Before The Old Spice Guy -- Old Spice XBox Games (an advertising flop)

     Before there was the Old Spice guy, the execs at Old Spice decided that they needed to spice up their usual Old Spice coupons and in-store-display advertising routine by entering a growing sector of the entertainment market – video games.

Advergames have gotten a lot of criticism from the gaming community, because they weasel their way onto Indie gaming channels, but they’re promoting corporations and they aren’t offered for free.

     Old Spice’s games included “Old Spice Racers,” “Newton vs. The Horde,” and “The Fresh Card Game.” As if you could play away your sweaty odor on a videogame console.

       In “Newton” you use an arsenal of weapons, including deodorant, to keep stinky zombies from destroying the world. In “Card Games,” you play a poker-like game, and “Racers” is 45 levels of old-fashioned arcade racing.

        The games didn’t get any kind of rave reviews, but what can you expect from brand-based games?  I can’t imagine paying to play a virtual commercial, and I probably would’nt play a sub-par game even for free. Now that the studly Old Spice guy has revitalized the brand’s image and made Old Spice coupons cool to use, Old Spice doesn’t have to rely on half-hearted efforts at interactive media – and they’ve got the accolades to prove it. 

Guerilla Marketing: The New Way to Sell Tampons?

Marketing tampons is famously tricky – making the product sound appealing is virtually impossible. Some ads go the clinical route, explaining the research that proves why a certain tampon is most effective. Others buck science and try to make women laugh, which is admirable enough (the Kotex commercials which featured a beaver come to mind) – but just because you make a woman laugh doesn’t mean you’ll make her feel more confident about the tampons she uses. Sure, tampon coupons are a good way to get women to actually try the product – using is believing – but recently, a Dutch company pulled a tampon marketing stunt that puts all other attempts to shame.

         The company loaded a plane up with thousands of tiny, pink-parachuted tampons and dropped them above a beach during the peak of tourist season, when their product was sure to reach the largest possible audience. It makes sense, right? Kind of – if you’re on your period at the beach, you NEED tampons, but I’m not sure where the idea to play this off like a military exercise came from.

         The video shows the whole thing going down, though you probably won’t understand what anyone is saying. It doesn’t matter, you’ll catch the most important points: there are tampons falling from the sky, and the cameraman is definitely a man (he keeps getting distracted from the event he’s documenting by cute girls in bathing suits).

         The environmental impact of this is a little suspect – I hope the company came back and rounded up any stray tampons – but I can’t imagine a more aggressive marketing campaign. Maybe this means the days of good old fashioned tampon coupons and commercials are giving way to more inventive marketing that flies in the face of unnecessary period-shame – time will tell!