I’m going to start at the end, because really, this is the good stuff–what we’ve all been waiting to find out. Did the infamously viral The Man Your Man Could Smell Like campaign actually move the needle?

The Old Spice Man: Big Win for the Proctor & Gamble Brand

• 1.5 billion impressions since February
• Twitter following up 2,700%
• Google search up 2,000%
• Facebook interactions up 800%
• OldSpice.com traffic up 300%
• #1 all-time most viewed and subscribed brand channel on YouTube
• 8 out of the top 11 most popular YouTube videos in one day

Yeah, a lot of people watched those videos…but did it really work?

• In the past 3 months, body wash sales are up 55%
• In the past month, body wash sales are up 107%
• Market share is also rising

And now back to the beginning

Today I had the chance to sneak out of work for a great Portland Ad Federation lunch, with speaker  Dean McBeth, the Sr. digital strategist of P&G brands for Wieden + Kennedy. As an insider, he had a lot of solid insight to offer, which I’ll try to pass along here.

The main takeaway from the presentation was that this campaign was neither a viral success story, nor  a social media success story. It is an integrated success story. W+K developed a strong foundation first, spending 6 months building the character, and collaborating across disciplines for a greater, deeper impact. Community managers, developers, and PR (both from W+K and P&G) worked together.

This was possible because (and this is McBeth’s second big point) trust enables you to be nimble, flexible, and timely–key elements for real-time branding in the digital world. P&G wasn’t onsite during the Old Spice Responses campaign where, over the course of 2 days, 186 unique videos were shot and uploaded to YouTube. These videos were posted, on average, within 15 minutes of each other. Without P&G’s trust, Wieden + Kennedy wouldn’t have been able to remain nimble and the campaign wouldn’t have been nearly as successful, if at all.

It was great leaving a talk with a cutting edge agency knowing that our approaches to marketing are so similar. Although Anvil specializes in Search Engine Marketing,  I’ve had the opportunity to collaborate with everything from in house PR teams and IT departments to graphic designers and social media marketers. This integrated approach adds a layer of depth to marketing that is fundamental to online success.

Now for good measure, head on over to YouTube for some hilarious Old Spice videos.