Welcome, Guest [Sign In]

October 2008 - Strategy Magazine
Special report - Brands of the year

P&G's innovation with a smile

by Carey Toane
page 36

To say it's been a great year for Procter & Gamble would be an understatement. The consumer packaged goods giant bathed in the spotlight at Cannes in June, where it was named Advertiser of the Year largely for its move to more emotionally charged, entertaining advertising. From the Crest campaign by Saatchi & Saatchi New York, in which children are dazzled by the smile of the CAT operator about to level their playground, to the Tide to Go "Talking Stain," P&G has integrated its trademark product innovation with new, more human marketing communications.

"We need to make all of our communication more interesting if we want to break through," says Toronto-based P&G Canada president and de facto head of marketing Tim Penner. "Every day it seems more difficult to reach our consumers and connect with them in a meaningful way. That's partly because they spread their viewing across more media, and they've got more messages bombarding them, so we've really got to try harder. So we've tried to make our communication more interesting, and have a bit of fun with it."

In Canada, this shift has been embraced by the entire organization, from senior management to assistant brand managers. Managing 54 brands in Canada from Always to Zest, the 100-strong marketing team has been recognized for efforts from the best-in-class beauty execution Rouge, a twice-yearly small-format mag going into more households than any other beauty mag in the country, to the Pantene Canadian Idol partnership with CTV, which just wrapped its third consecutive season and gets more robust each year, encompassing online, TV and product integration.

And while the Crest "Bulldozer" spot may never air north of the border, made-for-Canada creative is also upping the emotional ante: earlier this year Crest partnered with Oral-B and Dentistry Canada Fund to establish a research and humanitarian fund as part of Oral Care Health Month. The initiative is now being adopted in other regions.

Arms-length industry observers have been impressed with P&G's ability to introduce emotionally resonant messaging while maintaining their historical position of technical prowess. "Gone are the days of the side-by-side technical comparison with the blue water on the diaper," says Jill Nykoliation, president of Toronto agency Juniper Park, who spent 10 years at Kraft before moving to the agency side. "They perfected that, and it worked at an intellectual level. But now they've challenged themselves to be emotionally engaging as well."

Award show accolades aside, this change has been answered by a strong sales performance. The global company reported a 33% increase in net income in Q4 to $3.02 billion worldwide; net sales rose 10% in the same period and 9% for the fiscal year; and in the same period, Canada recorded the highest percentage growth of all markets.

"We are growing market share in almost every category in which we do business," says Rob Linden, category brand manager, corporate marketing, scale and innovation, P&G Beauty Care. "We have 24 brands with sales of over $1 billion globally - and in Canada, many of those same brands are leaders in their respective categories."

Quick Search