• by Karl Greenberg , February 12, 2008

Procter & Gamble's Old Spice brand of antiperspirant and deodorant has launched an ad campaign featuring a raft of TV commercials that make fun of the category's clichéd athlete-in-the-locker room ad.

In the ads, Will Ferrell, as the "Jackie Moon" character from the forthcoming New Line Cinema flick "Semi-Pro," ad libs absurdly about the benefits of Old Spice Pro Strength, a new SKU that hits shelves this month.

The deal was brokered by P&G's entertainment marketing firm, Alliance. Portland, Ore.-based Weiden + Kennedy handles creative tasks.

In the movie, which premieres later this month, Ferrell plays the coach, owner and player on a fictive Flint, Mich. basketball team called the Tropics. In the TV spot, set in a locker room, Moon parodies/pitches Old Spice Pro Strength.

In one of the ads, in which he is clearly improvising, he talks about how Old Spice means the world to him. "Not today's world," he says. "The world of yesterfar. When Columbus discovered the world was round. When wild berries grew on every street corner. And gentlemen wore monocles. When cavewomen hunted for food."

James Moorhead, Old Spice brand manager at P&G, says Old Spice has an ongoing national advertising presence to support product initiatives. He notes that before the Pro Strength launch, the company teamed with Nascar driver Tony Stewart last July to introduce the Old Spice 2007 Nascar Collector Series High Endurance deodorants and body washes.

Also with a humorous twist, that effort had Old Spice branding on the armpit area of Stewart's fire suit.

"This is part of an ongoing 'Experience is Everything'... that positions Old Spice as an authority on the male 'experience' with core values that young men are looking for--confidence, performance and authenticity," he says. "Ferrell brings humor and authenticity to the launch of Pro Strength in a way that we think guys will appreciate."

The new Old Spice ads will run on major networks and such cable stations as ESPN, Comedy Central, Cartoon Network, MTV, BET, TNT and Discovery. The ads are also on OldSpice.com. There, viewers can vote on their favorite ad, and watch "making-of" footage.

During the Super Bowl, Ferrell shilled for Bud Light as the Jackie Moon character.