[Miss Olivia]

NEW YORK/CHICAGO (Reuters Life!) - When Procter & Gamble Co. wanted to create a younger, fresher image for its Old Spice brand, the conservative consumer products giant turned to the agency behind hip marketing campaigns for Nike and ESPN.


The results of P&G's decision to hire independent Wieden + Kennedy will be unveiled this week, with the launch of advertisements for Old Spice featuring the catch phrase "Experience is Everything."

The racy, retro ads allude to sex and male anatomical parts, marking a major departure for P&G, the top U.S. advertiser known for staid campaigns on brands like Tide detergent and Crest toothpaste.

"When they came to us, we kind of told them that they had this classic iconic brand that had been around a long time, which they were feeling was a bit of a negative," said Mark Fitzloff, a creative director on the Old Spice campaign for Wieden + Kennedy.

"The initial talks were really about how do you turn negative into positive?" Fitzloff said. "How do you turn old into experienced?"

Known for creating iconic campaigns such as Nike Inc.'s "Just Do It," Wieden + Kennedy spent about a year working on the relaunch of Old Spice, the 80-year-old brand that includes deodorant, bodywash and cologne.

One of the new ads features movie star Faye Dunaway lounging by a fire with the caption "If your grandfather hadn't worn it, you wouldn't exist."

Another displays a picture of a foot-long hot dog and the caption "What? Is there some reason we can't just have a picture of a 12-inch-long hot dog without everyone freaking out?"

The renewed energy behind the Old Spice brand follows years of ads that focused on specific products rather than selling the brand's cachet. P&G, which is known for marketing to women, is also now pushing out more products aimed at men since buying Gillette Co. in 2005.

SEX APPEAL

While the brand is still a market leader, "we had lost track of the great power that this brand has," said Old Spice brand manager Carl Stealey. He said the brand needed to be more "relevant" to younger men who are more into grooming.

He declined to say how much Cincinnati-based P&G would spend on the campaign, but said that the racy print ads are targeted at 18- to 34-year-olds.

"They're making purchase decisions for the first time, they're expanding their repertoire of male grooming products. They've evolved a little bit, if you will," Stealey said.

The marketing effort started with a 60-second spot during an NFL playoff game on Sunday, and advertisements will soon appear in magazines including Maxim, Rolling Stone and GQ.

Monica Taylor, another Wieden + Kennedy creative director on the campaign, said P&G was "always reminding" the agency of its tradition, but nonetheless welcomed the racier approach.

"We're a bunch of dysfunctional, crazy people over here so we thought maybe we can give them a little of that sex appeal," Taylor said.

But she also said the agency wanted to stay away from the more sexually aggressive advertising of Axe, a rival brand from Unilever Plc that has captured the young males that Old Spice wants to attract as lifelong customers.

"It's hard to battle a girl in a bikini," Taylor said, adding that she is proud of how women were portrayed in the P&G ads. "I don't think there's anything that we've done that is misogynistic at all."



Unfortunately, it still smells like old guy to me. I don't smell Old Spice and go, "Ooh, that's hot....come here you grandpa smellin thang."
Ick.