New Nando’s ad takes a leaf out of the Old Spice book

Check this out. It’s the new ad for fast food chicken franchise Nando’s. Notice anything familiar about it? Nope? Cast your mind back a bit. Yup it’s a pastiche of the Old Spice series of ads fronted by Isaiah Mustafa.

If we’re honest, we’re not quite sure what to make of it. On the one hand, it’s a pretty slick interpretation of the genre, delivered with typically dry Nando’s humour. On the other, the original ads started hitting their peak nearly three years ago. So what exactly was Nando’s thinking with this one?

Well one potential answer is the insanely short nostalgia loop brought on by the internet. We can imagine the creative team at the agency behind the ad, sitting around the office talking about how great things were back in 2010 when “Old Spice guy” was king. “We should totally make that a thing again,” we can imagine someone saying, followed by a series of sage nods from their colleagues.