Old Spice’s Inception-style TV ad is the longest ever at 14 hours - and will run forever online.


If you have a product which lasts "forever" then what's the most appropriate way to advertise it?


Well, how about with a commercial that will also never end?

That’s just what Procter & Gamble brand Old Spice has done to promote the new  Durascent technology. While Old Spice says its latest commercial will broadcast for eternity online, on television that’s not really possible.


So a 14-hour version has been used to earn the title of longest TV commercial which aired on Woohoo in São Paulo, Brazil, on 8 December 2018.


The advert features hundreds of short clips edited together in a series of quick cuts featuring tag lines such as "Smell Amazing Forever with the new Old Spice".


A truncated three-minute clip gives a flavour of what to expect in the full version.

After an opening scene featuring a man spraying himself with Old Spice deodorant in his bathroom, the pace quickens, with an inception feel rapidly emerging.


The bathroom scene pulls out to two men on their sofa watching the advert on their TV , before one turns to the camera, which is then followed by:


  •  A man in a bar saying the scent saved his marriage
  • A man watching the advert of the man in the bar laughing at his TV
  • Two aliens watching the man laughing at the TV
  • Two artists painting the aliens' spaceship
  • The bathroom man spaying Old Spice in a locker room with the artists’ scene in a photo on the wall
  • An old woman watching the locker room advert on her TV
  • The two men on their sofa watching the old woman advert on their TV
  • A young man in the shower spraying Old Spice and morphing into an older man

And so it continues.



Actor and Old Spice ambassador Terry Crews is also included, with a miniature Terry spraying the deodorant onto the full-size version.


To bring this creative vision to life, a team of approximately 100 people worked on the production, including Procter & Gamble's marketing team, producers and Wieden +Kennedy agency.


The commercial was filmed in June 2018 and was aired six months later in December.



After 20 hours of shooting and months of editing, the production generated more than 1,600 clips that, mixed through combinatorial analysis, makes a never ending commercial.


Old Spice’s TV advert surpassed previous record holder Arbys which produced a commercial lasting 13 hours 5 minutes 11 seconds in 2014 to promote the Smokehouse Brisket sandwich.


Will Old Spice’s record now also last forever?