Old Spice: Rocket Car
Old Spice needed to launch its Hardest Working Collection to millennial men who viewed the brand's previous humor as familiar. Wieden+Kennedy Portland was tasked with evolving the brand's surreal voice into a new Legendary archetype. The goal was to prove superior sweat protection while maintaining the brand's status as a leader in absurd, high-engagement entertainment.
Creative Idea
A stoic adventurer survives a catastrophic rocket car explosion while remaining completely sweat-free.
Old Spice introduced the "Legendary Man" who pursues absurdly dangerous feats with stoic confidence. By dramatizing a catastrophic rocket car failure where only his sweat is under control, the campaign proved that legendary protection enables legendary, if ridiculous, dreams.
The Man Who Dreamed at 1,200 Miles Per Hour
A 40 Percent Surge in Penetration
The "Smellegendary" initiative was more than a creative pivot; it was a commercial powerhouse. According to P&G’s 2017 SEC filings, the launch of the Hardest Working Collection drove a 40% increase in household penetration for Old Spice. The digital rollout was equally aggressive, with the "Live Von Air" social component generating over 50 million impressions and engagement rates 11% above industry benchmarks. This performance solidified Old Spice as the #1 men’s body wash brand in the U.S., successfully aging up the brand's appeal to a millennial audience that had begun to find previous tropes predictable.
Three Weeks in the Hakskeen Pan
Director Steve Rogers and the production team spent three weeks at the Hakskeen Pan in South Africa, a remote dry lake bed famous for actual land-speed record attempts. To achieve the visceral "falling to pieces" effect, the crew physically disassembled portions of the rocket car during the shoot. While the vehicle was only towed at 40 mph, VFX Lead Tim Davies and the team at The Mill replaced nearly every background with sped-up footage and added CG fire thrusters to simulate a speed of 1,200 mph.
The Shift to the Legendary Man
This campaign marked a strategic departure from the high-energy personas of Isaiah Mustafa and Terry Crews. By casting French actor Axel Kiener, Wieden+Kennedy introduced a suave, "Rebel/Explorer" archetype that parodied European machismo. The absurdity extended to digital "infomercials" starring Steven Ogg (known for *Grand Theft Auto V*), who played a manic salesman named Bob Giovanni. This multi-layered talent strategy ensured the brand remained unpredictable while launching its most high-performance product line to date.
Creative Strategy Deconstructed
Company
A legacy of surreal humor and a new high-performance product line requiring a distinct, legendary brand persona.
Category
Men's grooming ads typically rely on literal performance claims or hyper-aggressive masculinity to prove product efficacy.
Customer
Younger men who found traditional tough guy tropes eye-rolling and craved entertainment that did not take itself seriously.
Culture
A cultural shift toward anti-hero archetypes and the celebration of confidently pursuing absurd, non-utilitarian goals.
Company
A legacy of surreal humor and a new high-performance product line requiring a distinct, legendary brand persona.
Category
Men's grooming ads typically rely on literal performance claims or hyper-aggressive masculinity to prove product efficacy.
Strategy:
Elevate product efficacy by framing extreme failure as a triumph of personal composure and legendary character.
Customer
Younger men who found traditional tough guy tropes eye-rolling and craved entertainment that did not take itself seriously.
Culture
A cultural shift toward anti-hero archetypes and the celebration of confidently pursuing absurd, non-utilitarian goals.
Strategy:
Elevate product efficacy by framing extreme failure as a triumph of personal composure and legendary character.
Strategy Technique
Use Absurd Logic
It employs the ridiculous logic that knowledge leaves no room for dreams to justify a catastrophic engineering failure. This absurdity makes the brand's promise of legendary protection memorable without being a boring product demo.
Explore Technique
Creative Technique
Make a Parody
The ad parodies the hyper-masculine tropes of land-speed record attempts and philosophical internal monologues. It uses this absurdly serious tone to highlight the product's benefit through a total, spectacular mechanical failure.
Explore Technique
Craft Breakdown
The ad excels through its commitment to a high-budget, cinematic aesthetic used to deliver completely ridiculous, deadpan content.
The seamless disintegration of the vehicle while maintaining realistic lighting and physics is top-tier execution.
The script perfectly parodies 'inspirational' sports commercials with absurd logic about avoiding engineering courses to save room for dreams.
The use of wide desert vistas and high-speed tracking shots gives the ad a genuine 'big budget movie' feel.
The lead actor's unwavering deadpan delivery amidst total chaos is essential to the comedy's success.
The contrast between the high-end cinematography/VFX and the nonsensical script creates the 'Old Spice' brand's signature surrealist humor.
