Finally someone has got it right. Old Spice’s “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like” has become an iconic success for the use of viral marketing because it has generated mass reach. Instead of engaging just a few people, it has engaged tens of millions.

There are many articles documenting the success of Old Spice’s ”The Man Your Man Could Smell Like” (TMYMCSL) so I will not bore you with the details, but for those outside the United States who may not have heard about it, here is a brief overview. The campaign started with some quirky commercials featuring ex-football player Isaiah Mustafa. Notably this one aired in the Superbowl.

When different researchers using different techniques arrive at the same conclusion, the authority of that conclusion is enhanced. So I am pleased to see that that some new neuroscience research has reached the same conclusions that Millward Brown arrived at decades ago through traditional consumer research.

The new research, funded by the U.K.’s Thinkbox and reported in Marketing Week, offers a fascinating parallel to learning gleaned over the years from Millward Brown tracking and pretesting.  Here is just one of the findings from the Thinkbox research and how it fits with Millward Brown’s learning.

Because I didn’t watch the Super Bowl, I missed seeing the first airing of Google’s new  TV ad. Instead I saw it for the first time as part of a presentation by Karen Tsay at the Consumer Insights Conference hosted by the Yale School of Management a month ago. Karen said she had no idea why Google was running the ad, but something else she said suggested a good reason to me. Microsoft’s Bing is now the default search engine on Dell computers.  Maybe Google has finally realized it needs advertising after all.

A recent article in AdAge raised the question of whether advertisers might be moving from a recession strategy of focusing on rational benefits to a post-recession emphasis on more emotional benefits. My comment to a colleague that you cannot have a rational response without an emotional one sparked an email debate, the conclusions of which I summarize here.

First of all, we need to distinguish between what an advertiser seeks to achieve and how a consumer responds. An advertiser may select a functional or price-related message in an effort to evoke a rational response, or a touching and poignant story or idea to evoke an emotional response. But how consumers respond to these different types of communication will always start with how they instinctively feel about it.

In these unsettled times, it is perhaps not surprising that concepts that draw on the appeal of a simpler, better past are proving attractive. According to this article in Saturday’s New York Times, Eddie Bauer, Jeep, and others are reaching back into history in order to rekindle people’s affection for their brands. But when people are more distrustful of big business than ever, marketers need to exercise caution when they tap into nostalgia to market their brands.