By Malay Desai
From: Wieden + Kennedy, Delhi
The new spot for Old spice deodorant features model and actor Milind soman sitting in a towel in a royal courtroom. In his monologue, he begins with how he earlier had misconceptions of manliness, before realising that it’s not about Polo championship trophies, bravery awards and the likes. He then calls for a ‘helicopter’ which brings in a spray can of Old spice, and he goes on to describe its “sophisticated and Complicated” contents. The ad ends with him excusing himself to take a call from the “Chief of international relations and well-Being” followed by the product window.
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In 2008, Neil Patrick Harris (whom you came to know later of as Barney in How I Met Your Mother) appeared in an Old Spice commercial as his first TV character Doogie Howser, a charming boy-doctor. Harris had a monologue and the film was filled with bizarre moments and carried the signature tune. The global campaigns, under various taglines, too have had popular men in towels and monologues. Milind Soman is India’s Barney, and this campaign flaunts him well.
Having controversially burst on to our conservative modelling scene with an ad for Tuff Shoes in 1995 where he appeared in the buff, Milind Soman has since gained considerable grey matter inside and outside his head. At 47, he is seen as an alpha male, and his marathon running habits help the cause too. To epitomise ‘suave, sexy and mature’, Old Spice couldn’t have got a better celeb, the Khans notwithstanding.
The campaign is part of a global theme where popular men (Isaiah Mustafa being the most remarkable) have spoken bizarre things in funny settings, but that need not be known by the Indian viewer. What the folks here saw after the launch last week was a 90-something second ad with a shaky camera moment, Soman’s in the-face monologue about manliness and a pretty female model (not to forget a toy helicopter, definitely a first for the history of grooming ads).
It was immediately disliked and despised but created a wave of online conversations nevertheless. Of course the agency here knows that gold necklace saying ‘MAN’ is tacky and the lines are bizarre, but that’s the point.
When running on national television, the film surely evokes raised eyebrows without being obscene. The Indian man will laugh at it but is likely to remember Old Spice when buying a deo next because guess what, all the dozen other ads running right now look/sound similar. As for Soman, a spot poll by this writer reveals that ladies still dig him, the ad reminds them of the ‘Made in India’ video and the salt pepper hair only add to his desi Clooney image. So there, well done.
To watch this film and others, hit Youtube.com/OldSpiceIndia
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