Fabio and Mustafa Duel for Old Spice Crown

Old Spice Guy and his replacement – Italian model Fabio Lanzoni – are battling via the medium of online video to retain the role of figurehead for the Old Spice brand, in a campaign dubbed “Mano a Mano in el Baño” by agency Wieden+Kennedy.

The new videos are an extension of the Old Spice Response campaign, which almost exactly a year ago unleashed a barrage of YouTube videos tied to the Procter & Gamble men’s hygiene product line, featuring then-mascot Mustafa Isaiah addressing user questions submitted through various social channels.

This time around Fabio – who has already appeared in TV and online ads for the brand – and the former Old Spice Guy are both replying to user messages, and are engaged in an online popularity “duel” at Fabio’s request.

Users visiting the Old Spice YouTube page are invited to cast a vote for either Team Old Spice Guy or Team Fabio. According to a “Rules of Engagement” video featuring Mustafa, users can also voice a preference by liking, sharing, commenting, tweeting, posting, and “other things smart internet people do.” That activity will then be quantified and tallied to crown a winner, he said.

The “Mano a Mano” duel officially began at 12pm EST on Tuesday, and as of Wednesday morning almost 40 videos had been posted featuring the competing mascots. Those videos appear to be garnering less initial attention than last year’s inaugural effort, which attracted over 35 million video views in seven days.

A Wieden+Kennedy spokesperson said nobody was available for immediate comment on this phase of the campaign, as all hands are currently on-deck creating new video content.