The latest Old Spice campaign is out and like the last year, the video campaign has managed to generate a considerable amount of interest. Visible Measures has placed the new campaign at the coveted first spot in its viral video rankings. The video campaign has received an incredible fifty thousand comments and generated more than 17 million views.
The campaign created by the company last year, ‘Responses’, was also a big hit. Apart from setting new records in viral-video marketing, the campaign also managed to increase sales considerably. But the last year’s campaign was accompanied by a large number of attractive buy-one-get-one-free coupons.
This year the coupons offered by Old Spice are limited to less appealing body wash and deodorant combinations. Both the last year’s and this year’s video campaigns seem to be equally successful. But in the absence of appealing in-stores promotions, the new viral-video campaign has been ineffective at encouraging sales.
Today Old Spice is a leading men’s brand. But the data offered by SymphonyIRI indicates that compared to last year, the sale of Old Spice body wash declined by 24% and 9% respectively in the 4 weeks and 12 weeks preceding the 10th of July. The lack of attractive coupons to support the campaign seems to be the main reason behind the double digit decline.
For those interested in web marketing strategy, this is a good example that proves that metrics like the number of views do not determine sales success. It also emphasizes the need to combine in-store promotions with viral marketing campaigns