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You wouldn’t have caught me dead wearing Old Spice when I was coming of age in the 1980′s.  Old Spice was, first of all, “old” simply by name.  Dad wore it.  Today, every cool kid is wearing it.

Likewise with Johnny Cash.  Dad listened to the “man in black”, but nobody was playing his music on their Sony Walkman.  Today, the late Johnny Cash is permanently cool and genuinely missed.

Few musical acts have made a comeback as astonishing and deserving as the one Johnny Cash mounted in the five years before his death. He went from being a forgotten-about archive from the Hall of Fame into a six-time nominee at the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards.

Few brands have staged a comeback as noteworthy as Old Spice.  It went from being a low-value brand from the past into one of the world’s leading men’s grooming products in an exceptionally short period of time.

Why do some brands fade away and others come roaring back?  What do the successful bands and brands that come back to life have in common?

1. Change Your Message

Old Spice changed their marketing message.  They brilliantly adapted their message to the self-deprecating, tongue-in-cheek tone of today’s youth.  Their commercials began to spread virally on the internet spawning websites dedicated entirely to Old Spice commercials.

Johnny Cash changed his message too.  Instead of recording country or gospel songs, he recorded songs originally by hard rock bands like Nine Inch Nails, Soundgarden, U2, Tom Petty, and Danzig.  His series of American Recordings also included his own songs, but the albums focused on speaking the language of the youth of the day.

2. Change Your Partner

Old Spice collaborated with advertising agency Wieden and Kennedy to create advertising that was edgy and in touch with young consumers.  Wieden and Kennedy is best known for their work with Nike, and they’ve also developed many cutting-edge campaigns for Coke, ESPN, and Miller beer.

Johnny Cash collaborated with Rick Rubin to create music that was edgy and in touch with young consumers.  Rick Rubin is a producer famous for starting Def Jam records and working with performers like Beastie Boys, Run DMC, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Metallica.

3. Don’t Give Up

Rebuilding a damaged for forgotten brand is not a quick fix.

Old Spice began their turnaround om 1990 when it was purchased by Proctor and Gamble.  In 1992 they updated the logo and color scheme.  Over the next 15 years they released body washes, body sprays, deoderant sticks, and shaving products. When the new Old Spice became popular, they rereleased the original blend with the slogan “If your grandfather hadn’t worn it, you wouldn’t exist.”

Johnny Cash began working with Rick Rubin in 1994, and won a Grammy for Best Folk Album for “American Recordings”.   It met with plenty of critical acclaim, but it was the subsequent volumes, particular volume IV of the series, that truly cemented Cash as a contemporary icon.  His 2003 version of Nine Inch Nails “Hurt” remains a cross-generational classic.

Here are two videos that illustrate the brands post-turnaround.  The very emotional “Hurt” by Johnny Cash can be viewed here.  Below is the phenomenal “Man Your Man Could Smell Like” from Old Spice.

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There are two versions of the song.
A friend of mine who’s about ten years older than me loves the original. He doesn’t mind the remake, but in his mind the original wins.
I, on the other hand, enjoy both the remake and the original pretty much equally. But I heard the remake first, and was then introduced to the original.

The remake was my “entry point” to the band/brand Aerosmith. It was 1986 and I was just 16 years old. When I heard Run-DMC and Aerosmith kick out a rock/hip-hop mash up of “Walk This Way”, I was instantly hooked on Aerosmith. That introduction led to my discovery of the original from 10 years earlier, and that led to my first exposure to “Dream On”, “Back In The Saddle”, “Sweet Emotion”, and hundreds of other great rock ‘n roll songs. When Aerosmith returned with “Permanent Vacation” the following year, I was ready to crank up “Dude (Looks Like A Lady)” and “Rag Doll”.

The cool thing about “Walk This Way” is that neither Aeromsith nor Run-DMC compromised their integrity. True Aerosmith fans may have been slightly off-put by the infusion of rap music into their classic favorite, but the duet still served as a primer for the Aerosmith comeback that went into high gear in ’87.

And fans of Run-DMC couldn’t object to the homage paid to the originators of the song. In the hip-hop world, using samples from classic rock and pop songs was not at all uncommon.

“Walk This Way” by Run-DMC and Aerosmith hit #4 on the charts in 1986, besting the original’s #10 peak in 1977. The song was one of the first mass-appeal hip-hop songs and helped introduce hip-hop to the mainstream. It was the first major hip-hop hit in the UK. And it helped revive the nearly-dead career of a great rock band, sparking one of their most prolific creative spans.

Your brand has plenty of existing customers who love your stuff.

So what can you do to gently create new “entry points” for customers who don’t already love you?

Are there aspects of your brand you can highlight to these new potential customers, without compromising your brand and alienating your core customers?

“Walk This Way” was the perfect entry point to introduce a 16 year-old to the Aerosmith brand, and to introduce a generation to hip-hop culture. The impact of that entry point was far reaching, as evidenced by Eminem in 2002.

Today’s “Walk This Way” is the Guitar Hero and Rock Band video game series. This fall, Rock Band: Beatles will become the next entry point for a generation ready to soak up the greatest band in music history. Watch for a spike in Beatles downloads this fall!

What’s your brand’s next entry point?

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