The Wieden & Kennedy creative campaign has been a wild success, with a series of ads promoting “the perfect man.”  The handsome, buff, naked-from-the-waist-up Mustafa addresses his rapid-fire Barry White dialogue to women: “Hello ladies, how are you?  Fantastic. Does your man look like me? No! Can he smell like me? Yes! Should he use Old Spice Body Wash? I don’t know – do you like the smell of adventure?  Do you want a man who smells like he can bake a gourmet cake in the dream kitchen he built for you with his own hands? Of course you do…” and then it goes on.  Mustafa moves from a beach to a kitchen to the woods where he dives off a waterfall into a hottub that falls away to show him sitting on a motorcycle.  Another commercial has him moving seamlessly from the shower to a boat to sitting on a horse, with costume and prop changes dropping in – all the while telling the ladies that since we can’t have him, we should encourage our men to at least smell like him.

The social media strategy is nothing short of brilliant.  The Old Spice man posts video answers to selected questions on Facebook and answers Twitter messages on YouTube.  One video shows him standing outside the shower, hands on hips, reciting his 140 character response to @wspencer:  “Am typing while running from stampede of scantily-clad female admirers who appeared after trying #oldspice. Is there an antidote?” Another has him apologizing that he can’t answer everyone who writes because “after all, I am just one ridiculously handsome man.”  On Facebook, he has agreed (in theory) to adopting someone and gives advice about facial hair.

This new cult status, however, does not seem to be the reason for an uptick in Old Spice sales.  In fact, year-to-date figures, compared to other men’s personal care products who don’t own ‘the perfect man’ are flat as the arches in my feet.  Advertising Age reports that several men’s products – sibling brand Gillette, Beierdorf’s Nivea,  Dove and Axe, have made the same, if not better gains over the last few months, giving away high-value coupons and through unremarkable advertising. “Consider the four weeks ended June 13, possibly the best month ever for P&G body wash. Old Spice’s sales were up 106% from the prior-year period, jumping 4.8 share points in a category that grew 17.7%. But sales of Gillette body wash, also backed by buy-one-get-one-free coupons and by TV ads (but not Mr. Mustafa), were up a lot more, 277% and 3.9 share points, though it’s by far a smaller brand in the category,“ reports the trade magazine.

Men’s personal care products are on the rise, but whether or not Mustafa is selling more Old Spice is a mystery.  What is not a mystery is that women LOVE him.  The former wide receiver may have had a hard time landing in a permanent football franchise after gigs with the Seattle Seahawks, the Tennessee Titans, Oakland Raiders, Cleveland Browns and finally Barcelona for the NFL Europe, but this guy is a keeper in Hollywood and has put Old Spice back on the shelves.

But watch out – OHDOCTAH has launched a counter-ad for Dove, based on the theory that “ladies don’t like sleeping on bricks…they like more cushion” and therefore will go with a guy built like a Sumo wrestler who uses Dove Body Wash.

This whole advertising campaign is the best entertainment this summer has to offer.

With a host of new products and clever ads, men’s grooming is the hot marketing topic. Forget Coke vs. Pepsi. It’s Old Spice (“The Man Your Man Could Smell Like”) vs. Dove (“Manthem”) and Gillette vs. Schick, according to a recent article in Advertising Age. But duh, you really only had to watch a little TV to figure that one out, didn’t you?

In 2008 and 2009, the heart of the Great Recession, sales of men’s grooming products increased by less than 1 percent, according to researchers at Mintel, who follow that stuff.  Considering that personal care sales overall dropped 5.1 percent during that time says Information Resources Inc., that’s pretty darn good.

And the big three: Unilever (Dove, AXE), Procter & Gamble (Old Spice and Gillette), and Energizer Holdings (Schick) are jumping on the bandwagon.  Again.

Marketers tried this before, back in ’02, when L’Oreal, Nivea, Gillette and Neutrogena tried to develop men’s lines and the ad people tried to make “metrosexual” a household word. Oh, you vaguely remember?  Yeah, that’s kind of the point.  They receded more quickly than a hairline.

Until now.  Men’s grooming products are moving forward and everybody has come out swinging.  In drug and grocery stores across the country, they’re starting to carve out sections on the shelves again.  Grooming ads are showing up next to those for sports drinks and cars in men’s magazines like Sports Illustrated and Men’s Health. (And by the way guys, if you really do sweat like those guys in the Gatorade ads, whether or not it’s purple, we would really appreciate it if you pay close attention to the body wash ads.)

Unilever gets much of the credit for the boom, thanks to AXE. The company’s VP of personal care-North America, Kathy O’Brien, says that except for shaving products, Unilever has captured two-thirds of the growth market in the last 5 years.  (Gillette still has 70 percent of the shaving and razor market.)  Dove+Men was the next logical move for Unilever because those guys using AXE have to grow up sometime, don’t they?

P&G wants a piece of the action so badly it seems like the marketers have resorted to the kind of mudslinging usually reserved for political ads. “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like,” takes a poke at “lady-scented body wash.”  Unlike political ads, it’s funny and the guy is truly hot, so we’re OK with that.

But not all men’s grooming products are mass market, find-it-at-the-pharmacy types.  Another testament to the growing market is the number of smaller luxury-brand companies out there such as Jack Black, and the websites dedicated to them, like GroomingLounge.com and TheMetroMan.com.  Also telling is that drugstore.com recently launched AtHisBest.com, dedicated to “health and grooming essentials for men.”

Hopefully, this latest incarnation of men’s grooming products has more staying power than a creative services manager on Viagra because aside from a sale at Sephora, there’s nothing we at LookinGood appreciate more than a well-groomed man.

Hey guys, it’s time to get down to the details. Or The Detailer. And through March 14, you can try one for free if you tell them the size of your balls.

The Detailer, a handheld washing tool with a mesh side and a scrubbing side, is basically a shower scrubby with a grip, designed to work best with liquid soap such as the Axe body washes.  It cleans places a bar of soap just can’t get at. And it has actually gotten some good reviews from bloggers, generally of the “I can’t believe I’m admitting this, but …” type.

But the information a man must give over the phone is, how shall we say this, REALLY personal.

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You can get one for free by calling 1-877-329-3225.  A sultry-voiced siren will ask you about the size of your balls – “Small, press 1; Big, press 2; Old, press 3; Need your entire ball sack cleaned?  Press 4.”  It is occasionally tough to get through on the line because it is so popular, we warn you, so you can shortcut the decision by watching the other part of the ad campaign on www.cleansyourballs.com.

Either way, it’s a riot.  Axe has built its brand suggesting that their body products will help get guys laid, or at least, give them options. The prop and online advertising approach is hilarious, albeit borderline stupid.  The video of cleanyourballs.com [above], features a lady golfer washing sporting equipment including golf balls (small), tennis balls (fuzzy) and a “sack” bag of soccer balls.  I admit that I laughed out loud when an elderly gentleman handed her what appeared to be a couple of aged, wrinkly, dirty, leather rugby balls for help.

It made me want to drink cheap beer, scratch myself in the privates, then take a hot shower, but I’m not exactly the target demographic. And here at LookinGood, we think the Detailer ($19.96/4 pack at Amazon; about $5/single in stores) is just plain cool looking, with its bold colors and high-performance tire shape.  Other reviewers have given it high praise for the rubber grip that makes it easy to hold, which that actually interests me as well.

And in case you were wondering about the phone call, I pressed 2 when I made the call, even though I am a woman.  A few years back, when I gave up a position of assistant sports editor in an all-male department, one of my co-workers hugged me goodbye and said “It’s too bad, because the person with the most balls is leaving.” I cherish that as a compliment.

Axe is giving away 1,000 coupons for free Detailers every Monday morning through March 14, so get your balls in order.

The boys at Axe are at it again, and despite the gratuitous naked women doing gratuitously sexual exercises between gratuitous joke segments about mostly dumbass white guys, it’s pretty funny:

ENGLEWOOD CLIFFS, N.J., March 16 /PRNewswire/ — A guy’s typical weekend includes nights that extend into early mornings, power naps that substitute for deep slumbers and flurries of text messages with new spots to meet up with friends. The only thing routine about his lifestyle is its unpredictability and the need to be ready for anything that goes down. While some guys prevail and stay on top of their game, others falter and miss out on the experiences that should only be retold at 10-year reunions.

That’s why AXE has launched a complete line of transformational body washes and bodysprays that are designed to fix guys’ minds and change their game.

To accompany this new line, AXE has launched TheFixers.com, a Web site that features an instructional talk show and digital pranking system to help concerned friends rehabilitate buddies in need of a game makeover. The online talk show features a real-life problem solver named “The Fixer” and explores the difficulties guys often face in their demanding social lives. Covering everything from questionable social behavior to minimizing party recovery time, the online episodes and interactive pranking system teach valuable lessons and offer solutions to keep every guy up and running.

The new transformational line gives guys an edge in the mating game by helping them combat common problems such as dullness, fatigue, grogginess and shame from questionable behavior. The line includes:

•    Shock: Shower Gel and Bodyspray to wake guys up and keep them going throughout the night
•    Fever: Shower Gel and Bodyspray to help guys ignite their caliente spirit and get the party going
•    Recovery: Shower Gel and Bodyspray to help bring guys back to life after a long night
•    Snake Peel: Shower Scrub helps guys shed any regrets they may have from the night before

Wow.  If it takes that much work, those guys should stay home, don’t you think?