Old Spice

Old Spice is an American men's grooming brand whose range spans aftershaves and colognes, deodorants and antiperspirants, body washes, shampoos, shaving products and soaps. It was launched in 1937 by Shulton Inc., the soap and toiletries company of William Lightfoot Schultz, and has been owned by the consumer-goods multinational Procter & Gamble since June 1990 [5]. The brand remains active and globally distributed, and is best known today for its classic buoy-shaped bottle scent and for the 2010 advertising campaign "The Man Your Man Could Smell Like."

The name originally belonged to a women's fragrance rather than a men's line. A men's grooming range followed shortly after and eventually became the brand's core identity, leaving Old Spice as one of the more recognisable heritage names in American drugstore grooming.

Old Spice began in 1937 as "Early American Old Spice," a colonial-Americana-themed line created by William Lightfoot Schultz through his company Shulton Inc. According to Wikipedia's account, a buyer at the Los Angeles department store Bullock's made Schultz aware of the growing popularity of colonial American furniture — a trend spurred by the recent opening of Colonial Williamsburg — and Schultz reasoned that an Early Americana-themed cosmetics line might find similar favour. The early packaging carried period sailing ships, among them the Grand Turk and the Friendship.

The line was first aimed at women, with a men's product released before the end of 1937. Most sources place the dedicated men's grooming range — including shaving soap and aftershave lotion — in 1938.

The founding date is recorded slightly differently across sources. Wikipedia and Procter & Gamble's own legacy page both date the Old Spice brand to 1937, the year the Shulton line launched [5][2]. Men's grooming editorial such as Bespoke Unit and The Manual instead cite 1938, the year the men's line specifically appeared [8]. The two dates describe different milestones — the brand's overall launch versus the men's-line launch — rather than a genuine dispute over the same event.

Through the mid-20th century Old Spice was known chiefly as a shaving brand. In the 1970s it repositioned itself more as a fragrance brand, introducing signature scents such as Old Spice Burley [5]. The buoy-shaped bottle cologne, described in one review as designed to resemble a nautical buoy though closer in appearance to a milk bottle, became the visual signature associated with the name.

In June 1990, Procter & Gamble purchased the Old Spice fragrance, skincare and antiperspirant and deodorant brands from the Shulton Company [5]. At the time of the acquisition, the brand was struggling to compete with newer entrants aimed at younger buyers, such as Axe and Gillette.

The most significant modern milestone came in 2010, when Old Spice launched "The Man Your Man Could Smell Like" — officially titled "Smell Like a Man, Man" — with actor Isaiah Mustafa and the agency Wieden+Kennedy. The campaign was aimed largely at women, on the reasoning that women often make purchasing decisions for household hygiene products, including those used by men. It spread rapidly online: by the end of June 2010 the spots had been viewed more than 11 million times, and at one point in mid-July 2010 videos from the series accounted for eight of the eleven most-popular videos on YouTube [6]. In 2018 the brand marked an 80th anniversary — counted from the 1938 men's launch — with a limited-edition capsule collection [7].

Old Spice is owned by Procter & Gamble, which acquired it from the Shulton Company in June 1990 [5]. Within P&G's portfolio it sits alongside other personal-care and grooming brands including Gillette, Pantene, Olay, Head & Shoulders, Herbal Essences, Aussie and SK-II. Procter & Gamble states that ninety percent of its products sold in the United States are manufactured domestically, listing Old Spice among the brands made in the U.S. [2].

Old Spice presents itself around classic American masculinity and nautical heritage. Its stated positioning is broad rather than exclusively male: the company describes its output as "a ton of great things designed for men, loved by everyone" [1]. Commercially it sits in the drugstore tier; The Manual notes that its Red Collection line offers premium-inspired scents without luxury pricing. Coverage of the brand describes an audience that spans generations — older buyers nostalgic for the original scent alongside younger men reached through the 2010 relaunch.

The brand's best-known product is the original buoy-shaped bottle cologne and aftershave, sold in its Classic scent and in Pure Sport. Old Spice's broader catalogue is organised into scent families and collections, among them Swagger, Fiji, Bearglove and Captain, with lines such as the Red Collection and the Spice Alchemist Collection, plus periodic limited editions. In fragrance terms, reviewers classify the original Old Spice within the oriental family, built on citrus top notes over a spicier, woody and resinous base.

Much of Old Spice's recognition stems from its advertising. "The Man Your Man Could Smell Like" won the Grand Prix at the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival and a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Commercial, both in 2010 [6]. It went on to win Gold Cannes Lions for Creative Effectiveness in 2011, with a second such award for the "Smellcome to Manhood" work in 2016. By 2016 the brand had accumulated 37 awards at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity [5]. In grooming and fragrance press, the original scent has been described by Bespoke Unit as "one of the most iconic barbershop fragrances in history," and by The Manual as "an iconic American scent" [8][7].

Old Spice remains an active brand operated as part of Procter & Gamble following the 1990 acquisition. Its official site continues to show ongoing product launches, including recent limited-edition ranges such as the Spice Alchemist Collection and a Super Mario Galaxy movie tie-in, alongside multi-channel retail availability [4]. Its distribution is global in scope.