Before 2010, Old Spice was known as the brand used by your father and grandfather. Originally manufactured by the Shulton Company in 1937, the company first launched Early American Old Spice for women, followed quickly by Old Spice for men. Purchased in 1990 by Proctor & Gamble, Old Spice took on the task of appealing to a younger audience.

It wasn’t until 2010 that Old Spice cast former professional football player Isaiah Mustafa as the “Old Spice Guy” that a marketing campaign legend was born.

With its humor, special effects and direct appeal to women, the ad quickly went viral, garnering sequels, a dedicated YouTube channel where Isaiah answered fan’s questions and a spinoff campaign featuring Terry Crews. Meanwhile, the company’s sales more than doubled and Old Spice became the year’s top-selling bodywash for men.

To recreate the ad, I could only think of one Star Wars character that carried the smooth, sophisticated confidence of the Old Spice Guy. Lando Calrissian is the most confident opportunist in the galaxy. A gambler, con artist, playboy and businessman, he’s always looking for his next big score.

While I love the older version of Lando, as portrayed by Billy Dee Williams, I felt the Star Wars Black Series 6-inch figure based on Donald Glover was a better match to replace Isaiah Mustafa as the subject of my ad parody/recreation. And of course, knowing Lando, he’d probably find some place out of the way to shoot his advertising images.

When launching a marketing campaign, it’s important to know not only who’s using it, but who’s buying it, too. The Old Spice Guy campaign worked because it appealed to women who were buying the bodywash with over-the-top promises of what life could be like if only their man smelled as good as him. Plus, it appealed to men through its humor and their desire to be as cool as the Guy.

Creating marketing campaigns that recognize two different targets (consumer and purchaser) and successfully connect with them are hard to create. But with the right story and the right message, it can be done.

When you’re ready to create a marketing campaign or strategy to promote your business and boost your sales, I can help. Just drop me a line and let’s get started.

Until next time… May the Force be with you.

Even though Cider Jack Hard Cider was discontinued in 2009, their marketing campaign and advertising like the print ad below was fun and edgy. They weren’t afraid of taking chances. And since cider is stereotypically considered a lighter or less hardy adult beverage, implying that it’s good enough for you felony-challenged mom gives it an edge that connects with a “rougher” drinking crowd than would normally be expected.

To recreate this ad, no Star Wars toys or figures were needed. Just a little bit of Star Wars knowledge and some recreational time using Microsoft Paint. Since Luke never knew his mom, the closest substitute was poor Aunt Beru, who was famous for serving Blue Milk and for being incinerated by stormtroopers looking for those droids.

When you’re creating your marketing campaign, if you have the opportunity to have fun with your copy or content, do it. In fact, that’s been the point of recreating these famous and successful ads in the first place – to have fun.

So if you want a little edge or fun in your copy, I can help. Of course, I know how to write serious and to the point, too. Either way, you can drop me a line so we can geek out over your business together.

Until next time… May the Force be with you.

When it comes to writing copy that connects with the audience, few have done it better than David Ogilvy. Known as the ‘Father of Advertising’, Ogilvy built his business on two core principles:

• The customer is highly intelligent and should be treated as such.
• Success in advertising was dependent on consumer research.

‘The Loudest Noise’ Rolls-Royce campaign is a perfect example of this belief. The longest-running and most successful campaign of its time, the ad helped the luxury car company increase its sales by 50% the year following launch. The headline has been lauded as one of the greatest ever written. All luxury vehicles of the time were advertising the same features: speed, comfort and dependability. However, Ogilvy focused on something that no one else considered but what most consumers at the time wanted… peace and quiet. And he didn’t just come right out and say it. He talked about the noise of the electric clock, not the sound of the engine.

Recreating the Ad…

When creating my parody ad, I knew the vehicle that most closely resembled an automobile in the original Star Wars trilogy was Luke Skywalker’s X-34 Landspeeder. The two-seater offered limited amenities but provided Luke and his companions a fast and dependable form of transportation in a hostile and unforgiving environment. However, being able to hear the haunting war cry of Tusken Raiders or the frightening roar of the Krayt Dragon is a huge benefit for survival. And of course, one of the noisiest things in the Star Wars universe has always been the beloved protocol droid, C-3PO. 

While the fundamental goal of copywriting will always be to sell something, the method to accomplish this varies based on the product, service and audience. Knowing the audience and trusting their intelligence will help you write copy that connects with them. However, another important thing is to help you stand out. Finding a feature or benefit that is unique to your product or service, whether it’s exclusive or you just happen to be the first to promote it, will help distinguish you from your competitors.

Until next time… May the Force be with you…

Released in May 2011, Cards Against Humanity is a ‘fill-in-the-blank’ party game for adults with responses that can be viewed as offensive, risqué or politically incorrect. The original game was financed through a Kickstarter campaign and was influenced by the popular Apples to Apples card game. One month after release, it became the number one selling game on Amazon.

The below image is an older screenshot from the Cards Against Humanity online store featuring the main game.

Known for their peculiar irrelevance and wit, the makers of the game go out of the way to make social statements about the worst parts of human nature. For example, for their Black Friday sale in 2014, they removed everything from their online store and replaced it with a single item: “Bullshit.”

Customers purchased over 30,000 boxes of sterilized bull feces at a cost of $6 per box.

For Cards Against the Empire, I opted to turn the attention against the original trilogy’s Imperial Regime and Emperor Palpatine.

When you’re creating copy, it’s important to stay in tune with the company’s brand, while providing an accurate account of what the customer is getting in return for their hard-earned money. Remember, customers buy solutions, not products or services. They’re looking for something that will solve a problem, make life easier or to create a better version of themselves.

Cards Against Humanity doesn’t simply offer its customers a game. It offers an opportunity to bond with a community of friends/family and an escape from the tedium of everyday life. Plus, it gives them a chance to voice their sense of humor and/or frustrations in the form of ridiculous answers to seemingly innocent fill-in-the-blank statements.

As a copywriter and content creator, it’s my job to do the same with the words I type – to encourage the customer to imagine the possibilities of using your products or services to do more, to get more and ultimately, to be more.

Until next time… May the Force be with you.