Linking to my earlier post about viral ads, I have found this fantastic article about that particular Old Spice advert.

Everything about it, from the unofficial name of the campaign resembling a YouTube clip (‘old spice guy’), to the shooting and broadcasting of more than 180 spots responding directly to social media comments (for two days straight), Wieden + Kennedy’s latest for P&G just may represent online media’s coming-of-age story.

Before theorizing on this campaign’s overall significance, let’s cover the basics. Wieden + Kennedy Portland created a popular character and campaign (The Man Your Man Could Smell Like) that was well-received on television, and wildly popular online. According to Mashable.com and VisibleMeasures, the two :30 second spots accumulated nearly 26 million views on YouTube as of Wednesday.

While 26 million video impressions at a $0 CPM is certainly impressive, it has been done several times before, as recently as last month with Nike’s cinematic World Cup Spot (not surprisingly, at the same 13th Street address in Portland). Good creative is good creative; it will have legs online.

What made this unique, however, is that someone found a way to focus the best that two media vehicles have to offer, and packaged them in such a compelling way that legitimacy may finally be awarded to buzzwords like ‘viral extension,’ ‘social media integration,’ and the big kahuna of them all, ‘synergy.’ Furthermore, the feats that this campaign pulled off are not realistically feasible using traditional media alone, creating a clear case for the exciting and unique advertising experiences afforded by online as an extension.

The act that justifies the above statement came in what has become commonly known as ‘Old Spice Responses.’ The product — more than 180 short-form videos made for the Web — were direct responses to questions and comments received on the character’s Twitter and Facebook profiles. The pieces, shot and released in close to real-time, were personalized to the individual, and spread like wildfire across the Web. A great overview of how it was done is available on Read Write Web. So how fast does wildfire spread? According to Visible Measures, (via Mashable,) nearly 5.9 million views in the first 24 hours. To put it in perspective, that’s more than President Obama’s victory speech, and roughly double that of Susan Boyle’s breakout performance on “Britain’s Got Talent.”

MediaPost Publications Could ‘Old Spice Guy’ Mean a Coming of Age for Digital? 07/16/2010.