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KEL619

DEREK D. RUCKER

Old Spice: Revitalizing Glacial Falls

It was New Year’s Eve—December 31, 2007—but Procter & Gamble assistant brand
manager Mauricio O’Connell did not feel like celebrating. The date marked the end of a
successful first half of the fiscal year for P&G-owned Old Spice, the market share leader in male
deodorant, but O’Connell, a newly minted MBA, had been given an unenviable assignment. His
task was to address the foundering sales of Glacial Falls, which was the worst-performing scent
not only in Old Spice’s portfolio but also in the entire category.

O’Connell and the brand team had spent what otherwise would have been a holiday in P&G’s
Cincinnati, Ohio, headquarters discussing possible alternatives for revitalizing sales. Each
proposal had its proponents, so O’Connell knew it was up to him to answer the key questions
about Glacial Falls: Should he keep the scent or drop it? Should he change its target? And should
he change the positioning message?

Old Spice

History and Positioning

Born in 1934, Old Spice quickly acquired a position of dominant player in the male
deodorant and body wash category. The brand became associated with a clear and identifiable
nautical theme that remained to this day (Exhibit 1); the original packaging included images of
the clipper ships Grand Turk and Friendship. Old Spice was purchased by P&G from the Shulton
Company in the early 1990s, and with the acquisition came a decision to replace the clipper ships
with a yacht logo. Since then, the brand had continued to grow steadily by regularly launching
new scents and forms of deodorant sticks, body washes, and body sprays, among others.

In 2008 Old Spice underwent another major packaging change, this time to emphasize its
“Classic Scent.” The original white glass bottles were replaced with plastic, and the grey stoppers
were changed to red. In addition, a new slogan was created to accompany the Old Spice Classic
shower gel: “The original. If your grandfather hadn’t worn it, you wouldn’t exist.”1

1
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Spice.

©2011 by the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. This case was prepared by David Dubois, PhD ’11, under
the direction of Professor Derek D. Rucker. Cases are developed solely as the basis for class discussion. Cases are not intended to
serve as endorsements, sources of primary data, or illustrations of effective or ineffective management. To order copies or request
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OLD SPICE KEL619

Brand Architecture

By the beginning of 2008, the brand architecture of Old Spice comprised three main lines of
grooming products. “High Endurance” was Old Spice’s basic grooming line and featured an
antiperspirant, deodorant, body wash, and shower gel, as well as a hair and body wash
combination. The “Classic” line featured products with the original scent of Old Spice; these
featured a similar portfolio of deodorant sticks, body wash, and shaving products. Finally, “Red
Zone” was positioned as the brand’s higher-end product offerings of antiperspirant, deodorant,
body wash, and body sprays. Red Zone was the line that featured the Glacial Falls scent (see
Exhibit 2).

Market and Competitive Environment

In 2007 the men’s deodorant category was in a state of flux. As represented in the brand’s
fiscal year data for 2007–2008, Old Spice had 22.8 percent share of the category dollars and 24.9
percent share of category volume (Exhibit 3). It had shown growth during the year (5 percent in
volume and 3 percent in dollars), which was an achievement in a flat category. Old Spice’s media
spending was competitive relative to its market share, with the majority of spending being done at
the category brand (Exhibit 4).

However, competitors had recently increased product innovation and media spending. Axe’s
success in taking share was a significant concern for Old Spice. Axe had entered the scene with a
bold new approach: Instead of focusing on the effectiveness of its product as an odor blocker, it
had successfully promoted itself as the product for consumers who wanted to attract women. Old
Spice knew there was no guarantee that its own brand could remain strong in the category without
action. If the brand wanted a strong start to its 2008–2009 fiscal year, some action needed to be
taken.

Consumer Insights

Consumer insights indicated worrisome associations with Old Spice and an inability to
escape younger consumers’ equating the brand with “old.” Indeed, several of the sub-brands had
encountered difficulty recruiting new users among the younger male demographic. These
associations came as no surprise to the Old Spice brand team. Old Spice for men had occupied the
shelves since 1938, and the brand had long been associated with a rustic past and with older
gentlemen. Even the line’s recent advertising, which had tried to leverage sex appeal, still had a
“classic” look to it (Exhibit 5).

As a starting point for the three key questions surrounding Glacial Falls—whether to keep the
scent, how to target the scent, and how to position the scent—Old Spice asked its market research
team to conduct several different tests. Among these was a series of focus groups on a variety of
potential consumer targets in an effort to gain an understanding of what consumers thought about
the brand (Exhibit 6). O’Connell and the brand team would have to use this qualitative data to
help them make their decisions.

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KEL619 OLD SPICE

Glacial Falls

Scent

First, O’Connell needed to decide whether to drop the Glacial Falls scent from the brand
portfolio. Perhaps the scent was simply too musky for consumers and would not appeal to the
needs of a larger and/or younger group. Indeed, if the brand could not grow the Glacial Falls
scent, those marketing dollars could be devoted to a new scent that could prove more popular.
The brand had no guarantee, however, that it could develop a new scent that would fare any
better. Furthermore, even if a more desirable scent could be developed, dropping an existing scent
was not a trivial matter for the brand. Dropping an existing scent carried with it the risk of losing
precious shelf space with retailers. If retailers dropped the product, there was no guarantee that
they would replace it with another Old Spice product; instead, this might provide the competition
with an opportunity for growth. In addition, introducing a new product would likely require a
capital investment of at least $500,000. Although the cost was not problematic for a category
brand as large as Old Spice, the bigger concern, which echoed the potential loss of shelf space,
was that the time from the concept stage through the launch of a new scent was about 18 to 24
months.

Thus, dropping the Glacial Falls scent could prove very costly in terms of opening the brand
up to the competition—and it would provide no guarantee of success for a new scent. Finally—
something that did not go unnoticed by O’Connell—although data suggested it was performing
poorly in the category, the scent seemed to have a loyal following among its purchasers. Indeed,
more than 50 percent of individuals who tried Glacial Falls were likely to remain users.

Target

Assuming that Glacial Falls was continued, O’Connell would next have to choose a target for
the scent. Because Old Spice had not advertised the Glacial Falls scent specifically, it would be
easy to focus on more specialized targets. One potential option was to build on the existing target.
That is, the team had consumer insight indicating the Old Spice brand had a clear association with
older consumers. Thus, one option could be to push harder against this target.

Focusing on 24- to 35-year-olds would give Old Spice the opportunity to provide consumers
with a unique offering, making this segment easier to own (Axe’s primary target was a decisively
younger segment). Indeed, because consumers’ tendency to remain loyal to a brand increases
with age, this could prove a clever strategy to maximize profits in the long run with limited
investments in advertising.

Alternatively, the brand could focus on even younger targets, specifically 12- to 24-year-olds.
Data suggested that the younger segments seemed larger, but competing directly with Axe might
prevent capture of this target. Furthermore, going after a younger target might put at risk the
current group of product users, a group known to be loyal. After all, the type of targeting and
messaging required to lure younger users might not resonate with current users. Thus, targeting
the younger group carried with it not only the risk of not capturing the users but also that of
alienating current users.

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OLD SPICE KEL619

Positioning

Finally, O’Connell would need to decide what message needed to be communicated about
Glacial Falls. Positioning the scent required critical thinking about both the consumer insights
into the product and the scent’s options in positioning itself.

One way Glacial Falls could emphasize a point of difference would be to focus on a
functional element of the product, such as the uniqueness of its smell, the degree of protection it
offered, or how long it lasted (e.g., 24 hours). Axe represented a different positioning approach; it
had successfully targeted younger males with a more emotional appeal that promised to help them
get girls. Furthermore, Axe had recently launched “Dark Temptation,” a new scent that was
performing very well in the marketplace.

O’Connell worried that a point of difference based strictly on attracting girls would be too
similar to the strategy used by Axe. Thus, it was unclear whether there remained a more
emotional appeal that could be owned by Old Spice. Furthermore, the previous campaign by Old
Spice had focused on sex appeal (see Exhibit 5), and this had done little to grow the brand or the
Glacial Falls scent.

Conclusion
As he reviewed the pros and cons of discontinuing the Glacial Falls scent, changing the
target, or repositioning the brand, O’Connell remembered how he had quickly and confidently
made similar decisions many times in his marketing classes at the Kellogg School of
Management. The real thing, he was finding out, was much messier and more stressful than the
case writers had described.

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KEL619 OLD SPICE

Exhibit 1: Glacial Falls Packaging, 2007

Exhibit 2: Brand Architecture

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Exhibit 3: Share of Category Dollars, 2007–2008

Exhibit 4: Media Spend by Brand, 2007–2008 ($147.6 million total spend)

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KEL619 OLD SPICE

Exhibit 5: Sample Old Spice Print Ad, 2007

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Exhibit 6: Selected Consumer Insights

Jack (Male, 24): “Glacial Falls smells old to me; you can totally see an old buddy smelling like
that.”

Andre (Male, 19): “The first thing that come to my mind are icebergs . . . It is a bit distant.”

Brian (Male, 38): “It’s a great scent, tried and true.”

Joe (Male, 29): “I work a pretty physical job, and Glacial Falls is a good deodorant for me. I
haven’t needed to use it more than once a day, so it seems to have the staying power of other
deodorants. It rolls on easy, and I really enjoy the smell of the product; it definitely has a fresh
and clean smell to it. I plan to take this for a backpacking trip I'll be starting in a couple weeks.”

Greg (Male, 18): “Ha! The brand name says it all: it’s old!”

Zak (Male, 17): “I have not used that deodorant, but what I really expect from a deodorant is that
it helps me feel great, energizes me in the morning, and helps me get started.”

Limo (Male, 38): “Yeah, I don’t really know what’s going on with this scent—it’s old and fresh
at the same time. But regardless, I really don’t want to smell like my dad.”

David (Male, 28): “That’s the scent my grandpa used to use; I remember liking it a lot when I
was younger and always asked my grandpa, ‘Why do you smell so clean?’”

Andrea (Male, 19): “I don’t know Glacial Falls, but having a strong deodorant for me is really
important because it gives me that confidence I need during dates.”

Bob (Male, 27): “I’ve used it for years; it has a great smell.”

Tom (Male, 17): “I haven’t tried it, and to be honest, there aren’t a lot of deodorants that work
great for me. I really don’t know the smell I’m looking for in a deodorant. That’s a hard question
to answer. What I really want is something that makes me feel good—you know, empowered.”

Phil (Male, 25): “I have been a fan of Old Spice for many years, and I like the scent of Glacial
Falls. This is a deodorant that just does the job. Only—the name is a bit weird . . .”

Note: For purposes of confidentiality actual data from consumer focus groups has been disguised.

8 KELLOGG SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT

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