MAA blast from the past: the man your man could smell like

Can it really be ten years since Wieden+Kennedy achieved the unlikely feat of making Old Spice and brand owner Procter & Gamble fashionable?

But actor and former American footballer Isaiah Mustafa did the trick, thereby setting lots of agency creatives the task of repeating his and its massive viral success – they failed, including some at W+K for Old Spice. The harder they tried the harder they fell.

Maybe that’s why advertisers and agencies these days mostly settle for something less ambitious.

What’s the secret? Maybe that it’s blessedly “purpose-free.”

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About Stephen Foster

Stephen is a former editor of Marketing Week and London Evening Standard advertising columnist. He wrote City Republic for Brand Republic and is a partner in communications consultancy The Editorial Partnership.