Hello marketers. How are you? Fantastic. Look at your campaign. Now back to mine. Now back to yours. Now back to mine. Does your campaign have the smell of success that mine has had? No, of course not. That’s because it isn’t mine. But can it be like mine? Perhaps. [Pause]. Silver Fish Hand-catch.

The Old Spice ‘smell like a man’ campaign went out with a bang last month fueling tremendous press coverage and particular interest in its use of social media. With Isaiah Mustafa’s individual video responses to fan and celebrity tweets via YouTube, Old Spice chalked up impressive results: 34 million aggregate views and a billion PR impressions in a week, eight of the top 11 most-popular videos on YouTube, and even a sales increase of 107% in a month.

While much of the coverage talks about social media innovation, here are some things that struck us at SALT.

1) It’s not about Social. While tempting to describe ‘smell like a man’ as a social media success story, it is important to keep in mind the cross-channel mix. This wasn’t a social media campaign; it was an integrated campaign delivered over many months with a unified creative strategy across multiple channels including TV, PR, and even couponing, etc… It was the way ‘paid’ and ‘earned’ media mutually reinforced one other which generated the viral effect.

2) Define the right strategy before defining the digital agenda. At the heart of ‘smell like a man’ was a strong creative solution, rooted in customer insight, that helped reposition and revitalize the 74 year old brand and helped them extend into a new highly competitive category. Wieden + Kennedy brought a strong creative approach that didn’t alienate other genders (not easy to do – remember backlash over Dockers ‘wear the pants’ campaign), paid homage to the legacy of the brand (maritime themes throughout; embracing the unique sense of exaggeration and bravado), and served up a refreshed approach infused with vitality and wit. Starting with a thoughtful strategy and an on-point creative approach rather than a discipline-specific agenda (e.g. social) offered Old Spice a platform upon which to build its brand and extend its campaign.

3) Leave room for experimentation, even failure. To P&G’s credit, they provided room for their agency to experiment with different approaches, and weathered some bumps in the road.  For example, the initial ‘digital’ extension of the campaign, a Valentine’s Day microsite where you could send messages to a special someone in your life proved to be a frustrating, cumbersome experience. It forced customers to sign up and wait for verification links to arrive via email. Essentially, it was a buzz kill of an experience in stark contrast to the delightful and entertaining YouTube video approach. Innovation didn’t happen overnight, there were lessons learned along the way, the hard way. You can’t innovate without experimentation. P&G’s fortitude in giving Wieden  + Kennedy  room to continue experimenting enabled their agency to create a groundbreaking campaign finale.

So before you start rushing out to do something social, ask yourself how: How can my effort connect to broader marketing investments being made? What is the overarching brand and marketing strategy?  How much room for failure can I accept?

Social media does not exist in a vacuum.  It is part of a complex marketing mix that needs to stem from sound strategy.