It's no easy feat to engineer a viral video, and even harder when that video is an advertisement. But when it happens, the payoff can be huge.

Sales of Old Spice body wash more than doubled earlier this summer, coinciding with the rise in popularity of its social-media-friendly online ad campaign in which be-toweled former NFL wide receiver Isaiah Mustafa answered specific viewers' questions in a series of hastily produced videos appearing in near real time.

During the four weeks ending June 13, market research firm SymphonyIRI (cited by Ad Age) found that sales of the product were 106 percent higher than during the same period last year.

The videos attracted questions from Ashton Kutcher and other web-friendly celebrities and scored more than 15 million views. "The man your man could smell like" is a model for other brands learning how to advertise effectively in an increasingly saturated marketplace.

Rather than releasing ads online, Procter and Gamble's ad firm created a two-way experience that allowed select audience members to influence the content of the ad campaign. It became part of the conversation on Twitter and Facebook (because that's how people submitted their questions), and included lots of quirky elements and props to amuse web viewers, such as that fish that kept falling into Mustafa's hands from out of nowhere.

The tagline on the YouTube video that started it all (above) features the same sort of transparent irreverence that plays so well elsewhere on the web: "We're not saying this body wash will make your man smell into a romantic millionaire jet fighter pilot, but we are insinuating it." Everyone is in on the joke, and as a result, Procter and Gamble's body wash, which had suffered over the last year, reversed those losses in just four weeks.

Social media was likely a huge factor in that increase, but a coupon program may also have played a part. While Old Spice enjoyed the biggest gain in market share of any body wash over the four weeks ending June 13, according to the study, two of its competitors also had big sales increases: Gillette and Nivea. As AdAge points out, those brands, along with Old Spice, launched major coupon programs during that time frame, so it's hard to say for sure how much of the increase was due to the commercials, and how much was due to the coupons.

But one thing is clear: These videos have been watched millions of times, and attracted immeasurable attention on social networks, including tweets and Facebook status updates from civilians and celebrities who normally don't send out ads in their feeds. That level of success will be hard to duplicate, but you can bet that countless other brands are already trying.

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