Dive Brief:

• Old Spice launched a humorous new campaign to promote its line of men's hair styling products that embraces grown out quarantine hair, according to details the company shared with Marketing Dive.
• The Procter & Gamble brand's "Hats are Dumb. Hair is Awesome." effort includes several videos to promote the idea that men should stop covering their grown out hair with hats and embrace the shaggy look. The brand created several claymation ads showing men losing their hats in nature but enjoying the resulting look.
• Additionally, Old Spice is teaming with professional athletes Cody Bellinger, Travis Kelce, Tyler Herro and Christian Yelich from football, basketball and baseball for humorous Instagram videos.

Dive Insight:

Some consumers are still delaying haircuts even as lockdowns have eased in some regions and many barbers have resumed services, a relatable sentiment that Old Spice is tapping into with its new campaign focused on shaggy men's hairstyles.

The pandemic has led to the rise in DIY home haircutting or in people simply growing out their locks. This scenario offers an opportunity to personal care brands like P&G's Old Spice to promote styling products and boost sales in the category.

Old Spice's latest campaign aligns with the brand's irreverence and may appeal to target consumers with humor that encourages men to embrace lockdown hair and try new products rather than covering up with a hat. By activating popular athletes from professional sports on their personal Instagram pages, Old Spice is looking to reach overlapping audiences in a more organic setting and lean into the players' social media networks. Influencer tie-ins like this are often designed to reach millennial and Gen Z audiences that may follow their favorite players on Instagram.

This shaggy hair campaign targeting male sports fans follows a similar effort from two years ago when Old Spice tapped NFL brothers Jason Kelce of the Philadelphia Eagles and Travis Kelce of the Kansas City Chiefs to promote the launch of its first beard care collection. The products were sold exclusively on Amazon at the time, and the accompanying marketing campaign used funny, lighthearted videos on social media. Humor appears to be a core part of the brand's messaging strategy, stemming from the introduction of the "Old Spice Guy" 10 years ago. The brand recently recreated the effort for a millennial audience, bringing back the brand mascot as he followed his son around giving him advice on how to smell good.