By 2013 Old Spice had championed its unique blend of ridiculousness and masculinity to solidify its position as the #1 deodorant brand in the United States. Once an outdated grooming brand with an aging customer base, Old Spice had transformed itself into a burgeoning entertainment franchise with legions of new fans. But despite this success, a glaring hole in Old Spice’s business remained. While Old Spice reigned supreme in the deodorants, AXE still ruled the roost when it came to body spray. This was no surprise given that AXE had invented the category. Since AXE invaded the United States in 2002, its dominance in sprays had gone largely uncontested. As of 2013, AXE (owned by Unilever) controlled 77% dollar share in the body spray market, while Old Spice (owned by P&G) lagged far behind with a share of only 17%.

We started by stepping into the shoes of our target audience. We held several rounds of focus groups with middle-school- and high-school-aged-guys. We read books about the difficulties of navigating the seas of manhood. We watched “sex-ed” videos (yup, still awkward). And we talked to psychologists who specialize in mentoring young men. In talking to teen boys, we realized that body spray had become a new rite of passage for aspiring men. To scent your body with fragrance is a small but important way for young guys to start carving out their own unique identities in the world.

To unseat AXE we realized we needed to position Old Spice body spray as a modern-day rite of passage, a symbol of transitioning from boyhood to manhood. This led to a simple but compelling creative truth: Old Spice body spray separates the men from the boys.

Armed with a truth we kept pushing for insights to get to an inspiring brief, but in conversations with our target, one fact became painfully obvious: teen boys were terribly unhelpful when it came to talking about their own maturation process. So we turned to the real experts: their moms.

While the middle school guys were quiet and uncomfortable, their moms were downright effusive in sharing stories and anecdotes about the trials and tribulations of raising adolescent boys. In the process we learned a lot about the special relationship between mothers and sons. Interestingly, the moms discussed the transition from boyhood to manhood with mixed emotions. On one hand, they beamed with pride as they discussed their sons becoming men, but they also lamented the loss of their “babies.” This tension, we realized, could make for some great theater. Instead of telling our rite-of-passage story from our target audience’s point-of-view, could we celebrate the effects of Old Spice body spray from the perspective of their moms?

The result: a musical mom-penned tale of the journey from boyhood to manhood that became the most viral video in the world and sold a whole lot of Old Spice (results withheld for confidentiality).