Old Spice: Youland

Youland was a big hit with young guys, racking up more than 548K+ gameplays, with an average time spent of over 4 minutes. This translates to more than 4 years of total time spent playing Youland. Most importantly, while we cannot disclose specific sales numbers for confidentiality reasons, we can tell you that the launch of the Hardest Working Collection was a great success, and that Youland played an important role in winning over a whole generation of great-smelling young guys.

Scent is a part of your identity. Young guys in particular are looking for ways to show the world who they are and who they want to be. We needed to celebrate the personality of our Hardest Working scents in an engaging and entertaining way.

Old Spice has a strong track record when it comes to entertaining young guys. Instead of creating ads, we’ve found that it’s far more effective to create experiences that young guys will talk about and share. Knowing how much guys love online gaming, we felt like a videogame would be a fantastic way to showcase the Hardest Working Collection’s range of scents.

Youland was unique in that in used Facebook data to create a personalized video game featuring YOURSELF. By leveraging Facebook Connect, players and their friends starred in their own game, with levels inspired by the scents of the Hardest Working Collection. The ludicrously pixelated, arcade-style game was loaded with interdimensional cyborg race cars, Terry Crews, multi-person jetpacks, talking animals, retro visuals, a soundtrack inspired by 80s action movies, and all your closest friends.

All together, Youland is a ludicrous blast from the past with you at the steering wheel, a collaborative effort that required a heady mix of creativity, storytelling and innovative technology.

In 2016 Old Spice launched the Hardest Working Collection of antiperspirants and deodorants. While TV executions focused on a performance message, we were tasked with delivering a non-traditional idea that showcased the range of scents in the collection, including Stronger Swagger, Lasting Legend and Tougher Timber.