Whatever Happened To The Old Spice Guy?
Everybody knows him for his good looks, his charm, his voice, and his ... smell. But beyond being the Old Spice Guy, Isaiah Mustafa has quite a bit going on!
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00:00Everybody knows him for his good looks, his charm, his voice, and… his smell.
00:05But beyond being the Old Spice guy, Isaiah Mustafa has quite a bit going on.
00:10In 2010, actor and former athlete Isaiah Mustafa debuted in the Old Spice deodorant ad, The
00:15Man Your Man Could Smell Like.
00:17In the commercial, Mustafa not only looked like he smelled good, but his deep, baritone
00:21voice sounded like he smelled good, too.
00:23Look at your man.
00:24Now back to me.
00:25Now back at your man.
00:26Now back to me.
00:27Sadly, he isn't me."
00:29From there, he became known as the Old Spice guy, often appearing shirtless in a series
00:33of commercials for the brand.
00:35Since then, Mustafa has reprised the role on several occasions while maintaining a successful
00:39acting career beyond advertising.
00:42Football fans might remember the Old Spice guy from the 1997 Rose Bowl game, where he
00:46played wide receiver at Arizona State University alongside future NFL quarterback Jake Plummer.
00:52After college, Mustafa played pro ball in Europe and spent time on several NFL teams'
00:56practice squads.
00:58He tried his hand in the restaurant industry in Los Angeles before he got into acting,
01:02and by any measure, Mustafa was on his way to an on-camera career when Old Spice came
01:07calling.
01:08Pre-Old Spice, he had parts on shows like NCIS and Ugly Betty, among other film and
01:12TV appearances.
01:14Mustafa's profile, however, raised considerably once those Old Spice ads hit.
01:18i80 Sportsblog asked Mustafa if he minded the Old Spice guy label.
01:22He said,
01:23Before I was the Old Spice guy, I wasn't the Old Spice guy and nobody was paying attention.
01:28So being the Old Spice guy is fine by me."
01:31The Man Your Man Could Smell Like ad premiered on YouTube on February 4, 2010, and it hit
01:37broadcast TV four days later, the Monday after the Super Bowl.
01:41With that TV exposure, online views more than quadrupled and the spot went viral.
01:46Referring to the attention, Mustafa told the Los Angeles Times,
01:50It got crazy.
01:51It was like 100,000 more every couple of hours.
01:54My daily thing was to go look in the morning and go, whoa, no way."
01:59To capitalize on all that attention, Old Spice launched new and innovative marketing tactics
02:03featuring Mustafa as the Old Spice guy.
02:06Among other commercial appearances, the company debuted the Responses campaign.
02:11Viewers submitted questions via social media, and Mustafa answered them.
02:15Those responses were then posted on the internet.
02:18"'Pingchat' tweeted, you started something big.
02:21Yes, I did, Pingchat, yes I did."
02:26When discussing that groundbreaking approach, marketing expert Michael Fleischner told ABC
02:30News that year,
02:31"...I think the Old Spice campaign is really breaking new ground here.
02:35Ads have always been a form of entertainment, but now when you add that viral effect, it's
02:40really starting to escalate."
02:41In 2011, a YouTube video dropped called Mano a Mano in El Baño, in which the Old Spice
02:48guy went up against Fabio to determine the sexiest TV pitchman.
02:52Based on viewer response, Mustafa won.
02:55Isaiah Mustafa continued to play the iconic character while acting for film and TV.
03:00In 2015, he appeared with another Old Spice adman, football player Terry Crews, in a series
03:05of Old Spice spots.
03:07Then in 2019, Mustafa played the Old Spice guy in a Hulu ad.
03:12That year, he told Parade that the part just kept going.
03:15He said,
03:16"...It's nice to know the fans enjoy the character so much that it still has legs."
03:20In 2020, Mustafa reprised the Old Spice guy role yet again, only this time, he was Old
03:26Spice dad.
03:28Two years later, he returned as Old Spice guy in an Arby's and Old Spice campaign to
03:32prevent meat sweats.
03:34That same year, Mustafa appeared as his iconic character in a Booking.com commercial alongside
03:39actor Idris Elba and the Dos Equis' Most Interesting Man in the World actor Jonathan Goldsmith.
03:45Meanwhile, he was cast in a recurring role on the Amazon series Cross.
03:50Mustafa has also stayed busy outside of acting.
03:52In 2018, the actor married Lisa Mitchell, and he has one daughter from another marriage
03:57named Hayley.