Isaiah Mustafa is on a horse. You remember it. Even if you weren’t watching the Super Bowl in 2010, you’ve seen the clip of a shirtless man effortlessly transitioning from a bathroom to a boat to the back of a stallion, all while holding a bottle of body wash. It changed everything. Before the Old Spice deodorant advert titled "The Man Your Man Could Smell Like" hit the airwaves, the brand was basically something your grandfather kept in a dusty cabinet. It was old. It was stale. It was, quite literally, your dad's scent.
Then Wieden+Kennedy happened.
They didn't just make a commercial; they created a cultural reset that marketing departments are still trying to copy today. It was fast. It was weird. It was incredibly smart. Most people think the ad worked because it was funny, but the business logic behind it was actually much more calculated. They realized that women make about 60% of the purchasing decisions for men's hygiene products. So, they stopped talking to the guys and started talking to the ladies.
The Chaos Behind the Camera
What’s wild is that the original Old Spice deodorant advert wasn’t CGI. Not really. In an era where we just "fix it in post," director Tom Kuntz insisted on doing most of the transitions practically. When the shower curtain disappears and Isaiah is suddenly on a boat? That was a physical set piece moving on a crane. The shirt falling onto his shoulders? Dropped from a rig above.
It took dozens of takes.
If the timing was off by half a second, the whole thing was ruined. You can find behind-the-scenes footage where the crew is frantically moving props while Mustafa keeps a completely straight face. This wasn't just a win for the creative team; it was a win for technical precision. Honestly, if they had used green screens, it wouldn't have felt as "magic." There’s a specific texture to real-world physics that the human brain picks up on, even if we don't realize it. It felt visceral.
The campaign didn't stop with the TV spot. They followed up with the "Response Campaign," where Mustafa filmed 186 personal video replies to fans on YouTube and Twitter in just a couple of days. They responded to celebrities like Alyssa Milano and Demi Moore, but also to random people asking for relationship advice. It was the first time a major brand felt... human. Or at least, a very handsome, very fast-talking version of human.
Why the Old Spice Deodorant Advert Switched the Vibe
Before 2010, men's grooming ads were usually one of two things: hyper-masculine "manly" ads or the "Axe Effect" style, which leaned heavily into teenage wish fulfillment. Old Spice took a third path. They used "The Smell of Greatness" to mock the very idea of masculine advertising.
It’s meta-humor.
By having Mustafa tell the audience to "look at your man, now back to me," the brand was acknowledging the absurdity of the product. They weren't just selling deodorant; they were selling a joke that everyone was in on. This pivot saved the company. According to Nielsen data, by the end of 2010, Old Spice body wash sales had increased by 107%. That is an insane number for a brand that was previously considered "dead."
The Terry Crews Factor
You can't talk about the evolution of the Old Spice deodorant advert without mentioning Terry Crews. If Mustafa was the smooth, suave side of the brand, Crews was the high-octane, screaming fever dream. His ads, often directed by the duo Tim & Eric, took the "random" humor of the internet and turned it up to eleven.
- The Brain Explosion: One ad literally featured his head exploding into smaller Terry Crewses.
- Muscle Music: A digital interactive video where you could play instruments by clicking on his flexing muscles.
- The Power of Scent: The recurring theme that the deodorant was so powerful it could punch through walls.
This duality—Mustafa’s charm versus Crews’s chaos—allowed Old Spice to capture different segments of the market. They owned the "cool" and the "crazy" simultaneously.
The Digital Legacy in 2026
Fast forward to today. We see the DNA of that 2010 Old Spice deodorant advert in almost every successful TikTok campaign. The "fast-cut," the direct-to-camera address, and the surrealist humor are now the standard language of the internet. Brands like Ryan Reynolds’ Maximum Effort or Liquid Death owe a massive debt to what Wieden+Kennedy pulled off.
But there’s a catch.
You can’t just be "random" anymore. In the current landscape, audiences are much more cynical. The reason Old Spice worked wasn't just the humor; it was the timing. It caught the wave of early social media when "viral" was still a relatively new concept. If you tried to launch the exact same ad today, it might just get lost in the noise of a billion other 15-second clips.
What Modern Marketers Forget
People often forget that the "The Man Your Man Could Smell Like" campaign was actually a huge risk. The brand was failing. Proctar & Gamble (P&G) had to decide whether to let the brand slowly die or do something radical. They chose radical.
Most companies today are too scared of their own shadows to let a director build a mechanical boat in a fake bathroom. They want to test everything in focus groups until all the personality is sanded off. Old Spice succeeded because they trusted a specific creative vision and didn't blink. They didn't try to be "authentic" in the boring way brands do now—they were authentically weird.
Lessons for the Next Generation
If you’re looking at the Old Spice deodorant advert as a case study, don’t just look at the funny lines. Look at the structure. Look at how they identified a secondary audience (women) to influence the primary buyer (men). Look at how they used a single spokesperson to anchor a decade of brand identity.
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It’s about "Brand Salience."
You don't need people to think your deodorant is a scientific marvel. You just need them to remember your name when they’re standing in the aisle at CVS. Old Spice made sure that when you saw that red bottle, you heard the whistle. Whistle. You know the one.
Actionable Insights for Brand Growth
To apply the "Old Spice Method" to a modern business or creative project, focus on these specific shifts in strategy:
- Identify the Real Decision Maker: Don't just market to the user; market to the person who influences the purchase. If you’re selling a B2B tool, don't just talk to the CEO—talk to the frustrated manager who has to use it every day.
- Commit to Practicality: In a world of AI-generated content, "real" things have a premium. Use real locations, real props, and real people whenever possible. The "uncanny valley" of digital effects often creates a barrier between the brand and the audience.
- Pivot Through Subversion: If your brand is seen as "old" or "boring," don't try to act "young." Instead, make fun of the fact that you’re old. Lean into the stereotype and flip it. Self-deprecation is the fastest way to build trust with a modern audience.
- Master the Fast-Response Cycle: The "Response Campaign" showed that speed is better than perfection. If a trend starts on social media, you have about 24 to 48 hours to join the conversation before you look like a "corporate dad" trying to be cool.
- Create a Sonic Brand: The Old Spice whistle is more recognizable than their logo. Find a sound, a catchphrase, or a visual cue that can exist independently of your product.
The Old Spice deodorant advert wasn't a fluke. It was a masterclass in understanding how humans actually consume media—not as passive observers, but as people who want to be entertained, surprised, and spoken to like they’re in on the joke.