When playing D&D, young guys can be nearly anything that they want. From wizards to barbarians, the game seemingly has it all. But we noticed a missing character, something that Old Spice helps any man become every day: a gentleman. So, Old Spice released its very own character class for the game: the Old Spice Gentleman. Now, instead of playing a class like an elf or a rogue, players could use our four-page character profile to play out the role of an Old Spice spokesperson, only with dragons and stuff. We made a printable PDF of our character’s profile designed to fit right into the rule books that players already had. We did a lot of research and troubleshooting to make sure that the features of our character were embraced by this group of passionate gamers. And it paid off.

Our aim was to stay organic and authentic with this execution, as we wanted to provide value for those who love the game. The Old Spice Gentleman class was released as an organic social post on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram and included a link to download the printable character book insert. The launch coincided with a national tabletop gaming convention at a time of increased conversation around D&D. Paid support was targeted to Dungeons & Dragons players. We also prereleased the character to well-known influencers in the D&D community and partnered with popular game play streamer Saving Throw for a two-hour live game play in which four gamers played out the role of the Old Spice Gentleman at varying levels, from Level 7 Pleasurable Smells to a more experienced Level 19 MBA.

Enthusiasts all over the Internet confirmed our character is actually playable in the game. Over one million people viewed our character profile and over 75,000 people downloaded it. Passionate gamers started multiple threads on Reddit, a major gathering place for D&D players, to talk about our character and analyze it, offering suggestions for improvement and even transcribing our character to other versions of the game. Before Old Spice gave it the ol’ paid-media boost, D&D was the best organic post we’ve ever had on our Facebook page, and our organic Twitter post had a ridiculously high 17.2% engagement rate. In total, earned impressions were 35 million across a variety of gaming press outlets. Most importantly, the often overlooked Dungeons & Dragons community felt heard by a brand—marketing success.