Let’s face it: we all wish we were pirates. Unfortunately, we are not pirates. But, if we use Old Spice Captain, we can smell like we’re pirates – the good-smelling ones. At least, that’s the story the marketing team at Old Spice is telling in its cinematic new ad campaign.
Making ads mer-morable
As visually impressive as it is ridiculous, Old Spice’s “Unbelievably Long Lasting” commercial has all the ingredients of a smashing swashbuckling tale: a few pirates, an attractive protagonist, and of course, a beautiful mermaid. Directed by Martín Jalfen, the ad features an international cast, a score that sounds suspiciously like Pirates of the Caribbean, and even an authentic pirate ship, the Nao Victoria, from the Costa del Sol in Spain. Procter & Gamble’s European senior director of personal care, Enric Jiménez Prat, remarked,
“Advertising for this category doesn’t have to be basic or boring, and our role as Old Spice historically has been to elevate it, moving it from just advertising to entertainment. I believe this is what the new campaign is doing.“
Sailing into the future with a nod to the past
Given Old Spice’s history of iconic advertisements, the epic plot of the new Captain ad aligns with the brand’s overarching messaging and its penchant for unpredictable storylines. The 2025 ad even gives a brief nod to Old Spice’s famous Super Bowl ad, “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like.” After the protagonist is forced to walk the plank, he emerges heroically from the water declaring: “I am on a seahorse,” cleverly echoing the “I am on a horse” line from the 2010 ad. As Pablo Salinas, Co-Executive Creative Director of Burns, the advertising agency heading up the campaign, shared:
“We allowed ourselves to pay homage to Old Spice’s most iconic campaign, one that made us realize that incredible things can be done in advertising.”
Old Spice plans to air “Unbelievably Long Lasting” in 40 countries across Central Asia and Europe during the coming weeks. In addition to the main ad, the campaign also features two other short pirate videos: “Unbelievably Dry” and “Unbelievably Fresh,” and in our humble opinion, all three are destined to turn many men into Captain customers quite soon… or at the very least, make them wish they could sail off into the sunset.
See if you agree by watching the ad for yourself below.
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