We at Consumerist mostly focus on when companies screw up, with some exceptions. We must give credit for brilliant marketing strategies when it is due, though, and yesterday’s personalized YouTube video blitz by Old Spice’s towel-wrapped spokesman, Isaiah “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like” Mustafa, qualifies as brilliant.

The idea was simple: choose the best comments on Old Spice’s recent batch of ads, culled from YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter. Craft custom replies to them. Have Mustafa read them on-camera. Post to YouTube. Let magic happen.

Key strategies included directing comments at famous people with large online followings, such Alyssa Milano, Ashton Kutcher, Twitter co-founder Biz Stone, and our former sibling blog Gizmodo.

In this video, for example, the spokesman addresses the age-old question of what to do when you’re in a room with a pirate and a ninja.

Will this viral marketing bonanza result in an increase in sales? Even more than hiring Bruce Campbell? We’ll have to wait to find out.

Old Spice [YouTube Channel]

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