The Coolest Thing about Old Spice ain’t Old Spice…

Old Spice hit an advertising goldmine with the inception of the wise-cracking Old Spice Guy spots, (starring Isiah Mustafa as The Guy), but not satisfied to lie resplendent on the bona-fide viral video hit of their making, the wily creatives of shirtless entertainment cum advertising launched another video stream which is racking in millions of views in the few weeks it’s been online. How so?

The Old Spice Guy is talking back to his fans directly, via Social Media. How cool is that.

Plumbing the depths of soc media sites like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, Old Spice Guy Isaiah Mustafa has been a busy bee responding via video clips to queries and commentary posted online. What a riot. Of course, many of his shirt-free responses have catered to the famous, fabulous and influential (Demi Moore, Ellen Degeneres,  Alyssa Milano, and even Perez Hilton), but he’s also gotten back to regular users, as well.

Engaging with fans and friends of the campaign, the Old Spice marketing folks are building on the burgeoning ‘viral capital’ attained thru their wildly fun videos. All this is happening on a fraction of the budget a typical commercial shoot would command, and yet it’s proving even more engaging for the audience.

Maybe it’s just me, but this seems like a helluva great idea for those pursuing cross-platform audience engagement for films, television, games and publishing interests.

Getting project-based characters involved thru video responses to fan commentary culled from targeted social media channels could potentially add dramatic benefits to a cross-platform campaign. Integrated with  Alternate Reality Games, online comic books, Twitter, Facebook, MySpace accounts, et al, this avenue of engagement could do lots for deepening the experience of a transmedia effort. The possibilities for themed environs, situations, additional characters, live streaming, etc are huge. Something worth looking into, no?

Back at Old Spice Response HQ, Mustafa’s video response to the query ‘How Many Teeth do Sharks Have?’ has racked up over a million views in 2 weeks, proving this next level social media campaigning works like crazy.

What do you think?