Nowadays when companies plan to do an ad on TV, they have to be thinking about it’s afterlife on the web and on the viral circuit. If they do so, they will be extend the ad’s life and get more for the money they spent – and more importantly go to where their target audience might be.

This is what has been happening for a lot superbowl ads, and the Old Spice one is another great example.

It’s going viral because of the acting, the brilliance of the filmmaking, being funny and for leaving the viewers wondering what happened the first time they see it. If you don’t believe it and never seen it before, check it out the 30 second spot:

And a sort of making-of of the piece was put on Youtube and it’s got more than 100.000 views in a 10 day period.

It’s an interview with the creators of the ad where they explain how it was done, 19 minutes long but worth seeing for the more curious out there.

And as a bonus, here is the 15 second ad they talk about:

Who knew, Google running an ad on Superbowl. On television! The company who was basically made on online advertising spending a reported 5 million dollars on a 53 second commercial.

Some say is to counter the Microsoft Bing ads and its rising market share, others say Google is going after traditional media aswell. One thing is for sure though, they sure know how to make good videos (or hire the right people) and have them go viral.

Another curious thing is that the video has been on Youtube since the 19th of November of last year, which is strange as normally companies have the actual Superbowl be the premiere of the ad.

Also, curiously on this Superbowl, it was the first time ever that Pepsi chose to not air a commercial, using the money instead to fund a social crowdsourcing project. Strange things indeed in this Superbowl when it comes to marketing.

In the case of Google, if you haven’t seen the ad already, check it after the break:

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It now has close to 1.5 million views on Youtube alone.