In the spotlight:

"Unexpected Heroes"

2025 Double Silver Effie Winner

Effie is about awarding ideas that work, educating about effective marketing and showcasing the best work to enhance learning in our industry.

CAMPAIGN NAME

Unexpected Heroes

CATEGORY

Best of Europe: Media Strategy & Idea, Best of Europe: Influencer Marketing

CLIENT

Procter & Gamble Romania

LEAD AGENCY

LEO BURNETT BUCHAREST

CAMPAIGN DESCRIPTION

Romania’s deodorant market is highly competitive and price-driven, with low brand loyalty and established players such as Nivea, Dove, STR8 and Old Spice. To drive growth and strengthen its position, Old Spice needed to connect with a new generation of consumers: Gen Z, aged 18-24.

Digitally native and deeply immersed in gaming culture, this audience is increasingly resistant to traditional advertising and more receptive to authentic, interactive content. With gaming and esports playing a growing role in Romanian youth culture, Old Spice saw an opportunity to enter this world through the influencers and communities Gen Z already trusts.

THE CHALLENGE

Old Spice operated in a highly competitive, price-driven deodorant market and had long held fourth position. To drive growth, the brand needed to strengthen its connection with Gen Z and build long-term loyalty.

Following the success of its first gaming campaign, Old Spice had established relevance among young gamers. The next challenge was to go further: educate Gen Z about its range of scents, encourage them to explore the portfolio, and drive trial of different variants.

The challenge: Expand Old Spice’s footprint in gaming while introducing young consumers to the brand’s scent portfolio.

STRATEGIC APPROACH AND EXECUTION

Old Spice identified gaming as the ideal space to reach Romanian Gen Z and build on the success of its 2023 gaming platform, The Scent of Victory. The key insight was that gamers are known by their nicknames, while Old Spice’s scents already had distinctive names such as Night Panther, Tigerclaw and Wolf Thorn.

The strategic idea was to turn Old Spice scents into in-game nicknames and challenge players to beat them. Under the creative idea “Unexpected Heroes”, professional gamers using Old Spice scent names infiltrated live streams and challenged top gaming influencers to 1v1 matches.

The campaign was digital-first, turning YouTube and Twitch livestreams into a native media playground rather than simply placing ads around gaming content. Top gaming influencers, TikTok, Instagram and Facebook amplified the experience, while gaming events such as Esports Kings and Bucharest Gaming Marathon extended the idea into the wider gaming community.

The campaign unfolded in three steps: mystery gamers challenged influencers during live streams, revealed themselves as professional players after winning, and then revealed that their usernames were actually Old Spice scent names. Highlights, reactions, digital videos and open challenges extended the experience across social media and encouraged further engagement with the Old Spice scent portfolio.

Clear evidence of success:

#3 in the deodorant category, overtaking the competition

+8pp on “This brand has a wide range of scent choices” among Gen Z

+3pp on “This brand is cool” among Gen Z

Gaming became the media, with the brand embedded directly into gameplay

RESULTS

32% engagement rate on gaming streams - +254% vs. benchmark.
+16pp engagement rate vs. the previous campaign.
3.8M reach on Meta.
1.6M engagements on Meta.
55% highest engagement rate on a 30-second video.
1M YouTube views.
25% highest VTR on YouTube.

WHY A DOUBLE SILVER EFFIE? Here's what the jurors said.

"Clever, culturally relevant insight connecting Old Spice scents to gamer nicknames. Seamless integration of strategy, channels, and creative execution with strong measurable results!"

"Exceptional insight-to-execution bridge. The “gamers stink” insight combined with scent names as gamer nicknames shows deep cultural understanding. Livestream hijacking naturally integrated portfolio education into content formats Gen Z actually consumes — this is textbook strategic fit."

"The use of forgotten sporting heroes to refresh a macho brand is clever. A humorous tone and multi-channel media made it stand out and align with the brand’s personality."

"The simplicity and clarity behind the idea are excellent. It's very on-brand for Old Spice and feels really authentic to how you'd expect them to behave, which makes it not just a strong activation but a strong longer-term branding initiative. The promotional initiative post-activation also felt like a powerful part of this answer, not just relying on the activation itself but doubling down on the idea and making it work hard on the back end of the campaign. The results were also strong, detailed, and well explained."

"The strength of this entry lies in a sharp and relevant insight, translated into a simple yet powerful creative idea. The execution felt authentic to the gamer audience, and the results were presented in a thorough and compelling way, reinforcing the impact of the strategy."

Check out the full Case Study!