Old Spice livestreams obstacle course game show 'Foam Zone'

Brief:

Old Spice, the men's fragrance brand owned by Procter & Gamble, is running a two-day, football-themed obstacle course that streams live Sept. 17-18 on YouTube, Twitch and Facebook Live. The Foam Zone game show challenges 24 competitors to overcome six obstacles in the "Lost City of Football" to win the Foam Zone Trophy, according to Campaign.
Old Spice touts the Foam Zone as "A Live Game Show Controlled by You," as it's reportedly directed by viewers across the video platforms. Denver Broncos linebacker Von Miller stars in a spot to promote Old Spice Foamer, a new foaming body wash, and the obstacle course includes The Foam Waterfall of Doom, Fourth and Inches and The Von Finale.
The Foam Zone campaign was developed by agency Wieden+Kennedy Portland and MediaMonks. The livestream kicks off at 5 p.m. Eastern.

Insight:

Old Spice's latest game show brings the brand to an audience of younger adults who are more likely than prior generations to stream videos on a mobile device, while parlaying the popularity of obstacle course programming like "American Ninja Warrior" and Netflix's "Ultimate Beastmaster." Old Spice has hosted similar obstacle course events in the past, such as during the campaign for its Hardest Working Collection of deodorants and body washes two years ago. The campaign included a series of military-style obstacle courses created by Tough Mudder, though the experiential event was not livestreamed.

By streaming on YouTube, Twitch and Facebook Live, Old Spice is trying out a platform-agnostic approach to finding viewers where they already are. Online video programming this year has increased its U.S. audience to more than 200 million consumers, according to a forecast by Forrester. A study by eMarketer this summer found that mobile's share of time spent online grew to more than 3.5 hours a day, with mobile set to surpass TV as the most-used medium next year. Millennials and Generation Z are the biggest consumers of online video, spending 33% and 41% of their digital time viewing video, respectively, according to a VidMob study.

Meanwhile, the Old Spice brand has been revived in the past 10 years with a series of campaigns developed with Wieden+Kennedy. The brand sought to beat back a challenge from younger men's products like Axe, which notably didn't focus on its effectiveness as an odor blocker, and instead promoted itself as a product to help attract women, per Adweek.