I generally try to avoid writing about ads. But you know what? These are going to be absolutely plastered all over Facebook by tomorrow morning (if they’re not already), so hey: might as well make sure you lot see them relatively early. Plus, they’re pretty damn good.
After a short break, Old Spice — otherwise known as “that company that makes really, really good ads and, I don’t know, deodorant or something” — is back with another web campaign that proves their ad team is one of very few that can repeatedly and intentionally make things that go viral. This time around, it’s prank websites.
Take, for example, this website for a “Push Up Muscle Shirt”. Click the link, then just let the page sit there for a few seconds (or, alternatively, click one of the links to speed up the process). Heads up: have your speakers at a reasonable volume, first.
Surprise! The page drops away and it’s the good ol’ Old Spice Man — or, as his mother knows him, Isaiah Mustafa — gently shaming you in the way only he can.
All the other prank sites we’ve spotted so far, each with their own surprise video bit:
- Neck Workouts
- Solid Gold Bluetooth Headsets
- 100% Leather Sheets
- Protein cologne
- Spray tan parties
- Brodominiums – condos inside gyms
- Bargain tattoos
- Soulpatch flavor powder
Heh. That list reads like a spammy SEO comment generated by the worst spambot ever.
This ad team (Wieden + Kennedy, assuming Old Spice is using the same agency as before) has got this thing figured out. They’ve found a solid formula, and just keep finding a tiny way to tweak it and make it new. The first time? Traditional TV spots. The next time? Straight-to-YouTube, targeting the Internet’s love for goofy humor directly. And the next time? Present them as answers to a Reddit AMA. After that? Prank websites. Tweak it and do it again until people stop laughing.
On a side note: whatever they’re using* to stream these HD, fullscreen videos… can we… can we use this for every video, ever? The pixels. There are so many of them.
We miss any? Drop us a comment to let us know.
[* Before you go tearing into the source code and then come back here to laugh at me: yeah, I know they’re using Vimeo for the video. Or at least, I do now that I peeked into the source code. Intentionally or not, this is a pretty darn good ad for vimeo, targeted at any nerds who care to look behind the scenes]