This a case study review of a Harvard Business School:Procter & Gamble: Marketing Capabilities. Done under the Marketing internship of Prof Smaeer Mathur ( IIM L professor).

2. Introduction And
History• William Procter, a candle maker, and James
Gamble, a soap maker, immigrants from England
and Ireland respectively who had settled earlier in
Cincinnati, who met as they both married sisters,
Olivia and Elizabeth Norris, formed the company
initially.
• In 1859, sales reached one million dollars. By this
point, approximately eighty employees worked
for Procter & Gamble.
• In the 1880s, Procter & Gamble began to market a
new product, an inexpensive soap that floats in
water. The company called the soap Ivory.

3. • As radio became more popular in the 1920s and 1930s, the
company sponsored a number of radio programs .As a
result, these shows often became commonly known as "soap
operas”
• Procter & Gamble maintained a strong link to the North
East of England after this acquisition.
• The company introduced "Tide" laundry detergent in 1946
and "Prell" shampoo in 1950. In 1955, Procter & Gamble
began selling the first toothpaste to contain fluoride, known
as "Crest".
• Once again focusing on laundry, Procter & Gamble began
making "Downy" fabric softener in 1960 and "Bounce"
fabric softener sheets in 1972.
• Procter & Gamble acquired a number of other companies
that diversified its product line and increased profits
significantly .These acquisitions included Folgers Coffee,
Norwich Eaton Pharmaceuticals, Richardson-Vicks, Noxell,
Shulton's Old Spice, Max Factor, and the Iams Company,
among others.

4. Market Segmentation
• Beauty segment
• Grooming segment
• Health Care segment
• Snacks & Pet Care segment
• Fabric Care & Home Care segment
• Baby Care & Family Home Care segment

5. Marketing Mix
The marketing mix is a business tool used
in marketing and by marketing professionals. The
marketing mix is often crucial when determining a
product or brand's offering, and is often
synonymous with the four Ps: price, product,
promotion, and place; in service marketing,
however, the four Ps have been expanded to
the Seven Ps or eight Ps to address the different
nature of services.
In recent times, the concept of four Cs has been
introduced as a more customer-driven replacement
of four Ps. And there are two four Cs theories today.
One is Lauterborn's four Cs
(consumer, cost, communication, convenience)

6. Product Strategy
• Product classification – service consumer good
• Product differentiation- form , features ,
performance , reliability
• Superior technology
• CSR initiatives
• Attractive packaging
• Catchy taglines
• Established as a brand itself.

7. Pricing Strategy
• Optional – feature pricing
• Product- line pricing
• Cost- plus pricing
• Competitive pricing
• Distribution pricing

8. Place Strategy
• In store placement strategy
• Already existing strong links in urban area
• Rural penetration
• Develop marketing channels as strong and
penetrated so that it would gain access to remote
areas
• Strategic location of warehouse
• Increase wholesale dealers in small towns so that
they can go to the nearby villages
• National coverage would be dealt with by
increasing the company’s warehouses and
creating C&F agents in the smaller cities.

9. Promotion Strategy
• Media
• Radio
• Hoardings
• Consumer promotion
• Fragrance oriented and eco friendly
• Newspaper
• Various promotional offers

10. Channels of
distribution• P&G keeping broaden the market by slashing its no. of
distributors down to one-tenth of its size.
• 85% of its sales come from the top 30 towns & its current
volume did not justify a large distributor network.
• So P&G will now have one distributer who will operate like
super stockiest. Which help to replenish its distributors
more frequently and reduce their average stock level.
• P&G keep growing on ROI (Return on Investment) which
resulted in each distributer trying to extend its reach to push
up volumes.
• With a limited number of distributers, P&G will also not
need to invest in C&F agents.
• P & G follows wholesale format of distribution for Vicks.
• P&G is giving 6% margin to the distributor

11. Promotional Strategy
“Thank You, Mom” Campaign
• P&G's corporate campaign kicked off in April
with its first ``Thank You, Mom'' TV spot.
• It also has a dedicated ``Thank, You
Mom'' Facebook page and app that allows people
to send ``Thank you'' messages to their mothers.
• P&G is sponsoring more than 150 global athletes.
• P&G is sponsoring a few athletes like boxer Mary
Kom and runner Kavita Raut, giving their
mothers a chance to see them perform and
hopefully win at London this year.
• P&G expects the campaign to drive $500 million

14. PASTEL Analysis
Political/Legal statement
• With the U.S economy currently expiriencing a recession
other countries may not be far behind. Japan, Britain, Spain,
Singapore which together represent about 12 percent of the
world’s economy are equally vulnerable as fallout from the
U.S worsens their economic weaknesses. Even emerging
markets including China are likely to suffer from exports to
the U.S diminish.
• The developing slump has put pressure in the Japan, U.S
and the euro region to follow the lead of federal reserve
chairman Ben S. Benmake who in the 1st quarter of 2009
accelerated interest rate cuts in the U.S with an emergency
move to lower the bench mark by 3 quarters of percentage
point

15. ECONOMICS SEGMENT
The United States, the country with world’s largest economy,
is currently in an economic ressession. Since the recession
began in December,2007. The real Gross Demostic Product
(GDP), the total value of goods and produce in a year and a
basic reason of an economy’s performance, dropped in at an
annual rate of more than 6% in the fourth quarter of 2008 .
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bemanke said condition in the
labour market and declines in the value of housing along with
tight consumer credit conditions will continue to hold
consumers back spending more until the experience a losening
of conditions that impact them directly . Demanke said
economy activity abroad is also an important consideration in
how soon the U.S. economy rebounce. He states “ the steep
drop in U.S. exports that began last fall has been a significant
drag on domestic production and any improvement on that
front would be helpful”.

16. Socio –cultural segment
Women from the major target groups for house
hold, personal products and consumer goods
companies. Several P&G consumer products, such
as skin care and beauty care , are adressed directly
to women. Other products such as food and
beverages, home cleaning and detergents are
adressed to women as the primary decision makers
or influencers.In addition to the media choice
companies have decided on the types of
programme they sponsor. So as to attract the target
of their audience.

17. Technological segment
• Organizations are rapidly trying to incorporate the
Internet into their supply chain practices. Global
competitive pressure
• And heightened share holder expectations have
accelerated the rate of Internet adoption.
Electronic markets are websites where buyers and
sellers converge to advertise, bid for products in
auction, post catalogue information procure
inventory and manage inventory procurement of
industry specific products such as paper, metal,
chemicals, agriculture and industries. These
market act as hubs where buyers can procure
direct goods and suppliers can market their