There have already been tons of articles written about last week’s Old Spice YouTube-palooza, so I’m going to try to take this back to small business marketing. 

Yes the Old Spice social media and advertising campaign was about engagement and certainly a win for the creative team. What got me was the shift in the target audience: this is a product for men; these ads were aimed at women (presumably buying it for men).

Men’s ads can be “cool.”

I’m a girlie girl that likes my mani-pedis, good wine and bubble baths, but rarely do I tune into any of the ovary channels. My TV viewing does skew towards pretty, pretty men, but that’s another story.

I also like sports (Geaux Tigers! Go Braves!) so I end up seeing many ads clearly not targeted to my demographic. SportsCenter commercials are just made of win and the Espys have become a legit awards show, but there’s junk too.

Axe, GoDaddy, stupid Paris Hilton burger spots: masognistic, sexist crap that for better or worse, hits its target audience. AMP ended up with lots of free ink when their lame iPhone app got the smackdown from the PC police.

If you hawk beer, you gotta have game.

Don’t care the brand, almost the worst beer commercial aimed at men is better than practically anything targeted to women. A few of my faves:

• Heineken’s closet ad. Love.
• Budweiser: Almost anything Clydesdales or anything Bud Light from the Super Bowl.
• Dos Equis. The Most Interesting Man in the World series rocks!

These are spots you want to watch and to hear. The radio extensions of these campaigns are brill, and when I hear one of these commercials I don’t scan to the next station, I turn up the volume! Take a listen.

• Bud Light’s Real Men of Genius. Mr. Giant Foam Finger Maker. Mr. Rolling Cooler Cooler Roller. I salute you, Mr. or Ms. Snarky Advertising Copywriter.
• Dos Equis’ The Most interesting Man in the World. He’s never needed lip balm. He went to a psychic once… to warn her. I want to hang with the Dos Equis guy.

I get why ads pushing yeast cures and other girlie products aren’t exactly easy marks for edge and comedy, but that’s no excuse.

Kotex has tried with these “meta� Reality Check and Ethnic Ambiguous spots, but it’s MEH. I could rant for days on the FAIL! for laundry products.

What @OldSpice can teach you about small business marketing

• Audience. Target the right audience, the right way. Talk to your customers, sure you may be selling your man caves to the men, but with the ladies’ ok.
• Message. If you’re a small local Atlanta business, that is your story, the difference maker. Don’t hide it, us it. In your copy, marketing and PR. Like Atlanta’s King of Pops.
• Engagement: These spots were aimed at high followers and media outlets for good reason. Look at your key influencers, read their blogs, follow them on Twitter and develop that relationship.
• Flexibility. That’s how they did 184 ads in a day, killed YouTube and earned tons of publicity. They didn’t focus group or test. They trusted the talent, the marketing experts to stay on message, represent the brand.
• Creativity. If you’re a small business owner going against the big chains, this is your time to shine. Forget worrying about offending a whole country, having to dumb down to the lowest common denominator. Make your ads, your marketing fresh and inventive. Dare to be different, because you are.

Did I answer my original question about why ads aimed at women often suck? No. But thanks to @OldSpice and the beer salespersons of the world, I offered some ways to fix it. FWIW.

Have a good ad for women or a small business marketing idea you’d like to see or share? Post it here.

Tags: Advertising, Creativity, Marketing, Public Relations, Social media, YouTube