There's been a slew of sales-impact discussion floating around about the Old Spice campaign the past few days, and there’s certainly a lot of items to wade through.

Initial sales figures that made the rounds indicated sales for Old Spice Red Zone (it’s just one of the Old Spice products, and it’s one the Old Spice man holds in an earlier TV spot) had dropped 7% over a 52-week period that ended June 13, 2010 (here's one of the related stories).

Now, many companies aren’t fond of publicly releasing comprehensive sales figures, but Old Spice parent company P&G has released supplemental/additional figures for the Old Spice product line (I have to wonder if this is in response to the great online buzz about the Old Spice campaign not being effective.).

From a July 25, 2010 article in Brandweek:

According to Nielsen, sales of Old Spice Body Wash—the line touted in the Wieden + Kennedy-created campaign—rose 11 percent over the past 12 months and since the effort broke in February, sales seem to be gaining momentum.

Over the past three months, sales jumped 55 percent and in the past month, they rose 107 percent, also per Nielsen.

REWIND that – the past month – sales rose 107 percent?

Also sourced in the same article, The New England Consulting Group shows sales increases, too:

Gary Stibel, CEO and founder of The New England Consulting Group, said his data also shows a lift for Old Spice. “We think that Old Spice is up. We don’t think it’s up in the double digits, but it’s up meaningfully, and we think it’s driven 100 percent by marketing.”

And from P&G, parent company for Old Spice:

P&G rep Michael Norton said he believed Nielsen’s numbers were conclusive. “Since the ‘Smell Like A Man, Man’ campaign broke in February, Old Spice has month-over-month strengthened its market position,” said Norton in an e-mail. He  added that Old Spice  is now the No. 1 brand of body wash and anti-perspirant/deodorant in both sales and volume with growth in the high single/double digits.

The newer sales figures, released by Old Spice, are popping up in several industry articles, including:

•  Adweek
• A second Brandweek article

Separating the sales impact of the viral campaign element from the TV spots is pretty much impossible on a definitive level, though certainly sales trending over the coming weeks will be under scrutiny (with the viral YouTube element breaking just this month).

And one can also argue that without a channel-dedicated, trackable offer, it’s hard to definitively connect specific sales results to specific marketing elements.

But, if accurate, these recent figures do seem to indicate an overall, positive sales impact from recent combined marketing efforts.

We’re going to have to allow more time to pass, and more month-to-month/year-to-year comparative sales data to be analyzed, for any final conclusions to be drawn, in even the most general scope, on the campaign’s success in terms of sales. And there are market factors to consider as well (such as if sales in the category increased overall, not just for the Old Spice brand). And understandably, some information may be proprietary to P&G.

But for now, in terms of sheer ENGAGEMENT, the campaign and its online viral/social components smell pretty darn good.

(I still have a social media crush on the Old Spice Guy)

(Shaun Amanda Herrmann)