I haven’t met anyone who hates everybody’s favorite body wash spokesman (and soon-to-be-Chuck guest star) Isaiah Mustafa. But Ad Age asks a reasonable question: given the popularity of the campaign and the viral nature of the ads, how much difference did it make when it came to actually selling Old Spice body wash?
The answer, according to Ad Age is a mystery. Or at least inconclusive. That’s because the market grew and other than Axe (who gave up market share to the burgeoning competition) the results look a bit similar.
Ad Age isn’t necessarily suggesting that those Old Spice commercials didn’t sell any body wash, just that a 2-1 coupon campaign by Gillette backed by some TV ads that didn’t feature Mustafa had more relative growth.
The problem with the table like the one above is that there are no absolute numbers. If there were, my bet is Mustafa would come out smelling like, well, the man your man could smell like (and Axe would probably look much, much, better, or even best).