Online Workshop:
Old Spice

Most will be familiar with Old Spice because of the brand’s tongue-in-cheek commercial campaigns featuring the smooth-voiced, slick-moving Isaiah Mustafa. 

But here’s the thing… on paper, those adverts shouldn’t actually work.

Because who would naturally pair a comedic promotional style with male grooming products? To most, the concepts simply don’t mesh. 

And that’s exactly why we’re going to workshop Old Spice today, exploring how this business established such a powerful, impactful presence through a very deliberate brand identity strategy. 

If you’re unfamiliar with the term ‘brand archetypes’, here’s a quick rundown: 

There are 12 Brand Archetypes that are commonly referenced, which are divided into the following four groups. 

The first includes: the Outlaw, the Magician and the Hero.

The second includes: the Lover, the Jester and the Everyman.

The third includes: the Caregiver, the Ruler and the Creator.

The fourth includes: the Innocent, the Sage and the Explorer. 

Each of the archetypes relates to an instinctive and basic human desire, and this is why we often find ourselves naturally gravitating toward certain brands over others. 

Old Spice itself perfectly emulates the brand archetype of the Jester. 

The Jester is all about enjoyment and pleasure, living life in the moment, with a typical brand voice which is child-like, playful, cheeky and optimistic. These brands typically aim to entertain, whilst being driven by the pursuit of fun, happiness, laughter, togetherness and positivity. 

When first considering the fact that Old Spice produces male grooming products, from deodorants to shampoos to soaps, you wouldn’t necessarily pair them with the Jester archetype.

However, when you look at their communication and marketing material, Old Spice maintains the Jester personality – specifically through introducing this element of ‘spice’ to all their copy and creative. 

As we briefly touched upon at the beginning of this workshop, it was The Man Your Man Could Smell Like advertising campaign, featuring Isaiah Mustafa, which most powerfully portrayed this brand personality type in action. 

The advert humorously implies that using the masculine-scented Old Spice body wash will make a man more wealthy, attractive and over-all impressive, and it’s Old Spice’s self-aware, over-the-top polished, straight-faced, exaggerated delivery which makes these campaigns comedy gold.  

But here’s the thing…

Old Spice didn’t sit down, pull up a diagram of the 12 brand archetypes and flippantly decide to align their brand with the Jester for the sheer sake of it. 

Rather, they considered what would most resonate with their audience instead. They thought about what would set them apart from all the other male grooming ranges cramming the supermarket shelves; what would make the brand both relevant and memorable to a modern market.

And that was humour.

Old Spice could have quite easily targeted the older demographic, launched in the early 1930s and therefore a familiar brand to a segment of their market for a number of decades. 

Yet, rather than be pigeonholed as a product range for ‘older gents’, Old Spice decided to revitalise its brand identity to appeal to a modern audience spanning multiple generations instead.  

For example, the Old Spice website, whilst lacking this characteristic ‘fun’ personality that emerges in their adverts, is both functional and practical for those seeking quality, first-rate male grooming and toiletry products. 

Nevertheless, there is definitely a wink towards the Jester personality with the hero image of an ‘edgy’… dare we say it… hipster-like figure, who sports a dapper moustache and beard combo. Likewise in the copy itself, with the somewhat serious headline and cheeky subheadline pairing: Trusted Grooming, since forever; in addition to the description for the new Old Spice beard care collection: We know men have thicker skin and luxurious facial hairs to grow classy mustaches and thick beards if they so choose. We built our products uniquely for your face, the face of man.