Old Spice? Really?

Am I reading this right?

The wildly popular Old Spice advertising video channel, the source of a series of videos now rocketing around cyberspace, has been uploaded more than 117 million times. The popularity of the campaign apparently is not just an online quirk, as sales of Old Spice have increased by 107 percent in the last month. (It's not clear, Ad Age writes, how much of that is due to a coupon campaign, but Old Spice sales improved as soon as the campaign began last February.)

What it tells me is that absolutely everything and anything can be reinvigorated. I would not have bet that there was life left in the 71-year-old men's fragrance. When I was a kid, which was not recently, Old Spice was considered to be hopelessly old-fashioned, like horehound drops (whatever those are), or hot-water bottles. (And given Old Spice's recent performance, I am not counting either of those out.)

I love this kind of story and what it says about the potential of all those projects that seem to be dragging a little or lacking in zing. Creativity, imagination, and the willingness to take risks, it seems, really can work magic.