Old Spice's Successful Social Media Campaign

By Elizabeth Dow

I’ll never forget the first time I used my boyfriend’s bathroom. Among the messy clutter, I spotted the same red container of Old Spice that my grandfather had used.

Most women wouldn’t be too pleased if their men smelled like their grandfathers, so it seems impossible that Proctor & Gamble could rebrand their 71-year-old line of deodorants and antiperspirants into the hottest trend for college-aged men.

But P & G showed us that all you need to work some marketing magic is an attractive man in a towel and a little bit of social media.

Last week, the Old Spice brand launched an intensive two-day social media campaign. In nothing but a towel, former NFL star Isaiah Mustafa spent July 13 -14 in the bathroom, recording video responses to questions from fans.

During those two days, the Old Spice Man posted nearly 200 direct video responses to Facebook questions and tweets via the Old Spice YouTube channel. Even Good Morning America anchor George Stephanopoulos took part in the fun, asking the Old Spice Man a political question, tweeting, “President’s lost some female support. How does WH get those women voters back?”

The videos, which have garnered Old Spice’s Youtube Channel more than 8 million views and over 130,000 subscribers, are entertaining, witty and just plain funny. His responses were personalized, yet appealing to all.

The viral effect of the videos is remarkable. The Old Spice Man has singlehandedly conquered both my Twitter and Facebook feed this week, as social media users buzzed about his cool charm.

This campaign further proves that social media has the power to re-brand and gain attention, even on the national level.

Elizabeth Dow is a Maroon PR intern. Contact her at edow@maroonpr.com.

Tim Richardson Discusses New Autograph Rules

By Tim Richardson; Video by Abby Draper



Tim Richardson is the Executive Vice President of Maroon PR. Contact him at tim@maroonpr.com.

Mel Gibson – The End of a Hollywood Career?

By Andrea Kunicky

Mel Gibson is back in the news again...and again for the wrong reasons. Another profanity laced rant from the movie star has been leaked out.

The tapes, which RadarOnline.com has released four parts of thus far, feature an enraged Gibson bellowing at Oksana Grigorieva, the mother of his 8-month-old daughter. Gibson relentlessly screamed C-words, F-bombs and - sadly and disturbingly - racial slurs which included the N-word.

Grigorieva did the right thing by remaining calm through most of the recordings, suggesting that Gibson get medication, and insisting she doesn't want his money. She needed to stay quiet and let him rant because she knew she would have the upper hand by the end of it. She sounded like she was maintaining her self-control to get the end result that was needed. She had every right to do what she needed to do to document his angry and abusive personality.

This situation again shows how people have to learn to watch what they say or write with communication devices, such as cell phones. Golf star Tiger Woods and ex-Detroit mayor Kwame Kilpatrick have both found themselves in trouble for things they’ve said on calls and text messages that ended up in the hands of the media.

Gibson's recent public rants could ultimately end his movie career. He survived his last public relations nightmare four years ago when he made terribly derogatory comments about Jewish people. Those comments combined with these recent rants show a horrible pattern, and this behavior won’t be tolerated even in Hollywood.

As audio recordings of these rants still continue to leak out, Gibson will have far bigger problems than his career… as these threats could lead to legal issues. Not speaking on his outbursts is certainly not the best PR strategy either.

It will be interesting to see what will ensue in these coming weeks with the outcome of the (former) Hollywood star.

Andrea Kunicky is an Associate Account Executive. Contact her at andrea@maroonpr.com.

Robert Ehrlich Effectively using Social Media in Political Campaign

By Mitchell Schmale

Back on June 14, 2010, I blogged about the 2010 gubernatorial race in Maryland and how both candidates are planning to use social media platforms, such as FaceBook and Twitter, to share their political views and deliver their campaign messages directly to voters.

On July 1, the simmering social media campaign kicked into high-gear as Republican candidate Robert Ehrlich made the long awaited announcement of his running mate in former Maryland Secretary of State Mary Kane. Ehrlich’s choice for his Lieutenant Governor may not have surprised many political analysts, but the way he made the announcement certainly did.

Ehrlich did not make the announcement at a press conference outside the State House in Annapolis or standing in front of his campaign headquarters or some other traditional campaign spot we have all come to expect in political races. Instead, he made the announcement via a You Tube video posted on his FaceBook page at 10 p.m. on Wednesday, June 30.

The timing and method of his announcement had political pundits buzzing and also re-examining the possibilities and strategies behind the use of social media in the campaign. By using FaceBook as his chosen outlet to share his news, Ehrlich made his supporters in his social media network feel connected and important to their candidate. They were getting the news first and saw a real benefit to being connected to Ehrlich via Facebook. It also provided Ehrlich an inexpensive forum to share his campaign announcement and receive initial grassroots feedback to plan for next steps.

The announcement helped pump up fans on Ehrlich’s Facebook early in the race and build a greater network for future announcements and campaigning. Since the June 30 announcement, Ehrlich has grown his fans on Facebook by roughly 6,000 people to nearly 33,000 compared to his rival Governor Martin O’Malley’s more than 12,000.

Finally, the timing at 10 p.m. on a Wednesday night was carefully orchestrated to make the announcement breaking news for 11 p.m. TV news networks across the state that night, as well as the top story the next morning during drive time.

I am sure we will see more announcements, as well as direct responses to various future campaign ads on both sides shared via social media forums as the race plays out through the coming months. Additionally, supporters and undecided voters alike will also see the benefit of following one or both candidates online to receive unedited and unfiltered campaign messages as they make their choice in November. The race is on…

Mitchell Schmale is the Vice President of Maroon PR's Corporate Division. Contact him at mitchell@maroonpr.com.

King of Public Relations

By Chris Daley

I just searched “LeBron James” on Google and the top hit under “News for LeBron James” is a headline from FOXNews.com, "LeBron James – Public Relations Genius." There are 4,473 “related articles” to this one headline with thousands of other related articles to follow. In a sense, I would agree that King James is a public relations genius. For this week anyway.

Here are a few reasons why:

• Timing is everything: This could be considered one of the slowest weeks in sports on the calendar year. I can’t think of a better time of year for this type of announcement to take place.

• Controlling his message well: I’m surprised that his decision has not leaked out yet. The people surrounding him that may know his final decision are doing a great job of keeping this thing under wraps for the big unveiling. Although we still have a few hours before 9 p.m. EDT.

• Charitable Component: Adding a charitable component when you have this much influence over the public is always nice. Having all the proceeds from tonight’s program on ESPN donated to the Boys & Girls Club of America is a nice touch.

• Taking advantage of the situation: King James and his camp are doing a great job to launch other marketing tools around this announcement which include a revamped LeBronJames.com and creating the twitter handle @kingjames that has over 310,000 followers in two days. I’d be curious to know how many people signed-up for his newsletter the past few days and what that database would be worth to potential advertisers.

Although I’m not an NBA fan, I am a fan of public relations and I would agree that someone in his position is taking full advantage of his situation. LeBron deserves this type of attention. He’s worked very hard to get to this point.

That said, I’m now curious to see how he handles his next public relations situation which could be making an impact in a brand new city, and leaving one that will have a lot of people angry.

Chris Daley is an Account Executive. Contact him at chris@maroonpr.com.

Nationals All-Star Matt Capps Talks Selection; Strasburg

Video by Stefen Lovelace

In the news for the wrong reasons… AGAIN

By Matt Saler

Once again, NFL quarterback Michael Vick is in the news for all of the wrong reasons. On June 25, Vick was at his own birthday party in Virginia Beach, Va. At some point during the evening, shortly after Vick left the venue, a shooting took place at the restaurant. Vick is denying any part of it. To date, evidence has been shown that Vick was indeed not at the venue at the time of the incident. But that being said, why is Michael Vick in the news again? Why are we even discussing this? Why on earth is Michael Vick putting himself at a place where an incident of this magnitude would occur?

These are questions that the public wants answers to… particularly his employers, his fans and the general public. Vick is still deeply entrenched in the stage of repairing his image. Why is Vick surrounding himself with these individuals? Do we ever see Peyton Manning or Donovan McNabb in situations like these? One would think that spending a year under McNabb would help Vick make “common sense” decisions about staying away from these incidents.

I want to be clear… by no means am I accusing Vick of having something to do with this incident. I am not. All evidence shows the contrary. I am simply stating that Vick needs to use significantly better judgment in whom he surrounds himself with, particularly during this delicate time.

The other day, Vick released a statement to the media regarding the event:


"On June 25, 2010, I attended a birthday party held in my honor at The Guadalajara's Restaurant in Virginia Beach, Va.," the statement read. "After I left the event, I learned that a man was shot outside the restaurant.

"I want to assure everyone that I had nothing to do with that incident. I left the restaurant prior to it occurring and did not witness what happened. Following the incident, I reported it to the Philadelphia Eagles and to representatives of Commissioner Roger Goodell of the NFL. In addition, I cooperated with and answered any and all questions from law enforcement officials investigating this matter. My statements, from the beginning, explained that I was not there at the time of the shooting and had no knowledge of the events surrounding it. I have been completely truthful and fully cooperative from the very beginning and will continue to cooperate with law enforcement and the NFL as this investigation continues."


The statement reads well and expressed his cooperation in all aspects of the investigation. But nowhere does it state that he will use better judgment in avoiding these situations in the future. One can only hope he will. His future depends on it.

Matt Saler is an Account Executive. Contact him at matt@maroonpr.com.