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Archives for May 2015

10 Tips to Engage Your Social Media Audience

May 28, 2015

Connect with Your Social Media Audience Online!

Top Social Media Agency

Social media channels provide you with an unmatched opportunity to engage with your customers and use digital branding to find your ideal target audience and brand advocates online. By creating a two-way conversation with your online audience you can substantially improve your digital strategy marketing efforts. Many companies start by sharing ideas, solving problems and often use contests to get started. If you’re looking to connect with your social media audience, here are 10 tips to get you on the right track.

1. Go Wide!

While it’s important to determine which social media platform is most frequented by your online audience in order to effectively target your biggest fans, you can gain significant traction by creating a presence on a least a dozen social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. Pinterest and Instagram are picking up speed amongst the millennial audiences and using sources like Tumblr and Reddit can extend your blogs.

2. Stagger Content Releases

Regardless of the type of content you choose to share on social media, whether it be videos, GIFs or text, you must ensure that it is relevant and resonates with your followers/fans. The more your audience can relate to what you post, the more likely they will share it with others. To save time, one of the top social media agencies, Catalyze Digital, recommends that you create a content calendar and publish content periodically over time, as well as re-posting your most popular content at least once a month. This will keep your content fresh, keep your audience coming back for more and improve your organic search results.

3. Mobile Friendly Content

Make sure the content your write can be easily read on mobile phones. Parse long sentences into shorter bullets, and make sure any web links are spread apart, so that users can more readily access the links on smaller screens, without the lines running in to one another.

4. Initiate Conversation

Actively solicit feedback from your fans and incorporate it in your future updates. Not only will polls and questions get the conversation started, they will also provide you with valuable insights about what’s most important to your target audience and stimulate new ideas for getting them to take action on your business.

5. Post Photos and Videos

Photos and videos are proven to appeal to customers before text based content so consider sharing photos of your business and products such as how to’s, tips, etc. And if you properly title and tag your images, it can take your organic search results father.

6. Sweepstakes and Giveaways

One of the easiest ways and most effective ways to gain attention from your social media audience is by offering sweepstakes and giveaways. A well-executed contest can generate valuable buzz about your business. It can also create a stir among potential customers who might’ve otherwise never heard of your brand and business.

7. Tell a Story

The top social media marketing agencies link to or share content on how customers solved a problem using products. You could even feature a hometown hero. This can also be blended with the content on your blog and shared on social media channels.

8. Respond to Feedback Immediately

– whether negative or positive, it is important to acknowledge and respond to feedback in a timely manner. This will not only display your professionalism, but also provide you with first-hand information about your products and services. If the feedback is negative, stay positive, don’t take offense and offer solutions to the concerns raised. If it’s inappropriate, delete it. Remember, every interaction gives you a chance to extend your audience’s perception of your brand. Take advantage of the opportunity to serve and educate.

9. Be Transparent

Remember, your audience are people too! Share more intimate company get-togethers and your own company people pics. This will help your audience relate to you on a more personal level.

10. Create Multiple Ways to Share

Last but not least: don’t limit the number of sharing options. This can be done by adding share buttons to your blog’s pages or minimizing characters in a tweet so that a link and a message can be included when re-tweeted.

Catalyze Digital

The Google 7-Pack

May 19, 2015

What is the 7-pack and how can I get into it?

No, it’s not a new term for flat and fabulous abs! Google’s 7-pack is basically the search results that highlight the business name, address, phone number (NAP) and local area map in a prominent block that is set-apart and distinct from other listings on page one of Google. The listings in this block are referred to by the best search marketing agencies as the 7-pack because there are generally seven results in this block, but this is not always the case. Sometimes the 7-pack may be smaller simply because the narrower your search or more focused, the less results and smaller the pack.

The ultimate goal of Google’s 7, 3 or however many pack is to deliver the best search experience for users. So what does this mean for you? Simply put, if you aren’t part of the 7-pack, you aren’t being found by potential customers. Take for example a search for keywords “top interactive marketing agency in scottsdale”, which brings up just seven results in the 7-pack. Yet, there are over 50 digital ad agencies in Scottsdale. So the big question business owners are faced with is how to get included in this rather illusive block of listings? Well for starters, it’s not easy, but here are a few tips to do so!

Focus on Local SEO

Pay close attention to local search directories such as Manta, Yelp, Superpages and Yellowpages, because it’s proven that a stable name, address and phone number will help the search giant learn more about your business, and hence rank them better.

Optimize your Google+ Page

There are typically two parts to the Google+ platform – Google Map listings and Google+ listings, which are visible to everyone. New pages will be linked automatically when setup through the Google My Business Platform, whereas the older G+ Local Profiles or G+ pages may not be. To check if you’re indeed in the spotlight, simply log into your Google My Business Dashboard, click on the page you’d like to manage and then on settings. If you’re not linked to Google Maps, simply check the box to link it.
The next step is to optimize the two listings and Google makes this easier than ever! Map Maker allows you to edit your NAP (name, address, phone number) data as well as map categories and the ability to edit or remove any inaccurate information. Once you’ve got this out of the way, you will need to post content just as you would do with any other social networking site because at its heart Google+ is just that – social networking platform. Expert digital marketers claim that the quality of your Google+ posts and their frequency is a key ranking factor for the 7-pack.

Other Things to Consider

Make sure you participate in social media along with Google+, have a business website and ensure that your location is included in your site’s meta descriptions.

If you need help, our digital strategist is on hand to help you create a digital advertising campaign or effective marketing strategies for your business.

Catalyze Digital

Getting On Page One of Google

May 19, 2015

Why isn’t my Website on the First Page of Google?

If you’re like me, you want your customers to find you and take action to increase revenue for your business. And one of the key ways they can find you online is by searching for you through use of relevant keywords and finding you in the number one spot on Google!

I would imagine all businesses not only want to be on the first page of Google, but in the number one spot for organic search. Any business that can crack the code on arriving and staying in this spot, while at the same time inspiring customers to take action is going to be a profitable business indeed. And since Google changed their algorithms more than 500x last year alone, it can sometimes seem a mystery as to how companies get there.

So you’ve done your research, you’ve optimized your site content for Google, you’re concentrating on improving your organic search results and keyword research. A few months go by and you notice that you’re slowly climbing up the search results, but you’re still not on page one, nor in the number one spot. What is going on?

Here are some typical mistakes we find our clients making when trying to rank for organic search:

Improper use of URL structure, Titles and Anchor Links

Establishing a strategic URL structure, supported by Titles and Anchor links are some of of the most effective ways of improving your website rankings for organic search results. Often the best SEO firms find that companies over-optimize their websites through repetitive use of brand names, excessive use of duplicate keywords, using the same title as the website url and/or failure to incorporate anchor links. When incorporated correctly, this strategy is a powerful way to optimize your site for SEO.

Poorly Written Content

Some companies focus so much on SEO tools and/or keywords, that they forget the importance of relevant, quality on-page content. The Google algorithms can tell whether content is fresh and relevant for readers. So if you are incorporating poorly written, low quality or bulk content that is not properly optimized for search, nor relevant to your reader audience, you are not going to be able to get to page one.

Optimizing for the Wrong Keywords

This is one of the easiest ways to stumble when performing SEO techniques. Many of our clients optimize for global, broad-based keywords without doing adequate research on local and long-tail keywords that are easier to rank. So organizations try to rank highly competitive keywords that are far more difficult to incorporate to improve your SEO ranking. At Catalyze Digital, we specialize in finding and ranking the keywords specific to your niche.

No Internal Linking Structure

One of the biggest mistakes website owners and even a few digital marketers make is failure to internally link web pages. Establishing a more siloed website structure, with sub-sections linked by relevancy can go a long ways in improving your SEO digital optimization. It is also helpful to get listed in online business directories.

Not Using Analytics

Do your research, do your research, do your research! Review your site analytics to determine how your customers are trying to find you. Experiment with incorporating lesser competitive keywords. Lower traffic keywords in some cases tend to convert better simply because they are more specific to your niche audience, resulting in more sales. The best way to determine what’s converting and what’s not is to use an analytics tools such as Google Analytics. Once you get the results for each keyword phrase, compare them with each other to determine what’s bringing in the best results. This will help you better optimize your website, and also learn which efforts are worth it and which ones should be let go.

If you need help, let one our digital strategist or SEO digital consultant can help you! Give us a call at 480-447-9522.

Catalyze Digital

Benefits of Original Photography for SEO

May 19, 2015

Why Should You Incorporate Original Photograph to Improve Organic Search?

Scottsdale digital marketing consultant creates original photography
Original photography boots your SEO!

You’re probably familiar with the axiom “A picture is worth a thousand words” and this is especially true when working to optimize your website for organic search.

Research proves that images play a crucial role in enhancing the visual aesthetics and brand value for a user’s website experience, yet are often overlooked or neglected by many digital marketing professionals. The use and importance of original photography cannot be understated. Our digital strategist recommends incorporating the right images, which can lead to greater click-through rates on calls-to-actions, thereby increasing conversions and return-on-investment (ROI.) Creating a library of original images (including staff portraits, photos of your office, building, neighborhood, manufacturing process and products) is a great way to extend your brand in a more relevant and personalized way. Use of original photography also helps your clients get to know your organization on a more intimate basis, leading to what I like to call “brand-trust.”

Original photos will prove valuable not only for your core business website, but will also add significant value for your social media channels. As you showcase your brand in a more personal way, you connect with your users at a more emotional level. It’s simply a different type of storytelling. Layering in stock photos while helpful, does not have the same powerful impact as original photography.

Use of original photography not only gives you greater control over your digital branding imagery and messaging, it can provide an astonishing digital marketing edge over your competitors when it comes to organic search. That’s because every single image has the capacity to add a title, an alt-title, keyword tags, description and meta-tags. That means your images are working double-duty over-time for you, serving as both brand-trust and SEO digital modifiers. Use of original photos gives you an entire new tool for keeping your site content fresh, updated and “craw-lable” by the search engines, providing greater rankability and a competitive advantage to getting onto page one of Google.

Reasons to use HQ Original Images for SEO:
• Encourage social media shares
• Provide clarity and support for on-page content
• Infuse originality into your posts
• Ability to provoke emotional reactions
• Advantageous for visual learners
• Increases the sites professionalism and brand appeal
• Makes posts memorable
• Holds attention longer
• Tag-able at multiple levels to increase organic search

One complaint we hear from our clients is that creation of original photograph is costly. Yes, it’s expensive AND the investment works on your behalf, to deliver a significant return in value, rewarding you handsomely in future dividends.

Our last caution is to be sure you compress and optimize your images, so that you do not detrimentally impact site load times.

In summary, the advantages far outweigh the disadvantages of using original photography for digital branding and SEO results. You will reap many rewards, including improving your SEO marketing strategies, improving brand perception, brand trust and brand value, return on investment and a competitive edge in storytelling, unique selling proposition and personal user experience.

Catalyze Digital

SEO Best Practices

May 15, 2015

What Are Five Key Ways To Optimize Your Search Results

SEO or search engine optimization is the process of organically improving your website’s ranking and visibility in search engines (outside of paying for specific advertising keywords) to drive consumer action and sales. Search marketing agencies achieve this for you by incorporating SEO digital friendly elements into a website such as relevant keywords, urls, title tags, anchor links, meta tags, image tags and more.

Because Google SEO algorithms are changing rapidly (they changed 500X in 2014 alone), it’s important to keep up with the latest trends and updates to maintain your online marketing edge. Getting to the top is one thing: As a top SEO firm, our goal is to get you there and KEEP you there!

Here are five best SEO practices, which, when implemented correctly, will help you boost your online marketing results and increase your ROI.

1. Content is Still King
What you write in page content on your website matters! Based on what we’re seeing with the most recent algorithm updates, the search giants are focusing less on proper keyword saturation and much more on quality of content and it’s relevance to keywords searched. We cannot overemphasize the importance of ensuring that the keywords your customers are most likely to use to search for you online being added in a natural way to your site copy. The practice of creating high quality content is critical. It’s important for you to focus on the value your content provides to readers.

2. Mobile Friendly Websites will Soar in Rankings
The most recent Google algorithm change was all about mobile, mobile mobile. If your website is not optimized for mobile, you are going to lose rankability. Research indicates that in this year there will be an upwards of 50 billion searches made using mobile devices, so it’s best to leverage these results as soon as possible to create effective mobile marketing strategies. Incorporating responsive web design is a great place to start.

3. Online Security will be another Key area of Focus
eMarketer recently estimated that the ecommerce market online is worth multi-trillions of dollars! That’s big business…and with ecommerce and other payment processing websites now becoming increasingly popular, businesses that incorporate the proper security measures in their domain url structures (such as HTTPS instead of HTTP) and the use of proper security certificates (SSL) will grow in search engine rankings.


4. Visual Based SEO will be Given More Priority

Embedding original, high quality images, graphics and video will transform your website into a search engine results machine. Every one of these pieces of content not only improves your digital branding perception, but also can be tagged for titles, and descriptions for search crawlers to find you. If search crawlers find you, your rankings increase, your visibility increases and then your customers can find you and take action. And with video exploding online, you can combine the use of visuals with your social media strategy to create high performing, results-getting assets for your website. Rich text combined with appealing visual elements compared to just text based web pages will dominate your competition.

5. Negative SEO is DETRIMENTAL to Your Business
If you work with a Black Hat search company employing spammy links directed towards competitor websites, you will be penalized appropriately. Considered negative SEO, this detrimental approach could get your website permanently de-indexed from Google! Simply put, don’t do it!

Catalyze Digital

Five Simple Steps to Improve Online Results!

May 15, 2015

Are you overwhelmed with all the online marketing channels available to help your business convert sales online? If so, you’re not alone.

According to a Emarketer’s recent Digital Trends Report, there are 15 things you need to know for 2015 if you’re going to develop a success digital advertising campaign (and I’m sure that’s just the tip of the iceberg). Here are just a few for you to consider:

First – Responsive is your key watchword for 2015. You must figure out how to deliver a consistent message across fragmented screens and consolidated networks, or as I like to call it have an omni-channel presence. It’s imperative for your brand to be present, actionable and relevant across an ever-expanding array of devices, interfaces and touchpoints.

How do you do that? Well, the key issue that might raise for your business is media-splintering: how the heck do you spend the same advertising dollars to get your brand message and story across multiple channels and fragmented screens.

The key for you is real-time personalization. You have to get the message to the right people at the right time. 35% of US internet users said they would like to receive personalized ads or recommendations online. 67% want personalized email, 44% social media, 40% mobile, 36% display. Your customers want recommendations and reviews for specific products, customized webpages, emails, etc.

So how do you do that?

Well, for one, you break it down. Catalyze Digital, Scottsdale’s best digital ad agency recommends that you start with mobile and search:
Mobile touches everything and by the end of 2015 will represent 70% of the total US search audience. Add to that, in April 2015, Google changed their algorithms for getting your website ranked and if you’re not optimized for mobile, chances are, you’re not going to be found, especially on page 1. You’ve got to have a mobile presence and your website has to be SEO optimized for mobile.

Speaking of search engine optimization: did you know that Google changed their algorithms more than 500x last year alone? To help you get on top of organic search, our digital strategist recommends that you work with one of the top advertising agencies who understands how to dominate your competition with organic search results.

You know, with the internet revolution, we are truly in the technology age with 24/7 always-On Commerce and a shopping state of mind. That EMarketer report I referred to, states that the Internet of Things is becoming a THING and could quickly develop into a multi-trillion dollar market. If you’re like me, you want a slice of that pie for your business. You have to have an online presence and be found to get in on it otherwise, you might just be getting pennies on the dollar of what you could be earning online.

Giving your customers the ability to buy through your social website, or social commerce could be a new untapped resource for you.

What about content? I don’t know about you, I’m continuing to see an explosive growth in online content! Consumers are so bombarded by content that cutting through the clutter is getting harder and harder. So what do you do? Your business has to focus on content marketing using relevant, search optimized keywords. You’ve also got to take advantage of social media sharing, which is all about Ego, Info and emo. People share to gratify their ego, to spread information or to create an emotional connection. If you want to reach your consumers, gear your content to ego, info and emo.

And another thing. People are not just creating content by writing and sharing. Video is exploding exponentially online as well! Your customers are creating, watching, spending money on and interacting with video at the fastest pace ever. In 2014 alone, there were over 182.5m US video viewers = 75% of all internet users. In addition, 40% of social network users watch TV or online video and simultaneously chat about it online. That’s big business folks! Using Video SEO is another great way to go.

Did you know that you could make a relatively quick shift in your business simply by seeding videos with reviews by high profile online digital branding influencers?

You don’t want to be left in the dust and lose control due to the increased consumer participation and speed of online communication. So just a few more things our digital consultant recommends you focus on are:

A) Improving your brand personality online, through mobile, search, social and video.
B) Becoming consumer-centric – and find the brand advocates for your business.
C) Cut through the clutter by properly optimizing your site for search.
D) Drive your content outward. Make it Snackable, Multichannel, Technology and data-driven
E) Provide quick-hit insights to speed your consumers buying decision and instant opportunities to up-sell/cross-sell by targeting them while their wallets are open.

Want to know more? Need help with your online marketing plan. Give the best SEO firm a call today at 480-447-9522 or go online and fill out our Discovery Form. We’ll give you a FREE SEO report card of how your website is doing today.

ARTICLE SOURCE REFERENCES:
1 Consumer Affairs. 14 Trends for 2014. Robert Passikoff. November 19, 2013.
2 eMarketer “Key Trends for 2015”. December 11, 2014.
3 On Brands and Word-Of-Mouth, October 11, 2011.
4 WebVideo Marketing Council. 2013 Online Video Marketing Survey and Business Video Trends Report. October 29, 2013.
5 JumpTap and Comscore. “Understanding Today’s Cross Screen Consumer.” September 5, 2013.
6 Harris Interactive blinkx Survey. April 2013.
7 eMarketing MidYear Trends update, June 20, 2013.
8 ChoiceStream August 2012 Survey.

Catalyze Digital

A Brilliant Social Media Campaign

May 15, 2015

Isaiah Mustafa social media
Isaiah Mustafa in the Old Spice “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like” social media campaign.

“The Man Your Man Could Smell Like” Campaign Redefines Social Media Success!

As you may know, social media has literally changed the way companies connect with their target audience online, providing multiple channels for companies to engage on a personal level with digital brand influencers and purchasers. Creating the best social media marketing campaign or digital advertising campaign is one of the most sought after and elusive effective digital marketing strategies today. The creation of these new consumer outlets, has literally changed the way top top ad agencies conduct business, creating entire departments and positions dedicated to developing the ultimate Omni-channel social presence, connecting companies with two-way communication channels via their online fans. Creating a campaign, which is both enticing, personalized and that accounts for both positive and negative feedback from customers is a challenge indeed. Another important factor to take into consideration is the process of monitoring the performance of specific keywords and Internet marketing efforts that are executed through social media channels.

Social media channels can serve as a relatively inexpensive platform for the best social media agencies to help companies like yours to implement online marketing strategies, partly because the channels themselves are easily accessible by anyone with an Internet connection. Whether you’re launching a new product, service or simply opening a new business altogether, social media campaigns have the potential to generate buzz and big business results when done right.

Successful social media campaigns have a number of common characteristics including quality content, on- and offline push marketing, measurable data, well branded trust and value offers. Well-crafted social media marketing has the potential to build long-term loyalty with your customers and boosted sales and ROI.

In my opinion, one of the most famous and brilliantly executed illustrations of a social media campaign created by one the top advertising agencies is the Old Spice “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like” campaign. You can watch the video here:

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owGykVbfgUE[/youtube].

Although it’s an older campaign; the relevance of this digital strategy campaign’s success is as critical today as ever. Following is a case study our digital strategist conducted on the campaign, breaking out the crucial elements contributing to its success.

Old Spice “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like” Campaign Analysis

During the February 2010 Superbowl, Procter and Gamble (P&G) released a commercial produced by Wieden and Kennedy to try to stimulate sales for their lagging men’s aftershave product, Old Spice. “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like” campaign went on to become one of the most successful integrated marketing advertising campaigns of 2010. The TV ad even won the Film Grand Prix at Cannes, France. Today, that ad posted on YouTube has more than 50 million views and caused a viral sensation via multiple communication channels launched online.

Using the Old Spice example, my digital marketing case study will prove that it is possible for a company to significantly increase sales of a mature product-line through calculated risk-raking and creative genius, rather than reformulating the product itself. While P&G did repackage Old Spice three years prior to the “Man Your Man Could Smell Like” campaign, they’ve never reformulated the scent and the repackaging at that time did not notably impact sales. Essentially, it was Wieden and Kennedy who took an outdated, old-fashioned (some might even say smelly) old man’s cologne and modernized the brand through an intelligently applied creative ad campaign.

Old Spice for men was originally created in 1938, which makes the brand over 60 years old. What is unusual about this particular multi-channel campaign is the fact that P&G literally took a gamble to drastically change market perception of a successful brand with a long-standing history. The ad campaign used tongue-in-cheek humor and innovative communication channels to push the boundaries of the brand in order to reach a younger audience demographic. The result was that Old Spice connected with a new audience and increased sales without ever changing the formula. The product itself was practically irrelevant. The ad campaign on the other hand, was a skyrocketing success. What the company did to execute the campaign and why it worked:

1) Campaign:
The TV commercial starts out featuring a shirtless, toweled Isaiah Mustafa (actor and former NFL wide receiver) addressing ladies about how a man could do anything if he uses Old Spice’s brand of shower gel and cologne. The monologue is as follows: “Hello ladies, look at your man, now back to me, now back to your man, now back to me. Sadly, he isn’t me. But if he stopped using lady’s scented body wash and switched to Old Spice, he could smell like he’s me.” The commercial then pans to Isaiah, still shirtless, wrapped in a beach towel and then in white linen pants on a yacht and the monologue continues: “Look down, back up, where are you? You’re on a boat, with the man your man could smell like. What’s in your hand? Back to me. I have it, it’s an oyster with two tickets to that thing you love.” (Tickets appear in a large seashell). “Look again.” (Tickets change to diamonds streaming out of large seashell). “Tickets are now diamonds. Anything is possible when your man smells like Old Spice and not a lady.” The ad then pans to Isaiah on a white horse (still shirtless of course). “I’m on a horse.” Horse nays and tagline appears: “Smell like a man, man. Old Spice”

Extending the brand beyond the TV commercial and YouTube video, the campaign was then launched on Facebook, Twitter, it’s own website, on a blog, via an Old Spice Voicemail Generator and then Isaiah began receiving invitations to appear as a special guest on talks shows such as Oprah and Ellen DeGeneres and eventually, personally responding to more than 180 questions/ comments via new videos released online.
The idea of all of this phenomenal fanfare, was to take a brand that was considered to be your “dad’s aftershave2” and make it current and relevant in a growing competitive market which includes 20+ brands, including formidable competitors such as: Dial, Dove, Nivea and Irish Springs and which is dominated by Axe. While Axe is positioned for “hormonally charged teenagers and 20-somethings”, “Old Spice positions itself as the grown man’s shower gel…for men who are young enough to consider using scented shower gel, but are old enough to have an adult lifestyle that includes a mature relationship.”1
Wieden and Kennedy claims that the mass media exposure has reached more then 1.4 billion campaign impressions and that “more people watched its videos in 24 hours than those who watched Obama’s presidential victory speech!”2 In addition to the TV commercial and YouTube video, the campaign extended to multiple communication channels online, including:

• A dedicated website who’s traffic has spiked more than 300% since the launch of the campaign
• #1 Most Watched Branded YouTube Channel
o Updated YouTube Old Spice videos
o Behind the scenes Old Spice Fiji video
o Multiple Parody videos:
• The Cookie Monster Parody has over 11 million views!
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkd5dJIVjgM[/youtube]

• The Child Parody has nearly a million views:
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGbK0YiOKWo[/youtube]

• The Old Spice Facebook Fan page has over 2.5 million “Likes”

o Ranked 12 out of 20 top Facebook Fanpages by INC magazine
• 180 videos created by Isaiah Mustafa to respond to fans

• Blogs

• Twitter – nearly 250,000 followers

• An Old Spice Voicemail Generator

• Appearances on the Oprah Show, Ellen DeGeneres’s show

2) Target Audience:
The campaign is aimed at both women and men: the Old Spice Guy addresses “Ladies ” at the beginning of the commercial and throughout the ad, but the tagline at the end is, “Smell like a man, man.” According to Wieden and Kennedy, women make more than half of all body wash purchases; so they strategized a way to get couples to talk about body wash and for the first time, targeted both men and women together as a couple. The idea was to get the couple talking about the best body wash for the guy, and then to get the woman to go to the store and put the product in her cart and buy it.
The media buys where the ads were placed were purchased specifically on the criteria of targeting couples aged 18-34. Example placements included: during American Idol, the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, the show Lost and in previews for the movie Valentine’s Day. The results were that “In the first three months of 2010, the brand captured 75% of all conversations in the category, with over half of this buzz generated by women.”2

The campaign is considered to have successfully targeted both men and women, but most importantly in building relationships with the men who use the product: “It’s been almost 2½ years of not taking ourselves too seriously,” says Jay Gooch, Old Spice brand spokesman. “And we’ve achieved the goal of deepening our relationship with 18-to-34 males.”3

What is interesting to note is that when P&G first purchased the Old Spice brand in 1990 from American Cyanamid, the majority of the brand’s target audiences were men over the age of 50. P&G quickly realized that as their demographic began to age and die-off, they would begin to lose market share and sales. So they began an initial strategy to target younger men to bring them into the brand sooner and keep them there longer. From what I can tell in my research, P&G were ok with cannibalizing the older demographic in order to fuel sales with the youth audience…and through the “Man Your Man Could Smell Like” campaign, their strategy paid-off.

3) Analysis:
In terms of credibility, I believe the campaign starts out using goodwill. They establish trust with the audience via a good character, namely Isaiah Mustafa. Isaiah was already a well-known NFL wide receiver and successful actor who had previously appeared in numerous TV shows, including NCIS, Days Of Our Lives and Ugly Betty. Isaiah is fit, handsome and articulate and thus a pretty believable character. He is also likeable, humorous, and some might even say loveable. He’s positioned to women as a sex object and metaphorical modern-day knight in shining armor on the white horse (minus the armor). He could also potentially be seen as the protagonist in any standard romance novel. For men, he is the man men aspire to be like. What man doesn’t want to be a famous football player or actor? The sex appeal comes from capitalizing on Isaiah’s fame and of course on his immaculate pecs and abs by showing him shirtless in every single shot. The ad keeps the audience in a suspension of disbelief as Isaiah is transported seamlessly from a bathroom to a yacht to the back of a horse on a white sand beach somewhere.

The campaign moves from public/mass persuasion of TV/video and interpersonal messaging, to deeply personal, highly targeted responses. Wieden and Kennedy did this by implementing a two-way communication channel with fans via multiple sites online, starting with Facebook. “Facebook is a significant part of this 73-year-old brand’s newfound edge, says P&G spokesman Mike Nortan, pointing to the comments posted by millions—1,314,456 to be exact—of smitten fans.” “Old Spice uses Facebook to connect with our fans on a one-to-one basis,” he says, adding that promoting active discussions and product giveaways on the page have built brand loyalty among customers.”4

The Old Spice Twitter site experienced growths in tweet conversations from a couple of thousand to over 61,000 tweets in a single day. People wanted to hear what Isaiah had to say. Isaiah then took the conversation a step further with the help of Wieden and Kennedy, actually sifting through hundreds of messages on the social networking channels such as Facebook, Twitter and Blog responses to create more than 180 video responses to questions and comments posed by fans. The videos actually address specific fans by name/id to create a more intimate, personal, one-on-one relationship with the fans. The fans themselves could then take personalization another step further by commenting on and sharing the video responses and even by adding Isaiah as the voice in their own personalized voicemail message on their cell phone.

To me, this level of personalization truly addresses emotional appeal across multiple categories. First of all, the videos and video responses are funny. And in this case, the humor works really well. One of my favorite videos is the one where Isaiah signs off to his followers and then immediately afterwards, a fish drops from above and into his hands, proclaiming “Silverfish handcatch!”

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFDqvKtPgZo[/youtube]

Secondly, the entire campaign addresses individual alienation. It targets people who want to be part of a group. How so? The responses on YouTube in terms of the parody’s created by people mimicking the campaign are a perfect example of how well the campaign “hit the nail on the head”. There are hundreds of videos from people copying the campaign and thousands of comments on the videos themselves, exemplifying the fact that people wanted to be part of this campaign. Furthermore, many of the parody videos have more than a million views, meaning that people were watching the parody’s nearly as much as some of the original content, thus participating in the responses of others (or participating in the “group).

The campaign also addresses self-esteem. To say, “smell like a man, man” is pretty specific. It gets women to want their men to smell better (and hopefully to look like Isaiah Mustafa in the process) and it gets men to want to smell better and be more “manly” by using the body wash that an NFL wide receiver and actor uses.

In terms of sex appeal, well, just look at the guy. Mustafa is hot and as I previously mentioned, the ads across the board capitalize on his handsome looks, articulate voice and pristine pecs and abs. He is shirtless in every single visual image. Clearly, the campaign is trying to use sex appeal to sell.
The campaign seems to go for the status angle, by putting Mustafa on a yacht; however, the creative is done in such a way as to still be tongue-in-cheek humor. The status of the yacht is really sort of a “fake-out”. I believe that the yacht and diamonds are there not so much as for status, but really as a way to catch the women. (Remember, women are the key purchasers of body wash products in consumer households). What woman doesn’t want to be taken on a yacht ride with her man or be given a diamond? Either way, it worked! Before the campaign, Old Spice was thought of as a dying brand. After the campaign, the brand was successfully repositioned to go after a younger, more current audience.

Symbols used in the original ad campaign include: a yacht, tickets to a show, diamonds, and a white horse. For me, the yacht seems to represents wealth, but I feel it is really more about having a dream date with a shirtless Isaiah. The tickets represent romance – i.e.; if my man uses this body wash, he’ll actually plan a date for me (and maybe the date will end up on a yacht afterwards). The diamonds represent love – they are reminiscent of (or a take on) the DeBeers “Diamonds are Forever” tagline. And the white horse is of course the ultimate in romance modernized; my knight coming to take me away on a white horse. The romance idea is modernized using a famous NFL player/actor in white linen pants and no armor, but still using the timeless symbol of the white horse.

In the updated Fiji commercial, they use fireworks, a harpsichord, water, chocolate fountain, grand piano and fireplace. All of these represent romance and the fireworks, water, and fireplace specifically allude to making love or having sex.

The campaign also did a superb job in terms of branding and consistency. Every single channel implemented uses similar imagery, language, colors, styles, fonts etc. There is no disconnect between look and feel of the Facebook page versus the website, the YouTube branded channel or Twitter. The consistency of the brand created a unified voice across the multiple channels truly extending the brand presence online and I believe contributed towards Wieden and Kennedy achieving the 1.4 billion campaign impressions.

4) Conclusion:
A) Was the campaign successful?
In terms of pure media exposure: yes, absolutely incredibly successful. It’s one of those once in a lifetime campaigns where everything lined up for phenomenal skyrocketing success.
• 1.4 billion campaign impressions
• 50+ million YouTube views
• #1 Most Watched Branded Channel on YouTube
• More than 2.5 million Facebook fans
• Top 12 of 20 Best Company Facebook pages
• 250,000 Twitter followers with more than 61,000 comments in a single day
• 300% increase in website traffic

B) The campaign is a huge viral and media exposure success, but has it increased sales?

The answer is an emphatic yes! According to The Nielsen Co. and new data from SymphonyIRI Group…. “Over the past three months, sales jumped 55 percent and in the past month, they rose 107 percent”5: making Old Spice the #1 scented body wash for men. This is truly one of the most successful ad campaigns of 2010, if not the past decade!

C) What can we learn from this campaign?
What I learned is the following:
• A new scent did not sell more Old Spice (the product was never reformulated).
• New packaging and branding did not sell more Old Spice (the packaging was redone three years ago without a large, incremental increase in sales).
• Targeting a younger audience demographic did not sell more Old Spice. P&G began targeting away from men 50+ and towards men 18-34 more than 10 years ago. (They may have had a small lift in sales between then and now, but nothing like the 107% growth generated from this particular ad campaign).
• The humorous idea of tongue-in-cheek advertising did not sell significantly more Old Spice (P&G began the move towards irreverent ads in 2007).
• Based on the above, the product seems almost irrelevant.
• What sold more Old Spice was an incredibly creative, well executed advertising campaign that connected with people at a deeply intimate, personal level, inspiring two-way communication with the brand as well as individual contributions of people’s own videos, comments/feedback. The campaign was not only pure creative genius, it successful garnered audience participation through multiple digital channels online to connect with consumers to sell more product.
• The genius advertising campaign that effectively used goodwill, personalization, emotional appeal, symbolism, individual alienation, self-esteem and sex/romance…is what sold more product!

Article Research Sources
1 Old Spice, a Social Media Success Story by Jim Reynolds. July 10, 2010.
2 Wieden and Kennedy’s Old Spice Case Study by Robin Grant. August 10, 2010.
3 USAToday Ad Track: Kraft, FTD, Western Union adjust ads for recession. Bt Theresa Howard. May 11, 2009.
4 INC magazine: 20 Best Company Facebook Pages. March 2011.
5 Brandweek: Old Spice Campaign Smells Like a Sales Success, Too. July 10, 2010
By Noreen O’Leary and Todd Wasserman

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