You remember the shower. The towel. The "Hello, ladies."
It feels like a lifetime ago, but it’s actually been about fifteen years since Isaiah Mustafa rode a horse backwards and completely broke the internet. Before that moment, old Old Spice commercials were, well, old. They were the stuff of your grandfather’s medicine cabinet—heavy on the yachting imagery, the whistling jingle, and a certain kind of stiff, mid-century masculinity that felt increasingly out of touch with anyone born after 1980. Then Wieden+Kennedy got a hold of the brand and everything changed.
The "The Man Your Man Could Smell Like" campaign didn't just sell body wash; it saved a dying brand from the "grandpa" shelf. But to understand why it worked, you have to look at what Old Spice was doing for the fifty years prior.
The Era of the Nautical Whistle
For decades, the brand relied on a very specific set of tropes. You’ve seen them. A rugged sailor comes home from the sea. He splashes something on his face. There is a buoy. There is a dog. The "Old Spice Whistle" (which was actually a snippet of a song called "Scotland the Brave") played at the end of every clip.
It was simple. It was safe.
By the early 2000s, though, safe was becoming a problem. Brands like Axe were winning the "young man" demographic by being loud, obnoxious, and hyper-sexualized. Old Spice was stuck in a weird limbo. They tried to be "cool" in the late 90s with racing sponsorships and generic "extreme" imagery, but it wasn't landing. They were seen as the scent of a dusty locker room.
The shift happened when market research revealed something surprising: women were actually buying the majority of men's body wash.
If you're trying to sell a product for men, but women are the ones putting it in the grocery cart, your marketing has to talk to both. That’s the genius behind the Isaiah Mustafa spots. They weren't just mocking the "manly man" trope; they were winking at the women watching.
Why Isaiah Mustafa Changed Everything
When the first "The Man Your Man Could Smell Like" ad aired during the Super Bowl in 2010, it was a technical marvel. Most people assumed it was heavy CGI. Honestly, it wasn't.
Director Tom Kuntz and the crew used a complex system of pulleys, moving sets, and practical effects. Mustafa had to nail his monologue while a crane lifted him, a shirt was dropped onto his shoulders, and a shower stall was literally pulled away to reveal a boat. If he tripped on one word, they had to reset the whole thing. It took dozens of takes to get that single, seamless shot.
The result was a viral explosion.
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Within 24 hours of the "Response Campaign"—where Mustafa recorded personalized YouTube videos answering tweets from celebrities like Alyssa Milano and Ashton Kutcher—the brand saw a massive spike in engagement.
- Old Spice’s YouTube channel became the #1 most-viewed sponsored channel.
- Sales of Old Spice Body Wash reportedly rose by 107% in the months following the campaign.
- The brand successfully pivoted from "dated" to "absurdist," a move that allowed them to stay relevant for over a decade.
The Terry Crews Pivot: Chaos as a Strategy
If Mustafa was the smooth, sophisticated face of the brand, Terry Crews was the human equivalent of an explosion.
Starting around 2012, the old Old Spice commercials took a hard turn into surrealism. Crews would scream at his own muscles. His head would pop out of a loaf of bread. He would play drums using electrodes attached to his biceps.
This was "random humor" perfected.
It appealed to a younger, internet-native audience that was tired of being "sold" to. By leaning into the absurdity, Old Spice wasn't asking you to believe their deodorant would make you a mountain climber. They were just entertaining you so thoroughly that you remembered the name when you were standing in the aisle at CVS.
There was a real risk here. You don't usually see a brand run two completely different tones simultaneously. You had the "smell like a man" sophistication on one side and the "POWER!" screaming on the other. Yet, it worked because both versions refused to take the product seriously.
The Forgotten History of Shulton, Inc.
Before Procter & Gamble bought the brand in 1990, Old Spice was owned by Shulton, Inc. This is where the truly old Old Spice commercials live.
In the 1950s and 60s, the ads were almost exclusively about aftershave. They featured "The Old Spice Sailor," a character who represented reliability. One of the most famous taglines was "Short cut to a man's heart," implying that if you bought this for your husband, he’d finally be happy. It was a different world.
The transition from Shulton to P&G was actually quite rocky. P&G tried to modernize the scent, which led to a lot of "New Formula" backlash. Eventually, they realized the scent wasn't the problem—the vibe was.
What We Get Wrong About the "Viral" Success
A lot of marketing "gurus" talk about Old Spice as if it was a lucky break. It wasn't.
The campaign was backed by a massive media buy. You can't just post a funny video and expect 100 million views; Old Spice spent heavily to ensure that first ad was seen by everyone during the Super Bowl. They also did something most brands are too scared to do: they gave their agency (Wieden+Kennedy) total creative freedom.
If a committee had looked at the script for the Terry Crews "Muscle Music" ad, they probably would have killed it. "Why is his hair a flamethrower?" "Is this making fun of our customers?"
The agency understood that in the digital age, being "weird" is better than being "ignored."
The Impact on Modern Advertising
You see the fingerprints of these old Old Spice commercials everywhere now. Whenever you see a brand on Twitter acting like a real person or a commercial that feels like a fever dream (think Skittles or Geico), you're seeing the "Old Spice Effect."
They proved that a legacy brand—one that was literally associated with grandfathers—could become the coolest thing in the room overnight.
But there’s a limit.
Eventually, the "random" humor started to feel a bit tired. By 2018 and 2019, the brand had to shift again, focusing more on product benefits while keeping the humor. They brought back Mustafa and his "son" to bridge the gap between generations. It was a smart move, acknowledging their own history while trying to find a new hook.
How to Apply These Lessons
If you’re looking at these old ads as a case study for your own business or just as a fan of pop culture, the takeaways are pretty clear.
First, stop talking to the person you think is your customer and start talking to the person who actually makes the purchase. If your product is for kids, talk to parents. If it's for men's hygiene, talk to the people who have to smell them.
Second, don't be afraid of "the pivot." Old Spice was a nautical brand for 70 years. They threw it all away (mostly) to become an absurdist comedy brand. It was a massive gamble that paid off because they didn't do it halfway.
Third, practical effects still beat CGI in terms of "vibe." Part of why those Isaiah Mustafa ads feel so "human" is because they were filmed in one shot. Your brain can tell when something is real, and it rewards that effort with attention.
To really dig into this, you should go back and watch the "behind the scenes" footage of the 2010 shoots. Seeing the crew scurry around Mustafa while he keeps a straight face is almost more impressive than the ad itself.
Next Steps for Deepening Your Knowledge
To truly understand the evolution of this branding, your next move should be a visual deep dive. Watch the original 1950s "Surfer" ads (which inspired the famous Guinness "Surfer" ad years later) and compare them directly to the 2010 "The Man Your Man Could Smell Like" spot. Pay close attention to the use of the signature whistle in both.
You should also look up the work of Eric Kallman and Craig Allen, the primary creative duo behind the 2010 relaunch. Studying their "Response Campaign" on YouTube—specifically how they handled real-time engagement—remains the gold standard for how to execute a social media blitz without looking like a corporate robot. Finally, check out the 1970s "Ship's Decanter" bottles on eBay or in antique shops; seeing the physical evolution of the packaging helps explain why the brand needed such a drastic marketing overhaul to survive the 21st century.
The story of Old Spice isn't just about soap. It’s about the fact that no brand is ever truly "dead" if it's willing to be the punchline of the joke.