Old Spice 'Smellmitiment' Pits Crews Vs. Mustafa To Play Out Over NFL Season
Thursday, August 6, 2015 at 01:36PM By Barry Janoff
August 6, 2015: Procter & Gamble, an official partner with the NFL, will hit the new season with a campaign for Old Spice, “Smellmitment," that brings together for the first time two of the brand's iconic spokesmen: Terry Crews and Isaiah Mustafa.
The effort adds even more eccentric and absurd elements to the marketing landscape that Old Spice has created over the past few years.
The plan is to have men and the women who purchase these products for men make a commitment — aka “Smellmitment" — to either Crews, who plays the role of Bearglove Man; or Mustafa, who takes the roles of Swagger Man and Timber Man.
Old Spice said that Timber, Swagger and Bearglove are among their most popular scents.
According to Old Spice, "Mustafa and Crews join in a friendly competition to plead the case for their favored scent and illustrate Old Spice’s tradition of offering different scents for different kinds of gents."
The TV campaign includes seven spots that will appear during the NFL season. The first spot, "And So It Begins," breaks during the Pro Football Hall of Fame Game on NBC's Sunday Night Football on Aug. 9.
The effort also includes print, Internet, social media and POP.
Lead agency is Wieden+Kennedy, Portland, Or.
Despite the similarity in their backgrounds — Crews and Mustafa both had some NFL experience and now both make a living as actors — they play enemies in the Old Spice campaign.
In "And So It Begins," Mustafa recreates his Old Spice character, who speaks to female consumers as "The Man Your Man Could Smell Like." While trying to convince people that Timber is the best scent, Crews, in his over-the-top intense character, interrupts to sell Bearglove.
A series of non-seguitur scenes follow that make use of axes, chickens, skeletons, a multi-seat motorcycle and an active volcano. (See the full spot here.)
“The power of scent and smelling fresh and manly helps inspire confidence, and Old Spice's versatile scent lineup — including popular scents Bearglove, Swagger and Timber — provides guys with products they can rely on to fuel this power,” John Sebastian, Old Spice brand director for Procter & Gamble, said in a statement.
“Legions of young guys are still trying to figure what kind of men they want to become and Old Spice is always right there as they navigate the seas of manhood," said Sebastian.
Sales of men's grooming products in the U.S. topped $4 billion in 2014 and is expected to exceed $4.6 billion by 2019, according to marketing and research firm Mintel, New York.
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