“The Man your Man Could Smell Like” Old Spice Commercial

This commercial debuted during the Super Bowl this year.  When I saw it for the first time I loved it! It made me laugh out loud.  I happened to be sitting next to my man and couldn’t help but look at him, then back at the commercial…and laugh even harder. And my husband is handsome and manly already so I can imagine if he was Joe Slob how it would have played out.

I thought the writing and humour used was brilliant but what I didn’t realize, at first, was that this commercial was actually all one shot.  That’s right, the whole thing was filmed with out breaks and it was the sets that moved around the actor.  In this age of digital trickery I just assumed it was all done with computer magic, but it wasn’t! They did not use computer generated imagery (CGI) to make this commercial.  Shocking! They did use some computer magic for the diamonds pouring out of his hand and then to erase the mechanical arm that placed him on the horse but that was it.  Everything else was all done filming in one shot.  Am I officially a geek because I find this so cool?  Fellow geeks can watch a segment of twit.tv on the making of the commercial.

This knowledge has me admiring the actor, Isaiah Mustafa, for other reasons beyond the obvious.  Now I realize how truly talented he was to be able to pull that off.  He had to focus on saying his lines while imparting his subtle humour all the while things were drastically changing around him.  I’m sure the ex wide receiver for the NFL will have many new stalkers acting opportunities now.

The scene was perfect on the 56^th take on day three of shooting.  Isaiah had it right all along but had to endure moments like the shirt not falling onto his shoulders just right and at one point the bathroom set crashed down and just missed crushing him.  Awesome body job Isaiah!
Major kudos to Craig Allen and Eric Kallman of Wieden + Kennedy who created the ad, and to the set creators and all the behind-the-scene people who made it all work so well.

I am actually tempted to buy the body wash for my husband and he already smells good the way he is. Don’t you just love great marketing?!

So here it is! Now you can watch it over and over again like I have.  You know, just to see if you can catch how they did the scene changes and all.  : -)  Enjoy!