# Isaiah Mustafa: Old Spice Isaiah Mustafa: Old Spice is the 2010 ad campaign starring former NFL wide receiver Isaiah Mustafa as 'The Man Your Man Could Smell Like,' the shirtless, bathroom-based pitchman for the grooming brand. What began as a Super Bowl spot turned into a real-time YouTube reply blitz that became a defining case study of viral marketing. ## Origin Isaiah Mustafa debuted as the Old Spice pitchman during Super Bowl XLIV on February 7, 2010, in a 30-second spot titled 'The Man Your Man Could Smell Like'[3]. The ad was written and produced by creatives Craig Allen and Eric Kallman at Portland agency Wieden+Kennedy, and used clever practical effects and single-take camera moves to transport Mustafa from a bathroom to a beach to the back of a horse[3]. The original video was uploaded to Old Spice's YouTube channel around the same broadcast window and quickly racked up millions of views on its own, ahead of any sequel spots[4]. - **Platform:** TV (Super Bowl) / YouTube (viral spread) - **Creator:** Wieden+Kennedy (Craig Allen & Eric Kallman), starring Isaiah Mustafa - **Date:** 2010 ## Overview The bit is built around Mustafa delivering a fast, deadpan monologue straight to camera while the set morphs around him in a single continuous take, sliding from bathroom to shower to beach and finally putting him on top of a horse[1]. The character speaks in absurd second-person commands ('Look at your man, now back to me'), and the joke works because he never breaks the confident, straight-faced pitchman voice while the world behind him gets ridiculous. The July 2010 follow-up turned the character into an interactive act: Mustafa filmed short YouTube video replies to tweets, Reddit threads and Facebook comments in near real time, addressing celebrities, bloggers and random fans by name[2]. That reply format is what pushed 'Old Spice Guy' from a TV ad into a full-blown internet catchphrase machine, endlessly quoted with lines like 'I'm on a horse'[3]. ## How It Spread The bigger cultural moment came on July 14, 2010, when Old Spice and Wieden+Kennedy locked Mustafa in a studio for a three-day real-time video response campaign, filming and posting more than 186 personalized YouTube replies to comments pulled from Twitter, Facebook, Reddit and Digg[3]. The stunt was covered by Mashable, TechCrunch, Fast Company and Jezebel within days, and Google CFO Patrick Pichette even name-checked the Old Spice YouTube 'tweetathon' during a July 2010 earnings call as an example of where advertising was headed[1]. By late July 2010, video analytics firm Visible Measures told Adweek that total web views across all Old Spice brand videos had hit 110 million, and Nielsen data cited by Mashable showed Old Spice Body Wash sales up 55% over three months and 107% over the previous month[2]. Reddit users spun up a downloadable voicemail site, oldspicevoicemail.com, using clips of Mustafa's voice, which Old Spice's own Twitter account then promoted[3]. Not every outlet bought the sales narrative, with Jezebel pushing back on the idea that the campaign directly drove long-term Old Spice revenue[5]. Even so, the character kept its status as an internet mascot: in August 2011, Old Spice Guy won G4's MEMEFIGHT bracket of 32 internet memes, beating Demotivational Posters in the final round[3]. ## How to Use The catchphrase form typically apes Mustafa's cadence, opening with 'Hello, ladies' or the 'Look at your man, now back to me' structure and pivoting into an absurd non sequitur. Video remixes often keep the single-take, background-swap gag, with edits or fan skits placing a shirtless pitchman in wildly changing sets to sell anything from software to fandoms. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### What is Isaiah Mustafa: Old Spice? It is the 2010 Old Spice ad campaign starring former NFL wide receiver Isaiah Mustafa as 'The Man Your Man Could Smell Like,' a shirtless, fast-talking pitchman known for surreal single-take commercials[3]. ### Where did Isaiah Mustafa: Old Spice come from? The character debuted in a Super Bowl spot on February 7, 2010, created by Craig Allen and Eric Kallman at Portland ad agency Wieden+Kennedy[3]. ### What does Isaiah Mustafa: Old Spice mean? Online, 'Old Spice Guy' became shorthand for over-the-top masculine advertising and for the July 2010 real-time YouTube reply campaign that helped set the template for social media marketing stunts[1]. ### How do you use Isaiah Mustafa: Old Spice? People quote Mustafa's lines like 'I'm on a horse' or mimic the 'Look at your man, now back to me' cadence in videos and captions, often paired with abrupt scene changes referencing the ads[3]. ### Is Isaiah Mustafa: Old Spice still popular? The campaign is now treated as a classic case study in viral marketing, with more than 110 million total web views reported by Visible Measures in 2010 and a 2011 G4 MEMEFIGHT tournament win cementing its legacy[2]. ## References 1. [https://techcrunch.com/2010/07/15/google-old-spice/]() 2. [https://mashable.com/2010/07/27/old-spice-sales/]() 3. [https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/isaiah-mustafa-old-spice-commercials]() 4. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owGykVbfgUE]() 5. [https://jezebel.com/5591548/alas-the-old-spice-guy-didnt-actually-help-old-spice-heres-why]() --- Source: https://meme.com/memes/isaiah-mustafa-old-spice Published by meme.com — The Internet Meme Library