Old Spice Switches to Fabio

Old Spice has introduced a new protagonist of in a series of ads to promote deodorants with scents of exotic places. Isaiah Mustafa, who got featured in the brand’s extremely popular campaign last year and appeared in ads promoting the resort-inspired line earlier this year, has stepped off the scene to give more space to a new (old) guy, bodice-ripper Fabio Lanzoni (or just Fabio), who has starred in a set of tongue-in-cheek 30-second commercials, promoting the product. Is the new ‘hunk’ a new ‘man your man could smell like?’ Please, no.

So far, Procter & Gamble doesn’t say if Fabio is going to stay in the Old Spice campaigns for a long time, or it’s just to replace Mustafa for the time he is busy starring in a bunch of Hollywood movies. The new spokestud has been featured in four short commercials, which can be watched on a new channel www.youtube.com/newoldspiceguyfabio, ‘inspiring’ ladies to buy deodorants with smells of romantic places, such as Komodo, Matterhorn and Fiji. The new Old Spice Guy is inviting ladies to follow him on his Facebook and Twitter accounts, where he posts his ‘fabio-lous’ photos and communicates with ladies.

The agency behind the new phase of the campaign is Wieden+Kennedy Portland, of course—the creative team, which developed the idea of the award-winning promotion last year. According to AdAge, the promotion also includes “a spectacular press kit that included, among other things, a big sausage, candles and a ‘tailor-made’ video dedicated to yours truly.” Note, that on the YouTube hub, nest to the photos of the ‘hunk’, they put ‘Old Spices’ instead of Old Spice, so the whole thing with the new old man is definitely just another joke from the brand, just to generate more buzz, waiting for Mustafa’s return.