice maintain its #1 position in the male body wash and deodorant categories during a period of intense market competition.
Creative Strategy Deconstructed
Company
Old Spice could credibly deliver a bold, humorous take on masculinity, leveraging its established brand personality for unconventional advertising.
Category
Corporate advertising typically portrays serious, aspirational success, often with a focus on traditional power dynamics and professional gravitas.
Customer
The audience desired a brand that understood the absurdity of corporate life while still offering a sense of confident, self-assured masculinity.
Culture
A cultural appreciation for deadpan humor and surreal visual gags made the exaggerated corporate satire resonate strongly with viewers.
Company
Old Spice could credibly deliver a bold, humorous take on masculinity, leveraging its established brand personality for unconventional advertising.
Category
Corporate advertising typically portrays serious, aspirational success, often with a focus on traditional power dynamics and professional gravitas.
Strategy:
Associate the brand with an exaggerated, unconventional form of confidence by subverting serious contexts.
Customer
The audience desired a brand that understood the absurdity of corporate life while still offering a sense of confident, self-assured masculinity.
Culture
A cultural appreciation for deadpan humor and surreal visual gags made the exaggerated corporate satire resonate strongly with viewers.
Strategy:
Associate the brand with an exaggerated, unconventional form of confidence by subverting serious contexts.
Strategy Technique
Use Absurd Logic
The campaign employs irrational, exaggerated corporate platitudes and physical transformations to link Old Spice with an extreme, unforgettable sense of confidence and swagger.
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Creative Technique
Embrace the Weird
The ad uses bizarre shrinking heads and expanding shoulders to create a surreal, humorous take on corporate confidence. This unexpected visual oddity makes the message memorable and distinct.
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Craft Breakdown
This campaign's craft is exceptional in its seamless visual effects and the actors' deadpan comedic timing, creating a memorable and absurd representation of confidence.
The seamless and bizarre shrinking of the characters' heads into their suits is the core visual gag, executed flawlessly to create a surreal and humorous effect.
The actors maintain perfectly straight, serious faces and deliver their lines with corporate gravitas, which amplifies the absurdity and comedic impact of the visual transformation.
The precise timing of the cuts, especially during the head-shrinking transitions and the rapid-fire dialogue exchange, enhances the comedic rhythm and maintains engagement.
The traditional, somewhat stuffy corporate office setting provides an excellent contrast for the surreal events, making the visual gags even more unexpected and funny.
The magic of this campaign comes from the synergy between the perfectly executed visual effects and the actors' committed, deadpan performances, which together elevate the absurd premise into highly effective comedy.
