Ad of the Day: Old Spice

Tis the season for a little unexpected star power in commercials. Apple provided it last week by putting Zooey Deschanel and Samuel L. Jackson in its latest iPhone spots. Now, Old Spice features a humorous cameo by Heather Graham in its brand-new campaign for Old Spice Champion.

The Champion line (deodorant, anti-perspirant/deodorant, body wash and body spray) celebrates the true champion in every man and "gives them the motivation and self-confidence to win in the game of life," says Old Spice agency Wieden + Kennedy. Like its other recent Old Spice work, the new ads are humorously hyperbolic. In the 30-second spot below, a skinny hero is seen amping himself up by listening to a self-help tape (on cassette, through absurdly giant old headphones) that reminds him that he has "big muscles and cool hair," sophisticated friends and an environmentally friendly car (made completely of sand).

Soon, his superhuman abilities are on full display. He dumps Graham at dinner, much to her surprise, and then wins a horse race—with himself as the horse. The theme extends to a new print ad, with a different guy seen rounding a corner with a jockey on his back. (Horses have a hallowed place in the Old Spice canon. There was the centaur spot a couple of years ago. And of course, Isaiah Mustafa was famously "on a horse" in the Emmy-winning Tom Kuntz ad. You can make the underlying insinuation about the connection between men and horses for yourself.)

The new campaign's goofiness this time extends to the tagline, too: "Believe in your smellf"—a comically idiotic slogan that fits nicely within the marketer's larger theme of exaggerated yet self-deprecating manliness.

There's nothing revolutionary—or even evolutionary, really—about the new work. But Old Spice clearly doesn't want to mess with a winning formula. And the new effort shows the campaign still has some horsepower left.

CREDITS

—TV SPOTS

Client: Old Spice

Project Name: "Believe in Your Smellf"

Client Contact: Rishi Dhingra, Michael Sabbia, Dan Jackson

WIEDEN + KENNEDY, PORTLAND, ORE.

Creative Directors: Jason Bagley, Craig Allen

Copywriter: Jason Kreher

Art Director: Max Stinson

Producer: Jeff Selis

Account Team: Michael Dalton, Diana Gonzalez, Yaya Zhang

Executive Creative Directors: Mark Fitzloff, Susan Hoffman

Agency Executive Producer: Ben Grylewicz

PRODUCTION

Production Company: Biscuit Filmworks

Director: Tim Godsall

Managing Director: Shawn Lacy

Executive Producer: Holly Vega

Line Producer: Rick Jarjoura

EDITING

Editing Company: Arcade Edit

Editor: Geoff Hounsell

Post Producer: Ali Reed

VISUAL EFFECTS

VFX Company: The Mission Studio

VFX Supervisor: Rob Trent

VFX Producer: Diana Cheng

MUSIC AND SOUND DESIGN

Music+Sound Company: Tonefarmer

Producer: Tiffany Senft

MIXING

Mixing Company: Lime

Mixer: Joel Waters

Producer: Jessica Locke

—PRINT AND OOH

Client: Old Spice

Project Name: "Believe in Your Smellf"

Client Contact: Rishi Dhingra, Michael Sabbia, Dan Jackson

W+K, PORTLAND

Creative Directors: Craig Allen, Jason Bagley

Copywriter: Jason Kreher

Art Director: Max Stinson

Typographer: Matthew Carroll

Account Team: Michael Dalton, Diana Gonzalez, Yaya Zhang

Project Manager: Jane Monaghan

Art Buyer: Kimberly Wilder

Photographer: Clive Stewart

Executive Creative Directors: Mark Fitzloff, Susan Hoffman

RETOUCHING

Agency: W+K

Re-touchers: Frazer Goodbody, Amy Corcoran, Greg Radich, Saskia Thomson

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