The Man Your Man Could Smell Like
Encyclopedia
Smell Like a Man, Man is a television advertising campaign
created by ad agency Wieden+Kennedy
for Old Spice
. The campaign is also commonly referred to as The Man Your Man Could Smell Like, being the title of the campaign's initial 30-second commercial. The campaign was initially launched to market Old Spice's Red Zone After Hours Body Wash
, but has subsequently been expanded to include other products following the success of the initial advertisements. The campaign targets female viewers, despite the product's target market being male, as the company determined that women frequently make purchasing decisions in respect of hygiene products even for male household members.
The campaign centres around the eponymous "Man Your Man Could Smell Like", played by actor Isaiah Mustafa
(Old Spice refers to him as "Old Spice Man") addressing the viewer in confident, rapid-fire monologues which promote the benefit of using Old Spice products. While reciting the monologues, Mustafa nonchalantly progresses through various activities, locations, costumes, and/or extraordinary situations, all while maintaining constant eye-contact with the camera, and a nonchalant demeanor. The advertisements typically feature a surprise ending.
The original ad, entitled "The Man Your Man Could Smell Like" was directed by Tom Kuntz
, and features Mustafa reciting a monologue about how "anything is possible" if a man uses Old Spice. In a single uncut shot, Mustafa transitions from a bathroom to a sailboat to a riding a horse on the beach, all without pausing his monologue or breaking eye-contact with the camera for more than a moment. The punchline of the commercial is Mustafa's non sequitur final statement: "I'm on a horse", delivered as the camera zooms out to reveal to the viewer that Mustafa is now sitting atop a horse.
Allen and Kallman confirmed that the commercial was filmed in a single uninterrupted take
requiring three days of shooting and numerous attempts to achieve a successful take. Minimal computer-generated imagery
(CGI)was used, consisting of overlaying a separately-shot artificial hand during the segment where diamonds flow from Mustafa's palm, and the body wash raises through the pile of diamonds with a separate shot of the hand filmed separately. The remaining effects were practical and achieved on-set, including a crane lifting the bathroom set from above, a crew member dropping a pre-formed shirt over Mustafa's head from above, and a cart which carried Mustafa from the boat set onto the back of a horse.
Filmed at the same time as the main commercial was a 15-second "sting" entitled "Did You Know", in which the camera pulls back from a close-up of Mustafa to reveal that he is riding a horse backwards.
The ad expanded upon the first commercial, which featured two changes of location, and only one on camera (the bathroom "set" lifting away). In "Questions", there were more frequent changes of location with more extravagant transitions. Mustafa begins at a shower station on the beach. The scenery splits in half (as do false legs and a towel) and pulls away to reveal Mustafa log rolling before he walks across the surface of a lake (catching a falling cake mid-stride) into a kitchen (power-sawing a countertop mid-stride) to the top of a waterfall which he "swan dives" off of into a hot tub
, which then collapses to reveal that Mustafa is sitting on a motorcycle, his shorts having been replaced by jeans. He performs the entire commercial without breaking eye contact with the camera. As all this happens, Mustafa addresses female viewers, maintaining eye-contact with the camera throughout the ad, and asking rhetorical questions on what they like, implying that if their man used Old Spice then he could bring them these things.
The ad was again shot primarily in one take, involving an automatically rolling log, an under-water platform, and a set consisting of the kitchen, waterfall and hot tub containing water and a motorcycle. The walls of the hot tub were rigged to mechanically raise and lower. Support wires were used to control Mustafa's dive from the waterfall. Footage of rehearsals of the ad begin with the log-rolling, suggesting that the opening beach segment may include separately-shot or computer-generated elements. The background also appears to be enhanced.
Another 15-second ad entitled "Boat" was produced as a secondary spot. It features Mustafa in a rowboat pulling off a "fake" mustache, and then "pulling off" the newly revealed skin to reveal another moustache.
In "Scent Vacation", Mustafa begins on a beach in a grass skirt. The beach drops away and the skirt flies off to reveal Mustafa in mountaineering pants atop a mountain peak. He dives from the mountain, into water, appearing to swim through it, only to reveal it as a fishtank which passes as the camera rotates to reveal Mustafa lying on his side in white slacks on top of a piano in a lavish living room.
Responding to interest in the creation of the previous spots, an official behind-the-scenes video was released for "Scent Vacation". It reveals that much of the ad is again produced practically, with some camera tricks. For his dive from the mountaintop, Mustafa was raised on wires as the camera spun to simulate Mustafa's movement. Ultimately, the living room in which Mustafa is shown was built against a vertical wall, and the camera was rotated 90-degrees to make the room appear normally oriented.
Unlike the previous commercials, which were shot outdoors, "Scent Vacation" was shot on a soundstage. More computer-generated imagery was used in this commercial than in the prior ads. The sand and sky of the initial beach scene, and the entire mountain backdrop were added in post-production; wires were painted out, as were seams where two scenery pieces came together; fish were added to the aquarium; chocolate was added to a fondue fountain in the living room, and a stick of fondue foods were added to Mustafa's hand.
Two 15-second spots were produced, entitled "Fiji" and "Komodo", after two of the scents in the product line. In "Fiji", a beach scene is shown as Mustafa's voice is heard. Mustafa raises from beneath the sand with an acoustic guitar which he opens to reveal that it contains puppies.
In "Komodo", Mustafa appears to stand at the base of a hill atop which sits an ancient palace. The palace is revealed to be a miniature, as Mustafa opens the front wall to reveal the product. He then walks over to a komodo dragon
and pulls open its back to reveal a cooler containing ice cream.
The three spots share a common thread of misleading items containing other items. Aside from the guitar, the palace and the komodo dragon, Mustafa also picks up a mountain goat in "Scent Vacation" which he spins around to reveal a harp.
posts directed to Old Spice's twitter account, including several videos directed towards celebrities. Other longer videos were created as well.
In 2011, it was announced that Fabio
would become the Old Spice spokesman, leading to criticism from fans of Mustafa. This lead to a poll as to which spokesman viewers preferred. A "Mano a Mano" video was produced featuring a confrontation between the two.
gave the initial ad a favorable mention, citing Mustafa's "wildly smug, cool-cat smooth dude persona" which "helped make the cologne commercial pop". People
magazine's Blane Bachelor called Mustafa's monologue "sharply scripted" and his character "smug, and over the top". The commercial was a hit on video sharing websites, such as YouTube
, where it has already received over 34,700,000 views, as of 08/06/11. In June 2010 it won the Grand Prix for film at the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival
and in July 2010 the ad won a Primetime Emmy Award
for Outstanding Commercial.
on Sesame Street
, where the monster Grover
takes Mustafa's role to illustrate the word 'on'. However, his narrations do not go as smoothly: the dropped shirt fails to fall around his neck; the clam containing the tickets bites his nose, forcing him to fling it away; and despite claiming he is on a horse at the end, he is actually on a cow.
It was also parodied on iCarly
, on the episode "iOMG".
There was also a parody made to advertise the 2011 film Puss in Boots
.
Television advertisement
A television advertisement or television commercial, often just commercial, advert, ad, or ad-film – is a span of television programming produced and paid for by an organization that conveys a message, typically one intended to market a product...
created by ad agency Wieden+Kennedy
Wieden+Kennedy
Wieden+Kennedy is an independently owned American advertising agency best known for its work for Nike...
for Old Spice
Old Spice
Old Spice is a prominent American brand of male grooming products. It is manufactured by Procter & Gamble, which acquired the brand in 1990 from the Shulton Company.-History:...
. The campaign is also commonly referred to as The Man Your Man Could Smell Like, being the title of the campaign's initial 30-second commercial. The campaign was initially launched to market Old Spice's Red Zone After Hours Body Wash
Shower gel
Shower gel or shower cream is the general term for a substance similar to liquid soap, which is used for cleaning yourself during a shower. Most commercial shower gels do not contain any saponified oil however, instead being products of petroleum...
, but has subsequently been expanded to include other products following the success of the initial advertisements. The campaign targets female viewers, despite the product's target market being male, as the company determined that women frequently make purchasing decisions in respect of hygiene products even for male household members.
The campaign centres around the eponymous "Man Your Man Could Smell Like", played by actor Isaiah Mustafa
Isaiah Mustafa
Isaiah Mustafa is an American actor and former NFL practice squad wide receiver. Mustafa is widely known as the main character for a series of Old Spice TV commercials, The Man Your Man Could Smell Like.-Early life:...
(Old Spice refers to him as "Old Spice Man") addressing the viewer in confident, rapid-fire monologues which promote the benefit of using Old Spice products. While reciting the monologues, Mustafa nonchalantly progresses through various activities, locations, costumes, and/or extraordinary situations, all while maintaining constant eye-contact with the camera, and a nonchalant demeanor. The advertisements typically feature a surprise ending.
Initial commercials
The campaign was launched with two commercials: The primary 30-second spot, and a shorter 15-second companion piece, both written by Craig Allen and Eric Kallman of Wieden+Kennedy. The spots promote Old Spice's Red Zone After Hours Body Wash.The original ad, entitled "The Man Your Man Could Smell Like" was directed by Tom Kuntz
Tom Kuntz
Tom Kuntz is a filmmaker who is most known for his unique television commercials and music videos, which either have colorful settings, time-lapse photography or wildly eccentric humans...
, and features Mustafa reciting a monologue about how "anything is possible" if a man uses Old Spice. In a single uncut shot, Mustafa transitions from a bathroom to a sailboat to a riding a horse on the beach, all without pausing his monologue or breaking eye-contact with the camera for more than a moment. The punchline of the commercial is Mustafa's non sequitur final statement: "I'm on a horse", delivered as the camera zooms out to reveal to the viewer that Mustafa is now sitting atop a horse.
Allen and Kallman confirmed that the commercial was filmed in a single uninterrupted take
Long take
A long take is an uninterrupted shot in a film which lasts much longer than the conventional editing pace either of the film itself or of films in general, usually lasting several minutes. It can be used for dramatic and narrative effect if done properly, and in moving shots is often accomplished...
requiring three days of shooting and numerous attempts to achieve a successful take. Minimal computer-generated imagery
Computer-generated imagery
Computer-generated imagery is the application of the field of computer graphics or, more specifically, 3D computer graphics to special effects in art, video games, films, television programs, commercials, simulators and simulation generally, and printed media...
(CGI)was used, consisting of overlaying a separately-shot artificial hand during the segment where diamonds flow from Mustafa's palm, and the body wash raises through the pile of diamonds with a separate shot of the hand filmed separately. The remaining effects were practical and achieved on-set, including a crane lifting the bathroom set from above, a crew member dropping a pre-formed shirt over Mustafa's head from above, and a cart which carried Mustafa from the boat set onto the back of a horse.
Filmed at the same time as the main commercial was a 15-second "sting" entitled "Did You Know", in which the camera pulls back from a close-up of Mustafa to reveal that he is riding a horse backwards.
Questions/Boat
In June 2010, a third commercial entitled "Questions" began to air on television. The new commercial followed a similar single-shot format to the original ad, and again promoted Old Spice Red Zone After Hours Body Wash.The ad expanded upon the first commercial, which featured two changes of location, and only one on camera (the bathroom "set" lifting away). In "Questions", there were more frequent changes of location with more extravagant transitions. Mustafa begins at a shower station on the beach. The scenery splits in half (as do false legs and a towel) and pulls away to reveal Mustafa log rolling before he walks across the surface of a lake (catching a falling cake mid-stride) into a kitchen (power-sawing a countertop mid-stride) to the top of a waterfall which he "swan dives" off of into a hot tub
Hot tub
A hot tub is a large tub or small pool full of heated water and used for soaking, relaxation, massage, or hydrotherapy. In most cases, they have jets for massage purposes. Hot tubs are usually located outdoors, and are often sheltered for protection from the elements, as well as for privacy....
, which then collapses to reveal that Mustafa is sitting on a motorcycle, his shorts having been replaced by jeans. He performs the entire commercial without breaking eye contact with the camera. As all this happens, Mustafa addresses female viewers, maintaining eye-contact with the camera throughout the ad, and asking rhetorical questions on what they like, implying that if their man used Old Spice then he could bring them these things.
The ad was again shot primarily in one take, involving an automatically rolling log, an under-water platform, and a set consisting of the kitchen, waterfall and hot tub containing water and a motorcycle. The walls of the hot tub were rigged to mechanically raise and lower. Support wires were used to control Mustafa's dive from the waterfall. Footage of rehearsals of the ad begin with the log-rolling, suggesting that the opening beach segment may include separately-shot or computer-generated elements. The background also appears to be enhanced.
Another 15-second ad entitled "Boat" was produced as a secondary spot. It features Mustafa in a rowboat pulling off a "fake" mustache, and then "pulling off" the newly revealed skin to reveal another moustache.
Scent Vacation
A third series of commercials debuted in early 2011, this time promoting Old Spice Fresh Collection Antiperspirant and Deodorant. The branding of the product line revolves around different world locations. In keeping with that theme, the 30-second commercial is entitled "Scent Vacation", and continues to maintain and expand upon the style of the previous ads. In the ad, Mustafa notes that "when your man smells like Old Spice, you can go anywhere."In "Scent Vacation", Mustafa begins on a beach in a grass skirt. The beach drops away and the skirt flies off to reveal Mustafa in mountaineering pants atop a mountain peak. He dives from the mountain, into water, appearing to swim through it, only to reveal it as a fishtank which passes as the camera rotates to reveal Mustafa lying on his side in white slacks on top of a piano in a lavish living room.
Responding to interest in the creation of the previous spots, an official behind-the-scenes video was released for "Scent Vacation". It reveals that much of the ad is again produced practically, with some camera tricks. For his dive from the mountaintop, Mustafa was raised on wires as the camera spun to simulate Mustafa's movement. Ultimately, the living room in which Mustafa is shown was built against a vertical wall, and the camera was rotated 90-degrees to make the room appear normally oriented.
Unlike the previous commercials, which were shot outdoors, "Scent Vacation" was shot on a soundstage. More computer-generated imagery was used in this commercial than in the prior ads. The sand and sky of the initial beach scene, and the entire mountain backdrop were added in post-production; wires were painted out, as were seams where two scenery pieces came together; fish were added to the aquarium; chocolate was added to a fondue fountain in the living room, and a stick of fondue foods were added to Mustafa's hand.
Two 15-second spots were produced, entitled "Fiji" and "Komodo", after two of the scents in the product line. In "Fiji", a beach scene is shown as Mustafa's voice is heard. Mustafa raises from beneath the sand with an acoustic guitar which he opens to reveal that it contains puppies.
In "Komodo", Mustafa appears to stand at the base of a hill atop which sits an ancient palace. The palace is revealed to be a miniature, as Mustafa opens the front wall to reveal the product. He then walks over to a komodo dragon
Komodo dragon
The Komodo dragon , also known as the Komodo monitor, is a large species of lizard found in the Indonesian islands of Komodo, Rinca, Flores, Gili Motang and Gili Dasami. A member of the monitor lizard family , it is the largest living species of lizard, growing to a maximum length of in rare cases...
and pulls open its back to reveal a cooler containing ice cream.
The three spots share a common thread of misleading items containing other items. Aside from the guitar, the palace and the komodo dragon, Mustafa also picks up a mountain goat in "Scent Vacation" which he spins around to reveal a harp.
Additional Materials
Mustafa gained significant popularity and notoriety from the initial ads, and he and Old Spice capitalized by producing a plethora of online videos featuring Mustafa in-character. In a series of videos, Mustafa responded by video to numerous TwitterTwitter
Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
posts directed to Old Spice's twitter account, including several videos directed towards celebrities. Other longer videos were created as well.
In 2011, it was announced that Fabio
Fabio Lanzoni
Fabio Lanzoni ; born March 15, 1959), widely known simply as Fabio, is a famous international Italian fashion model, spokesperson and actor who appeared on the cover of hundreds of romance novels throughout the 1980s and 1990s....
would become the Old Spice spokesman, leading to criticism from fans of Mustafa. This lead to a poll as to which spokesman viewers preferred. A "Mano a Mano" video was produced featuring a confrontation between the two.
Reception
The New York Daily NewsNew York Daily News
The Daily News of New York City is the fourth most widely circulated daily newspaper in the United States with a daily circulation of 605,677, as of November 1, 2011....
gave the initial ad a favorable mention, citing Mustafa's "wildly smug, cool-cat smooth dude persona" which "helped make the cologne commercial pop". People
People (magazine)
In 1998, the magazine introduced a version targeted at teens called Teen People. However, on July 27, 2006, the company announced it would shut down publication of Teen People immediately. The last issue to be released was scheduled for September 2006. Subscribers to this magazine received...
magazine's Blane Bachelor called Mustafa's monologue "sharply scripted" and his character "smug, and over the top". The commercial was a hit on video sharing websites, such as YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
, where it has already received over 34,700,000 views, as of 08/06/11. In June 2010 it won the Grand Prix for film at the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival
Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival
The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity is a global event for those working in advertising and related fields. The seven-day festival, incorporating the awarding of the Lions awards, is held yearly at the Palais des Festivals et des Congrès in Cannes, France...
and in July 2010 the ad won a Primetime Emmy Award
Primetime Emmy Award
The Primetime Emmy Awards are awards presented by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences in recognition of excellence in American primetime television programming...
for Outstanding Commercial.
In popular culture
The spot has been parodiedParody
A parody , in current usage, is an imitative work created to mock, comment on, or trivialise an original work, its subject, author, style, or some other target, by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation...
on Sesame Street
Sesame Street
Sesame Street has undergone significant changes in its history. According to writer Michael Davis, by the mid-1970s the show had become "an American institution". The cast and crew expanded during this time, including the hiring of women in the crew and additional minorities in the cast. The...
, where the monster Grover
Grover
Grover is a Muppet character on the popular television show Sesame Street. Self-described as lovable, cute and furry, he is a monster who almost never uses contractions when speaking or singing....
takes Mustafa's role to illustrate the word 'on'. However, his narrations do not go as smoothly: the dropped shirt fails to fall around his neck; the clam containing the tickets bites his nose, forcing him to fling it away; and despite claiming he is on a horse at the end, he is actually on a cow.
It was also parodied on iCarly
ICarly
iCarly is an American sitcom that focuses on a girl named Carly Shay who creates her own web show called iCarly with her best friends Sam and Freddie. The series was created by Dan Schneider, who also serves as executive producer. It stars Miranda Cosgrove as Carly, Jennette McCurdy as Sam, Nathan...
, on the episode "iOMG".
There was also a parody made to advertise the 2011 film Puss in Boots
Puss in Boots (2011 film)
Puss in Boots is a 2011 computer-animated adventure Western film produced by DreamWorks Animation, directed by Chris Miller , executive produced by Guillermo del Toro, and written by Brian Lynch, with screenplay by Tom Wheeler. It stars Antonio Banderas, Salma Hayek, Zach Galifianakis, Billy Bob...
.