I’ve been a big fan of Old Spice’s “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like” ad campaign since it first hit television screens during the Super Bowl. As the campaign has grown to include multiple commercials, print ads, and a brilliantly executed YouTube campaign involving personalized responses to almost 200 of Old Spice’s online fans, I’ve often wished that I could write about it here in Voice Overs of the World. But of course, I write about Voice Overs, and these ads feature no voice over work (except for probably some ADR to fix the spots where the live audio was unusable.) Well, that’s finally changed!

The video above is an internal corporate video from Old Spice and advertising agency Wieden + Kennedy (the firm responsible for the hit ads) that talks about the success of the campaign. It was originally meant to be distributed only within the Old Spice industry world, but — as tends to happen — it has now gone live on the internet.

What’s really great about this video is that after all the hubbub of this multimillion dollar campaign, eventually it ended up providing a pretty sweet gig for a voice over talent, even if it’s not one that was ever meant to be seen by the public. Corporate videos like this are a huge source of income for many voice actors, and they’re a sector of the industry that’s overlooked by many people who are starting out in their VO careers. Because they’re usually never seen by the general public at large, they’re not something people think about a lot, but there are millions of companies out there that produce work like this on a daily basis. A four-and-a-half minute narrative video gig for a huge national company? That’s not a bad day’s work!

Just for fun, below you can watch the Old Spice Man himself, actor Isaiah Mustafa, appearing on The Ellen Degeneres show. And while he’s not a voice actor yet, if you listen to how easily he can switch on his Old Spice voice at will, it seems like he’s a natural for this field.

I’m on a horse.

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