The Old Spice Man is no longer on a horse, but he's got a few other creatures at his back.

The latest W+K effort by director Tom Kuntz for the P&G-owned brand promises unbridled (yet elegant) animal magnetism with The Wild Collection, a trio of manly new scents: Wolfthorn, Hawkridge and Foxcrest. The tagline, naturally, is "Answer the smell of the wild."

Watch the first two spots, featuring tuxedo-clad gents and their wolf and hawk companions, along with their social messaging, below. Update: According to Ad Age, the Wolfthorn spot will run during the Super Bowl — but only in Alaska, home to America's biggest wolf population.Continue reading...

Old Spice kicked off day 2 of its social gift-giving holiday campaign with a video gift to the residents of Billings, Montana, who apparently can now check out a billboard thank you, too. W+K started marketing the return of Old Spice Man Isaiah Mustafa in earnest today, buying space on Yahoo (see below) and other highly trafficked websites.Continue reading...

Yes ladies (and men)... he's back! Isaiah Mustafa, aka Old Spice Man, is back in a white towel for a limited engagement as MANta Claus (tagline: "One man. Seven billion gifts"). The five-day digital holiday campaign for the P&G brand kicked off today with tweets and Facebook posts alerting commenters they had a gift waiting on YouTube. Watch the first day of the brand's latest social media response campaign by W+K featuring the award-winning character below.Continue reading...

In branding's equivalent of the post-Johnny Carson era on TV, P&G's Old Spice brand (and its agency, W+K) keeps grappling with the post-Old Spice Guy/Isaiah Mustafa era. Following its sea captain character in September, here's its latest 'dude' for its U.S. marketing — a schlub who channels his inner hunk with the help of Old Spice body wash.

It seems the Old Spice Guy ads just will not go gently. We're already looked at numerous parodies and copycats. We've found Old Spice inspiration in the new Dairy Queen campaign. And the pitiful clones. Pity the clones.

Now, the upcoming Shrek spin-off film Puss in Boots has gone the Old Spice route, with "the cat your cat could be like" parody above. Puss isn't the only children's film getting into the parody game.Continue reading...

Old Spice is trying a variety of spokesmen in the wake of Old Spice Guy Isaiah Mustafa's face-off (then sign-off, though the character's still tweeting) with Fabio this summer. Here, the sea captain for its Swagger line, described as: "Here's a video about a man who smells better than normal and a wife that wants to kiss his lips more than normal. Nothing is normal." The tagline: "Smell better than yourself." (h/t Mashable)

Since he was introduced in a viral campaign back in March, "Focus Doug" has shown his true colors (other than orange) as an egotistical and shamelessly self-promotional spokespuppet. But the only reason that Ford marketers still put up with this fuzzy little blowhard – and, indeed, keep giving him online-only video exposure on YouTube – is that he’s helping to sell the new, 2012 Focus compact cars he’s supposed to be touting instead of himself.

“Doug has gotten Focus before hundreds of thousands of people,” Robert Parker, a group marketing manager for Ford, told brandchannel. “It’s too early to tell how many sales have resulted, but on the awareness curve – people who were aware there is a new Focus pre-Doug, versus the number of people aware post-Doug – has gone way up.”Continue reading...

What's more strange, that Robert Downey, Jr. is the voice of Mr. Peanut, or that Mr. Peanut is now flesh and blood? (above)

From the Dept. of No Self-Awareness: Man calls out ad agencies for "pointless" rebranding campaigns, calling them "the equivalent of a scam." Man himself will continue to be a professional advertising critic.

Old Spice Guy + Anchor Man Ron Jeremy = Northstar Resort at Tahoe commercial.

Yale mocks Harvard, via Facebook (references).

Art Director Study Break: "Ridiculous Vintage Men's Magazine Covers."

Following the announcement from Gucci, Oakley and Calvin Klein will also be releasing snazzy 3D glasses.

BP should probably have Tony Hayward secretly assassinated. Continue reading...