As far as engagement goes, it was with the star of the commercial who the fans were able to interact with mostly. Which again, great for a while, but did not continue. They cut the interaction, and abandoned their audience. They also ran a risk here, since most of the fans became fans of Isaiah Mustafa, not of the old spice message or product itself.
My point here is that Unless they continue to top themselves with their very talented videos, I doubt they will continue in long term growth of new products unless they come up with another amazingly creative campaign. In my opinion (not that I am Mashable), if they had done a better job to create an amazing fan experience, they would have a much better shot at creating longer term sales growth and retention. Perhaps what I should have said is that while Old Spice did great work with digital marketing, it did not finish the job or lay the groundwork for long term loyalty.

#1, the entire second campaign was built around interaction and buzz – real-time video responses to Tweets [1].

#2, I’d bet that the primary goal of the campaign was to increase sales, and it did that in spades: one of their products saw a 1900% increase (yes, 1900%) between February and July 2010 [2]. That’s huge.

#3, I’d also bet that a secondary goal was to change their reputation in the Gen Y age group; folks that used to think of Old Spice as that smelly cologne that dad wore now think of Isaiah Mustafa and Old Spice body wash. Considering one of their primary competitors is Axe, this is a key market to penetrate.

And hell, even kids are learning about Old Spice in a tangential way, via the Smell Like a Monster parody [3]. Can’t do much better than getting your product linked to otherwise commercial-free programming. The parents watching it with their kids will be reminded of Old Spice, and that sticks in the brains of those parents.

That spike in mid-2010 was probably just that – a spike – but I’d guess that a year later, long-run sales numbers are still up. Marketing – and that’s what the Old Spice campaigns really were – is only partially about an immediate increase in sales; it’s also about getting your brand out there into the minds, and therefore checkbooks, of your target audience.

They may have dropped the ball on their Twitter account of late, but that campaign was eons ago in Twitter terms. Twitter is real-time, and it’s live, and what happened nine months ago no longer matters. A smaller campaign, a smaller client, and yes – ongoing engagement matters a great deal, but this is Old Spice – if they decide to pick up with a new campaign tomorrow, the attention and coverage will be there because they’ve laid the groundwork already. It’s not an example – good or bad – for clients with a much smaller budget, campaign, or target.

Whether or not this campaign was a success is something that can truly only be known to the folks with a copy of the Old Spice marketing plan on their hard drives. Maybe their goal was nothing more than to have a picture of Isaiah Mustafa with a volcano Photoshopped onto his head as their Twitter background – in that case, the campaign was a complete success, because it met their primary goal.

So perhaps the question should be this: is your goal to build buzz, to convert potential clients, or both? Because building buzz is just as valid a choice if that’s your goal.

[1]: Mashable: http://hgm.bz/exhSSk
[2]: Brand Week: http://hgm.bz/fjDTCv
[3]: YouTube: http://hgm.bz/cqN2h4