Procter & Gamble, founded in 1837, is considering whether to discontinue its Ivory brand of soap, which was the company's first product. Ivory sales have been declining as consumers have switched to liquid soaps. However, removing Ivory could damage P&G's reputation as the brand has deep roots in the company's history. The document discusses three solutions: 1) Redesign and reintroduce Ivory to appeal to new customers, 2) Promote Ivory as an organic product to attract environmentally conscious consumers, or 3) Discontinue Ivory to focus on growing brands. The best solution is to first try redesigning and reintroducing Ivory before removing a brand integral to P

1. Andrew Mullis
Summary
Procter and Gamble is a Cincinnati-based company with sales of about $83 billion
annually. William Procter and James Gamble founded the firm Procter and Gamble
in 1837. The P&G Company is well known for household products such as Tide,
Gain, Head & Shoulders, and Gillette (just to name a few). P&G is trying to
determine which brands are worth keeping and which brands should be
discontinued in order to increase the firm. The company began mass marketing its
first product over 135 years ago and it was a bar of soap called Ivory. Of the $83
billion overall revenue, the Ivory brand contributes with sales of around $112
million annually. The brand Ivory is a bar soap that has been around since the 1870s
and this was the first product P&G decided to market across the country.
Ivory body wash has higher repeat purchase rates than other rival brands such as
Dove and Dial. This indicates that there must be sufficient brand loyalty among
Ivory users. Even though the market share of Ivory has gone down, the brand loyalty
is still there and consumers of competitor’s product are not as loyal.
Unfortunately, P&G is deciding on whether they should remove the Ivory brand.
Ivory is the product that started branding for P&G and look how successful they are
now.
This move could be detrimental to the P&G brand given its deep roots in the
company’s history. The Ivory brand has been around for such a long time and this
could upset loyal customers. Consumers could start to question the firm’s values
based on the removal of the Ivory brand. P&G has been trying to figure out which of
the 100 brands they wish to keep and focus on. P&G is going to focus on promoting

2. Andrew Mullis
70 to 80 brands that account for majority of its revenue and profit. The other 20 to
30 brands will be removed from the product line in order to increase the success of
the other brands. There are various options that Procter and Gamble should
consider before making a final decision.
Key Issues/Problems
There are a various issues associated with the decision to remove the Ivory brand or
keep it around. Although P&G is a hugely successful company, Ivory’s sales
performance has continued to decline over the years. At one point the Ivory brand
had about 20% share of the bar soap market share. This was all the way back in the
1970s when bar soap was the popular soap and Ivory was also being used as dish
soap. Also, there were not as many alternative products available like there are
today. Sales have started to fall due to the fact that Americans have adopted the use
of body wash and liquid soap instead of the traditional bar soap.
Causes
Even though American consumers were starting to adopt the liquid soaps, Ivory’s
market share within bar soap continued to fall. Ivory’s market share of bar soap has
fallen from 4.7%, about 10 years ago, to 3.4% today making it less profitable.
Furthermore, sales of Ivory products have been declining progressively on an
average of 4% every year. These percentages justify American consumers choosing
other bar soap brands over Ivory. P&G has a few options they should consider
before making a decision that could hugely impact their firm in the long run.

3. Andrew Mullis
Solution1
If P&G decides to continue the Ivory brand, then they should revamp the entire
product. Ivory has kept the exact same image for over a millennium and the brand
needs to keep up with competition. Around 3 years ago, a P&G team came up with a
plan to rejuvenate the Ivory brand but never actually occurred. There was a plan to
include products like a two-in-one hair and body wash and redesigning the brand’s
logo and packaging. The logo is still the original one created over a millennium ago
so change is long overdue. P&G has never changed the look of the Ivory brand in
order to see if it will change the perception and increase sales. In this market, there
is an ambiguous amount of competition and so products must strive to stay on top.
The product should be reintroduced with a newer, sleeker look so that it can appeal
to the newer generations. The campaign can focus on history of the Ivory brand and
introduce where it will be going in the future. Although the trend is that consumers
are not using bar soap as often, there are still some consumers who prefer the bar
soap. Every consumer is different and this is something many companies fail to
realize. I would suggest reinventing the Ivory brand and see if it improves the sales
of the brand before deciding on discontinuing the product for good. Removing the
product could damage P&G’s reputation and turn consumers away from the other
products. Reintroducing the Ivory brand could be beneficial for P&G and retain
customer brand loyalty.
Solution 2
Organic products have always been around without consumers recognizing how
they affect the entire world. In recent years, organic products have become more

4. Andrew Mullis
popular and more American consumers are starting to adopt them. This comes
along with consumers wanting to live a sustainable lifestyle to enhance the world.
Products such as Toms have increased the awareness about the organic lifestyle.
Mothers are prone to organic products because they want to keep their children as
free from harm as possible. P&G could create a campaign discussing the organic
lifestyle and how it affects families around the United States. This campaign could
focus on a mother/child relationship and how using Ivory affects their lifestyles.
Ivory bar soap is made from pure vegetable oils and is whipped with air during
production enabling it to float in water. P&G should focus on promoting the Ivory
brand as an organic product and how it helps the environment. There are no
chemicals used in the soap that are harmful to the environment. This could be a
campaign for a more “green” lifestyle.
Solution 3
Even though the Ivory brand has been around for more than 130 years, P&G could
decide on the brand being removed altogether. Ivory bar soap’s sales have been
declining repeatedly over the past decade. P&G could decide to focus on other
products that are actually showing growth and dominating their markets. The
market share has fallen from 4.4% ten years ago to 3.4% last year. This indicates
that even though consumers are switching to liquid soap, the Ivory brand is still
losing to other bar soaps. The Ivory brand does not seem to be contributing to the
success of P&G like the other products are. The Ivory brand was once a powerful
force in the bar soap market, but it has struggled to keep up over the years. The firm

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could decide to move forward without the Ivory brand and focus their time and
money on growing products.
Best Solution
Deciding to remove the Ivory brand before trying something new would not be the
best move. This product has been around for many years and removing it could
reduce brand loyalty. My first solution is probably the best idea for P&G to consider
which is reintroducing the Ivory brand to consumers through a campaign. The
campaign could still discuss the brand’s history but, most importantly, show where
Ivory is today. Updating the Ivory logo could enhance the perception of the brand
and be beneficial to consumers who may feel negatively about it. Revamping a
product that has been around for so long would be like introducing an entirely new
product. The Ivory brand has been around for such a long time and still has not been
altered in the least bit. P&G should try to save the Ivory brand before considering its
removal altogether. If this idea does not work, then P&G should consider other
options.
Conclusion
It is no secret that the Ivory brand is suffering and not performing the way it once
did, like a few other products on the chopping block. Considering all options would
be beneficial for Procter and Gamble before deciding on something that could hurt
the brand. The history of the Ivory brand goes back many years and removing the
product from the product line could change consumer’s perspective on P&G and
what they stand for. Removing Ivory would alter P&G’s credibility because this
product was developed not long after the company was established. Exploring

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various options before making a final decision would be in P&G’s best interest in
order to retain current customers.