Procter & Gamble signals the return of experiential marketing efforts with an Old Spice Barbershop that will double as a content production studio and a retail store and test lab for new product development. The brick-and-mortar brand activation will open on March 1 in Columbus, Ohio, near the Ohio State University campus.

Old Spice Brand Director at P&G Leif Edgar said in a statement, “Every single detail from the front desk to the mural in the back of the shop has been created for a truly memorable experience as we help our guys navigate the seas of manhood with the perfect haircut, style and hair grooming products.”

The activation is a physical extension of the Old Spice Barbershop online destination that sells exclusive male grooming products and offers educational content around the male grooming routine. The brand will use the location to produce real-time digital and social media content leveraging a celebrity barber in residency program to support content creation, develop men’s grooming tutorials, and host interactive customer experiences.

Old Spice’s recently launched its “Smell Ready for Anything” campaign featuring a series of ads highlighting transformative moments to encourage guys to smell new possibilities, realize true potential within, and manifest their own greatness in 2021. The intent of this campaign was central to the design of the barbershop, creating moments of inspiration and humor to help people shake their pandemic-related funk.

“Now more than ever, guys need a reminder to see the potential within themselves and nurture seeds of confidence, even when we can be self-critical,” said Matt Krehbiel, Old Spice Vice President at Procter & Gamble. “Old Spice encourages guys to challenge their inner critic while providing great-smelling products that help them look and feel at their best.”

The space will inform product development by promoting social discussions that provide a source of real-time feedback from consumers. The Old Spice Barbershop is representative of P&G’s Chief Brand Officer Marc Pritchard’s mandate for constructive disruption and start-up thinking to meet consumers’ quickly shifting demands.