Mano A Mano in El Bano

Wieden + Kennedy has started off the internet duel of the century!  Between new Old Spice guy, Fabio, and old Old Spice guy, Isaiah Mustafa. 

First of all, yes, Fabio has apparently taken over as the new Old Spice guy.  His ads focus on his superiority to old Old Spice guy and involve a lot of hair blowing in the wind and expected bad Fabio acting, or talking, or whatever you will call it.  Although I suppose it is just who he is...

The event began as Fabio challenged Mustafa to an Internet duel Monday morning.

Which was soon accepted by Mustafa.

And so began Mano A Mano In El Bano

Isaiah laid down the rules for the duel:

And so it all began.  The challenges included staring, rap, mad libs, whistle, and pushups contests.

And all the while Fabio and Isaiah replied with youtube videos through the Old Spice channel to twitter followers trying to outdo each other in areas such as leaving a better message, naming a baby, and answering any other question posed to them.

Working out.

 How to get a hot date.

Leaving an out of the office email video.

Overall, I am not super impressed with the duel.  It has received a fair amount of hits (30K + per video), but I am not sure it has hit numbers W+K would brag about yet.  I am not sure if this duel has ended... so perhaps there is more to come?

As for Fabio as new Old Spice guy, I guess it will certainly draw attention, but I think a lot of people will not like this new representative.  I think Isaiah has won a place in people's hearts (or heads at least) as that orginally, refreshingly, quirky, manly man.  And Fabio just can't quite keep up...

Although one thing I don't like about Isaiah's take in these duels.  He has apparently now elevated himself to an unhumanly, godly status.  Which poses the question, could he still be the manly MAN?  He still has some of his randomly put together phrases, but they don't quite have the style they usually do. 

Basically, I think perhaps W+K should have let a good thing die.  But we will see, maybe I will be proven wrong.

Old Spice - A new manly man?

I'm sure everyone is familiar with Wieden + Kennedy's Old Spice campaign with Isaiah Mustafa.  They are hilarious and have become a viral wonder.  From having Isaiah answer questions online and take on the radio this campaign has become a wild success.  However, there is now a new Old Spice representative to market their Danger Zone products.  He is an avid adventurer that seeks danger, but needs to smell good doing it.  For now, the commercials are not airing in the U.S., but I am sure that they will be another viral explosion soon!

Below are some of the commercials from the Old Spice campaign with Isaiah.

One of the reasons for this new man, might be Isaiah going to Microsoft.

This video for Windows Phone 7 launch in Australia is very similar to the Old Spice act in the way it is written and delivered, however it seems to be missing a lot of its originality and spunk.  I believe that maybe Microsoft was trying to keep the same personality, while not completely copying Old Spice.  I do find this commercial to be somewhat boring in contrast to his prior Old Spice ads... and I don't think it is entirely clear what the product is.

Wieden + Kennedy and Old Spice have already found alternative's to Isaiah using Ray Lewis. 
Below is a compilation of the new ads running with Ray Lewis.

Besides Isaiah somewhat betraying Old Spice, Axe is also attacking the brand.

However, despite all the hardships, with Wieden + Kennedy's genius and Old Spice's strong brand these things won't keep them down.

Below is the new ad for the Danger Zone line of Old Spice.  Different man, same hilarious commercial!  Instead of being the "Man your man could smell like" this new Old Spice man says, "Danger excites me. But I can't fully enjoy it when I smell like fear and body odor".  Valid point in my opinion. 

Thank you Wieden + Kennedy for another entertaining ad!  I look forward to more from this new Old Spice man.