Old Spice Guy says Good Bye

Unless you live under a rock, you have seen the “Old Spice Guy”, actor Isaiah Mustafa. He is a rugged, handsome, Man’s-Man that has single-handedly ripped Old Spice products out of your grandfather’s hands and placed it squarely in the hands of the 25 year old college student. Women want him,  and men want to be him. In either case, Old Spice wants their advertising return on investment. They have succeeded. Past expectations. But, all good things come to an end.

The campaign, in which the “Old Spice guy” — as actor Isaiah Mustafa, who starred in most of Old Spice’s recent commercials, ended today. In his final tweet and video, Mustafa says, “like all great things this too must end.” The Old Spice Twitter account accumulated tens of thousands of new followers and the YouTube videos amassed hundreds of thousands of views.

In his penultimate video, the Old Spice guy talks directly to his daughter, explaining that until recently, he was just a struggling actor no one has ever heard of. When was the last time a marketing campaign spoke directly to you in such a frank way, making you laugh and cry at the same time?

Wieden + Kennedy have set a standard marketing experts will admire and follow in the years to come. This is the future of marketing.