The applause for Old Spice's incredible YouTube blitz this

month hadn't even died down when critics started panning the effort as ineffective.

Rushing

to judgment, some bloggers cited 52-week sales figures from before the video

responses launched as a sign that Wieden + Kennedy's efforts were

underwhelming. Contrarians jumped on these early reports as a chance to bash clever social

media stunts in general. But now the numbers

are in, and it's hard to argue that this campaign doesn't just smell like a

man; it smells like victory. In her new analysis of the Old Spice video push,

Adweek's Eleftheria Parpis has this summary: "According to Nielsen data

provided by Old Spice, overall sales for Old Spice body-wash products are up 11

percent in the last 12 months; up 27 percent in the last six months; up 55

percent in the last three months; and in the last month, with two new TV spots

and the online response videos, up a whopping 107 percent." So isn't that

enough to satisfy the critics? Perhaps, but only grudgingly. In his Adweek column

today, a curmudgeonly Joseph Jaffe gives the campaign a mild share of praise

amid a thicket of caveats: "It's hard to determine how much of (the sales

increase) was due to an aggressive couponing campaign which was in market

simultaneously, but directionally, there does appear to be a correlation

between creative resonance, social momentum and sales." Not quite a resounding endorsement, but it'll have to do.