Bird’s-Eye: The most creative work these days, in film, in done in advertising. And that means it’s always fascinating to look at what’s new and trendy, whether you go there to “know your enemy”, or to learn how to change people for the worthy goals we all share, as opposed to the materialistic goals they all do. So take a few minutes to explore the case of the Old Spice Meme….which we know is important, because the New York Times has an article explaining why it is.

* The Beginning

Isaiah Mustapha in the first Old Spice commercial

The New York Times article: Now Mr. Mustafa, who the brand refers to as Old Spice Man, is back with a new commercial. He again begins, “Hello, ladies” and in one continuous shot manages to go from a dock, to rolling on a log, to walking on water, to strolling through a kitchen with a frosted cake, saying, “Do you want to be with a man who smells like he can bake you a gourmet cake in the dream kitchen he built for you with his own hands?” The spot attracted more than 7.2 million views since the brand uploaded it to YouTube on June 29.

* The Middle

So far it was just a hugely successful ad campaign. But then Isaiah started appearing on social media, such as Reddit, Facebook, etc creating variations on the ad, sending personal messages (one guy asked him to propose marriage for the guy to the guy’s girlfriend. He did; she accepted.) Here is the all purpose answering machine message Isaiah did for Reddit men (or Reddit women)

* The End

Reddit geeks got on it, and if you click here, you can pick and choose the numbers and phrases, and have an Old Spice voicemail message downloaded to your computer. Or if you just want post-modernism, here’s Isaiah answering a tweet from himself on youtube. Your Weekly Challenge: imagine explaining this to someone from 100 years ago.