Old Spice

Rolena Eden, Tajin Quadir, Erick Soto, Ashley Andrews, Jezzebell Vinuela

Background:The first Old Spice product was introduced in 1937 by the Shoulton Company as Early American Old Spice for women, followed by Old Spice for men in 1938. The Early American Old Spice was developed around a colonial theme, and its founder William Lightfoot Schultz wanted to maintain that colonial framework for those products and chose a nautical theme for Old Spice hence its trademark sailing ships.

In June 1990, Procter and Gamble purchased the Old Spice fragrances, Skin Care and Antiperspirant and Deodorant products from the Shoulton Company and it has been a part of the P&G family ever since.

Company Culture:As a part of the Procter and Gamble family, Old Spice follows the company’s Purpose, Values and Principles:

Purpose: unified in a common cause and growth strategy of improving more consumers’ lives in small but meaningful ways each day. It inspires P&G people to make a positive contribution every day

Values: reflect the behaviors that shape the tone of how they work with each other and their partners.

Principles: articulate P&G’s unique approach to conducting work every day.

However, if you’ve seen any of Old Spice’s recent commercials or have taken a look at Old Spice’s different social media sites you will quickly realize that the company has a jovial and comedic air to it. Through the use of different campaigns such as “Smell like a man, man” this jovial and comedic side can be portrayed in the company’s social media marketing strategies.

SWOTAnalysi

s

Strengths:❖ Vast following across social media sites

such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Youtube, and Tumblr

➢ Facebook – 2,627,392 likes

➢ Twitter- 224,543 followers

➢ Instagram- 58,230 followers

➢ Youtube- 509,898 subscribers

❖ Constantly updating and posting to the different social media platforms to keep followers engaged and informed

❖ Extending the entertaining TV commercials, that appeal to both men and women, to its different social media platforms

❖ Being interactive with its followers i.e. commenting and retweeting

❖ Consistency in background images for all sites

Example of interaction with followers on Twitter:

Weaknesses:

❖ Humorous ads can impede the older more serious consumers.

❖ The overuse of fantasy in ads hinders credibility.

❖ Lacks variety and an extensive product line.

❖ Competitors like Dove have higher market share and more products.

❖ Gillette holds a stronger position and market share in the P&G family.

❖ Limited target segment (markets to young male consumers)

Opportunities❖Expanding the market internationally to other young men worldwide

❖Old Spice’s advertising can be used for both information and entertainment

❖Spikes a greater interest in grooming and fragrances in men

❖Brand can expand its reach to female consumers by releasing a feminine care/grooming product line

❖Young consumers are more willing to experiment and try new products.

Threats❖Top Competitor: Axe

➢ Axe also targets young men

➢ Ads/Commercials also have a comedic youthful tone

❖Competitor: Right Guard

❖Due to their young consumers/fans, Old Spice’s customer loyalty may suffer due to consumer immaturity

❖Bad Press: In recent years, many Old Spice consumers have complained about skin reactions, rashes and inflammation after using the brand’s body wash and deodorants.

Current Overview of Social Media Sites:

Twitter & YouTube

Instagram & Tumblr

Purpose:The purpose Old Spice’s strategy is to keep up with their competition and increase profits. With roughly about 70% of marketers acquiring customers through social media, it’s important for companies to actively seek out the social media market segment or risk losing potential customers. Therefore, Old Spice’s objective is to use social media to capture the vast number of potential customers that can be found online. Taking this into consideration Old Spice has set its objectives around success in social media. Success in social media translates to a high number of people that are aware and interested in your brand.

Objectives:Old Spice has chosen to use social media marketing as one of their main market strategies for various reasons. In today's market social media plays a huge role in brand promotion and customer influence. It’s rare to see an established brand that doesn’t partake in the social media phenomenon. This is one of the main reasons why Old Spice has chosen to develop a strong social media marketing strategy.

Target Market and Differentiation Strategy Target Market

- Men between the ages of 18 and 34 - Women with boyfriends, husbands or kids between the ages above

Differentiation amongst competitors Old Spice differentiates their social media marketing strategy in the following ways

- They develop short and catchy videos - Their content is easy to share and easy to remember - Old Spice responds to tweets within a reasonable timeframe of 24-48 hours - Old Spice infiltrates a lot of humor and entertainment into their posts - They tap into other social media channels, such as the Ellen show, to create buzz

Old Spice currently uses these social media tools to facilitate their differentiation strategy - Social Media Relationship Management (SMRM) tool: aggregates information about users

from variety of variety of platforms to give a visual representation of the typical social media follower- Social Media Monitoring (SMM) tool: this tool tracks “mentions” of the product, such as

hashtags and other tags.This therefore provides old spice with a better idea of where their traffic is being generated

from.

Old Spice Social Media Tools Old Spice is currently on the following social media platforms.

- Twitter- Facebook - Tumblr - Instagram - Youtube

Below are some appropriate tools Old Spice can use as part of their social media strategy, as well as the advantages and disadvantages of these social media tools.

- Tweroid (twitter): This is a tool that measures the effectiveness of posts. This is measured by in time between the post

date and engagement. Although this is a very useful Twitter tool, it only measures engagement, not depth of feedback

- LikeAlyzer (facebook): Like Tweroid, LikeAlyzer analyzes page traffic on Facebook. However, LikeAlyzer also highlights

area’s for improvements. LikeAlyzer also displays are a business page ranks amongst its competitors.

- Curalate (instagram): Curalate is a great monitoring tool for instgram because it monitors conversations about specific

brands, products and services. This information is very valuable to businesses.

Best things about Old Spice’s Social Media❖Very Interactive with its followers

➢ Instagram’s Choose Your Own Adventure Game

➢ “Shirtless Old Spice Guy Responds” campaign on Youtube

❖Research before releasing social media campaign

❖Tries to respond humorously

❖Campaigns grow naturally

❖Connect with new audience and force them to choose

❖Spread their image without trying to sell the product

How can Old Spice improve?❖Introduce a loyalty rewards

program➢ Encourages purchases from

followers

➢ Creates brand loyalty

➢ Creates brand engagement

❖Participate in real engagement with fans to create better relationships

➢ Currently Old Spice tweets only funny or quirky things

➢ Youtube response videos as well as twitter responses are comical

➢ Hard to escape their current image of being lighthearted and “ridiculous”

References:❖ Amézquita, L. (2014, September 3). 4 Ways You Can Instantly Improve Your Social Media Marketing.

Retrieved October 24, 2015, from http://www.b2binboundmarketer.com/inbound-marketing-blog/4-ways-you-can-instantly-improve-your-social-media-marketing

❖ Bradley, Tony. "Social Media Lessons from the Old Spice Man Campaign." PCWorld. Web. 28 Oct. 2015.

❖ Cattachio, C. (2010, July 14). How Old Spice showed us what a social media campaign is all about. Retrieved October 24, 2015, from http://thenextweb.com/socialmedia/2010/07/14/how-old-spice-showed-us-what-a-social-media-campaign-is-all-about/

❖ Nudd, T. (2015, July 31). Old Spice Creates a Loony Sci-Fi 'Choose Your Own Adventure' Game on Instagram. Retrieved October 24, 2015, from http://www.adweek.com/adfreak/old-spice-creates-loony-sci-fi-choose-your-own-adventure-game-instagram-166190

❖ Ojha, Utsav. "Marketing and Social Media Campaigns. (Old Spice)." Marketing and Social Media Campaigns. (Old Spice). Web. 28 Oct. 2015.

❖ Rose, R. (2010, August 25). 3 things you don't know about Old Spice's success. Retrieved October 24, 2015, from http://www.imediaconnection.com/content/27453.asp#multiview

❖ Old Spice (2015). History of Old Spice. Retrieved from the Old Spice website (http://news.oldspice.com/about/history_timeline

❖ Procter and Gamble (2014). Purpose, values and principles. Retrieved from the Procter and Gamble website https://www.pg.com/en_ANZ/company/purpose-people/purpose-values-and-principles.shtml

References: ❖ Smith, D. (2011, August 18). 5 Marketing Lessons From Old Spice. Retrieved October 28, 2015.

❖ Borowska, P. (2014, April 2). What Can Old Spice Teach Us About Effective Marketing? Retrieved October 28, 2015.

❖ Ojha, Utsav. "Marketing and Social Media Campaigns. (Old Spice)." Marketing and Social Media Campaigns. (Old Spice). Web. 28 Oct. 2015.

❖ Rose, R. (2010, August 25). 3 things you don't know about Old Spice's success. Retrieved October 24, 2015, from http://www.imediaconnection.com/content/27453.asp#multiview

❖ Old Spice (2015). History of Old Spice. Retrieved from the Old Spice website (http://news.oldspice.com/about/history_timeline

❖ Procter and Gamble (2014). Purpose, values and principles. Retrieved from the Procter and Gamble website https://www.pg.com/en_ANZ/company/purpose-people/purpose-values-and-principles.shtml