Not so fast Old Spice guy.

It's arguably the blockbuster of the early summer, the runaway viral hit that is Old Spice's "The Man Your Man Could Smell Like" campaign.

The litany of success is impressive. A film Grand Prix at Cannes. Mass hysteria on the ad blogosphere following its "184 personal response videos" initiative. And a recent appearance by its telegenic protagonist Isaiah Mustafa on "The Ellen Degeneres Show".

It even prompted a typically astute musing from uber commentator Andrew Sullivan that the Old Spice guy is in fact the second charming black man with a Muslim name to have successfully wooed America of late. Indeed so.

But hold on. Has he really? This is where I step in as the party pooper, reluctantly mind you, and do a number 2 all over Old Spice. For just as President Obama popularity is plummeting in the polls, so Old Spice's sales have been heading south.

According to marketing information service gurus WARC, the campaign for Old Spice Red Zone After Dark body wash, with its twelve million plus views on YouTube alone, has actually coincided with a drop of 7% in sales. Now I'm no financial expert, but that sure looks like a real negative return on investment.

This wouldn't be the first time a highly creative, award-winning campaign failed to move product, of course. In some circles it's actually a badge of honor. And no doubt there's a good reason for it. Writer Lindsay Robertson has a particularly interesting take.

My own personal view is that everyone was on Facebook watching and sharing the ads rather than going out and buying the product. Still it does raise an interesting dilemma for a brand in today's multi-media marketplace. Can virtual success be considered a real return on investment even if it does nothing for the bottom line?


(Sharing credit to Yahoo! and warc.com)