Old Spice – It’s the campaign your campaign can smell like.

In short: Old Spice has redefined what a social media campaign is capable of. From this point forward, all social media campaigns will be judged against the success of this campaign.

For an overview of just some of what W+K has done for Old Spice, check out this NOTCOT Blog Post.

The piece of this campaign that has received the most attention is a series of YouTube videos, where Isa Mustafa (the Old Spice actor) makes more than 180 personalized videos that address everyone from Kevin Rose and Perez Hilton to random YouTube users who had commented on the original Old Spice videos. One person even requested that Isa make a wedding proposal video for his girlfriend:

(She said yes.)

The results speak for themselves: 5.9 million views and 22,500+ comments IN TWO DAYS.

In addition, many advertising/marketing blogs have written lengthy case studies about the success of this campaign, and even many of the traditional news outlets have started to cover the cultural phenomenon that this campaign has created.

Following the release of the videos, Google’s CFO said that Old Spice Is The Future, and Alyssa Milano agreed to date Isa if Old Spice donated $100k to the oil spill cleanup efforts:

It’s important to note that this was not just a social media campaign, and was done as an extension of a major media spend which established the character and helped to build the campaign’s awareness, but it does show how you can take a traditional campaign to the next level through the use of clever and well executed social media efforts.

Side Note: One interesting media buy for the Old Spice campaign was BustedTees, where they sponsored Free Shipping for a week:

Calvin Klein Puts Up A QR Billboard – In New York and Los Angeles, Calvin Klein put up a billboard that featured nothing more than a giant QR code and the call to action “Get It Uncensored”.

Users who scanned the code would then be able to view an ‘uncensored’ 40-second commercial featuring Calvin Klein models, and were then given the option to share the ad through Facebook and Twitter.

CNNMoney Features Best Places to Live with Gowalla – As part of Money magazine’s annual 100 Best Places to Live list, CNNMoney has partnered with Gowalla to help people discover the best parts of each city.

Through the partnership, users can take branded trips through many of the cities, and each of the top 25 cities has a trending list of locations where you can see which spots are the most popular amongst Gowalla users.

Help Vince! – The New England Patriots have teamed up with geo-location service SCVNGR to create a city wide scavenger hunt where fans can try to track down Vince Wilfork’s “missing” Super Bowl championship ring.

Using the app, fans will seek out more than 200 places throughout New England, complete challenges at numerous locations, and earn points and prizes for top scorers. The grand prize includes lunch with a Patriots player, and goes to the first person to successfully find the ring.

Barbie Gets Social – Barbie is releasing a new “Video Girl” doll that includes a working video camera and comes with video editing software that girls can use to make their own videos. They developed the doll in collaboration with iJustine, a prominent video blogger, and are launching the doll with a promotion on Foursquare and Twitter:

Fiber For Communities – When Google offered to bring ultra-high speed fiber Internet to a chosen community, they were overwhelmed by more than 1,100 community responses, as well as 200,000+ responses from individuals.

In response, Google created Fiber For Communities, a site where they can “provide additional resources for anyone interested in ultra high-speed Internet access”.

Small Discoveries – As part of their 25th anniversary, Discovery Channel created a program called My Discovery, where viewers and users could share tweet-length discoveries at any scale, from personal life to the wider world, and then Discovery would show the best of them online and on-air.

As Twitter notes, this campaign is interesting because instead of focusing on thousands and thousands of tweets, they chose to highlight a carefully-chosen group of tweets that “surprise, delight, or tell a story”.

Patron Cocktail Lab – Patron Tequila has created the Patron Cocktail Lab application on Facebook, where users can create new drinks in response to a challenge that Patron posts each month.

Once a drink gets created, Patron will have pro mixologists give ideas and feedback through the Patron Facebook wall, and users can vote on their favorites. Then, at the end of each month, a winning drink will be selected and will become an official, Patron-recognized drink.

Starbucks Has 10 Million Fans – On the heels of Lady Gaga reaching 10 Million Facebook Fans, Starbucks has become the first brand to reach the milestone, making Facebook an important channel in their ongoing social media efforts.

Facebook Has 500 Million Users – The rumor that’s been buzzing around the social media world for the last few days is that Facebook is preparing to announce its 500 millionth user, which would mean that they are adding an average of 100 million new users every five months.

At this rate, it won’t be long before any campaign that wants to reach a majority of the online audience is either run through Facebook, or risks leaving a large number of people out of the loop.

Hulu Serves A Lot Of Ads – According to ComScore, Hulu now serves more than 560 million video ads per month, making them the largest online video ad server, and placing them ahead of even Google, which serves just over 200 million across all of its properties, including YouTube.

Quick Hits:

• Moo has posted a few of the recent business card redesigns from their Business Card Project, which was featured in a previous Social Media Digest.
• Sony Pictures is the latest to use Twitter’s new Sponsored Trending Topic ad, with a sponsorship of the hashtag #SocialNetwork for the upcoming film about the founding of Facebook, called The Social Network.

San Francisco Giants on Foursquare – With Swirl’s help, the Giants are now the first MLB team to offer visitors tips through Foursquare. Tips range from where to get the best food and drink to facts about the ballpark and how to watch a game for free, and the goal is to make the experience of visiting the park even more magic for Foursquare users. In addition, it’s also great opportunity for PR, as seen by this blog post from About Foursquare about the account.

Coke Shares The Results of Promoted Twitter Trends – Coca-Cola is the second brand to sponsor a trending topic on Twitter, behind Disney/Pixar, and shared the results of the campaign during an interview with The Financial Times. According to Coke, they received 86 million impressions during the promotion, with an engagement rate of 6% on their sponsorship of the #WC2010 hashtag, which was trending during the world cup.

Coke said the sponsorship was relatively small compared to their other buys, but they were pleased with the initial results, which should pave the way for other big name brands to experiment with the technique.

Ford Delivers Social Media with the New Focus – When new Fiesta owners pick up their vehicle from the Ford dealer, they will receive a thumb drive that comes pre-loaded with an audio tutorial that explains the Fiesta’s features and how to use them. (Which can be played through the Fiesta’s Sync audio system on the way home.)

Once they get home, they can plug the thumb drive into their computer, where they will have access to an application that Ford has developed to share information with owners, and let them share their Fiesta experience with their friends. In addition, the thumb drive includes photos of them picking up the car, which can easily be customized and shared with friends through Facebook, Flickr, MySpace and Twitter.

Domino’s Pizza Free Photo Contest – Fast food companies use everything from nailguns to Q-tips to blowtorches to make their food look good on camera, but when you actually get the item, it looks nothing like it did on TV. (See Ads vs. Reality for some… tasty examples.)

Domino’s is looking to change the game up, and is going to feature user generated photos in their future ad campaigns. To participate, just order a pizza from Domino’s, and when it arrives (after being made at Domino’s by a regular Domino’s employee) take a photo of it and submit it to the Show Us Your Pizza website. The winning shot will receive $500, and be featured in an upcoming Domino’s ad, untouched and just like it arrives at your door.

The Business Card Project – Moo wants to help small businesses, so they’ve joined together with iStockphoto, FontFont and ColourLovers to give away $250,000 worth of design consultation to help improve the business card designs of 500 companies.

Chrome FastBall – A Race Across The Internet – To promote Chrome’s speed, Google has created Chrome FastBall, which is a series of interactive videos that are linked with Internet challenges that users must solve as quickly as possible in order to get the ball across the finish line in record time.

The challenges include games, internet searches, trends and other brain busters, and the goal is to see if you’re “Chrome Fast”. At the end, it also ranks your performance against all other players, encouraging repeat plays, and the sharing of results with friends.

Chiquita Sticker Design Contest – Chiquita is hosting a Sticker Design Contest, and 18 of the winning designs will see their stickers on Chiquita bananas across the country.

To enter the contest, users can either download a template and start from scratch, or use the Sticker Studio to combine a number of drag and drop elements into a design of their choosing.

From there, users can vote on designs (and entrants can share their designs and encourage friends to vote for them) and Chiquita will select the top 50, which will then get trimmed down to a final 18.

Dos Equis’ The Most Interesting Cargo Hunt – Dos Equis is sending people on a scavenger hunt to find priceless artifacts that have been lost by the Most Interesting Man. To play, users search for artifacts that have been hidden in various places around the US (usually places where Dos Equis is sold) and write down the 4-character code on the side of the artifact’s crate, which is then entered into the Cargo Hunt website. There is also an online Cargo Hunter’s Map, which functions like an online game that gets played out over the course of a few days, and contains hidden codes that can also be redeemed on the site.

Prizes include the chance to impress the Most Interesting Man, to demonstrate loyalty and friendship, and to merely put another notch of self-accomplishment on your mantel. (As well as a trip to Mexico.)

70,000+ People Tagged In One Facebook Photo – During the Glastonbury Festival in the UK, a huge panoramic photo was taken of the 70,000+ fans in attendance. In partnership with Orange, they created an app called the GlastoTag that uses Facebook Connect to allow users to log in and tag people in the photo, with the goal of becoming the most tagged photo on Facebook. Ever.

Department of Fannovation – Coca-Cola is the latest company to build a microsite on top of a social service with their Dept. of Fannovation, powered by the micro blogging service Posterous. The site itself isn’t very exciting, and the campaign isn’t very compelling either (submit your idea about how to improve the NCAA fan experience for the chance of winning $10k) but it’s interesting to see large companies tap existing audiences and keep the cost of development down by applying their own design to an existing infrastructure.

‘Tweet Me’ – This year, the Sweethearts candies that everyone gives to one another for Valentine’s Day will include a new saying: Tweet Me. If that’s not a sign of social media hitting the mainstream, nothing is.

Conversationalists – Forrester, a research company that often focuses heavily on social media, has added a new category to their social ladder: Conversationalists, or people who use Twitter and Facebook to post status updates and engage in conversations with their friends. According to Forrester, one third of all US adults now fall into this category, meaning that they post their status onto at least one social networking site at least one time per week.

Ribbon Hero – Microsoft has created a social game to help users boost their skills in Word, PowerPoint and Excel. By playing these games, users score points and unlock challenges, and can then brag about it to their friends on Facebook through Facebook Connect.

Haiti Relief Fund Update – Last week, Zynga announced that they would be raising money for the Haiti relief efforts by selling virtual goods in four of their most popular social games, and this week, they announced that in just five days, more than 300,000 players had purchased virtual goods and helped Zynga raise more than $1.5 million. One interesting thing to note however is that more than $1 million of those funds was raised in FarmVille alone, so the spread of spending inside of social games isn’t quite as widespread as Zynga would have you believe.