P&G is a multinational consumer goods company founded in 1837. It has a large portfolio of brands and focuses on innovation through design-led product development and understanding consumers. P&G reorganized into global business units in 2007 and increased focus on design thinking. It uses various marketing strategies like multi-branding, celebrity endorsements, sponsorships, digital marketing and social media. Areas for improvement include increasing social media activity, monitoring consumers, and reducing costs.

1. P&G-Marketing
capabilities
HBS case study by Upkar Singh

2. Overview
History
Brands
Situation analysis
Objectives
Disclaimer
Some points where P&G should focus

3.  Founded on October 21st 1837 by candlemaker William Procter and soapmaker
James Gamble.
It is a company that makes mostly daily use products.
History of P&G

4.  It was the first American Multinational company to advertise directly to the consumers ,in the
1880’s.
 Started it’s international expansion in the 1930’s and by 1945-1980,it had made entry to
market’s in Latin America,Western Europe and Japan.
 It is considered as a global leader in branded consumer goods and known for category defining
products.
History of P&G

5. • The company is known for it’s enormous brand portfolio.
• The company produces brands in several sizes and forms and use its
parent brands to launch new products.
• Some of the well known brands of P&G are Tide,Gillette,Vicks etc.
Brands

6. • Has more than two dozen 1 billion dollar brands known worldwide.
Brands

8. • P&G is a company with good company background and is also the market leader in the Fast-Moving Consumer
Goods(FMCG) sector.
• The company has a firm belief in innovating and constantly improving their products & brands.
• The company aims to serve 5 Billion consumers worldwide.
• The company has very great brand portfolio and also,great application of brand extension and multi branding
strategy.
Situation Analysis

9. • Given below are the net sales and organisation structure.
• Net sales in developing countries has increased marginally from 2008 to 2010.
Situation Analysis

10. • North America represented 42% of net sales Western
Europe represented 21% of net sales,Asia 15%,Central
and Eastern Europe and Middle East and Africa 13%
and Latin America 9%.
• Developed countries represent 66% of total sales in
2010.
Situation Analysis

12. • To know about the different marketing channels used by P&G.
• To know marketing strategies used by P & G .
• To know about the significance of innovation and R&D in success of P&G.
Objectives of case study

13. • P&G reorganised itself to boost growth after the net sales slowed down to 2.6%
• P&G felt the GBUs would help with global product development and quick-to-market
strategies.
• Seven global business units (GBUs) based on product categories replaced the
company’s four geographic business units.
Innovation and R&D

14. • Three new teams supported the GBU’s :
• Business development team focussed on innovating in existing
categories.
• A venture team tasked with acquiring brands in new areas.
• Market development organisations to perform the intensive
research to ensure global products’ success in local markets.
• 50% of the innovation came from P&G’s labs and 50 %
of innovation came through the labs -partnership and
connections with non P&G scientists.
Innovation and R&D

15. • This strategy was called the “Connect & Develop “ strategy.
• However , firm struggled to control costs and it’s stock slid
from $118 to $52 in 18 months.
• But, CEO Lafley remained committed to reorganisation and
believed that it would deliver the innovations promised.
Innovation and R&D

17. • Lafley created a new design unit different from other business units for
design innovation and strategy .
• Lafley made Claudia Kotchka as the Vice president for the design
innovation unit.
• Lafley also appointed Jim stangel as the new CMO.
Focus on design

18. • Claudia Kotchka tried to introduce a culture of design through a number of steps such as-
• “Design tasting” featuring design case study for P&G’s top 200 marketing executives.
• Creation of “clay street “project bringing cross functional teams to create new brands based on
design.
• P&G used design as a complement helping consumers recognize,understand and in some cases ,even
imagine the functions of a given product.
• The influx of design had a strong impact on product development of P&G.
Focus on design

19.  Claudia Kotchka tried to introduce a culture of design through a number of steps
such as-
 “Design tasting” featuring design case study for P&G’s top 200 marketing executives.
 Creation of “clay street “project bringing cross functional teams to create new
brands based on design.
 P&G used design as a complement helping consumers recognize,understand and
in some cases ,even imagine the functions of a given product.
The focus on design

20. • This kind of emphasis on design moved the P&G towards a more consumer centric
approach .
• Now , the focus of company shifted from product development to the design innovation and
consumer centric approach.
• Also brought their focus on Return on Marketing Investment(ROMI).
• Also associated themselves with “Project Apollo” which helped themselves understand
consumers better.
Consumer centric approach

21. • Qualitatively,it ran focus group discussions,interviews of customers at home and in-store
interviews.
• Quantitatively, they gathered data on consumers,did large scale study of habits and
practices of the consumers who purchased P&G products.
• Used the emotional branding .
Consumer centric approach

22. • The firm is well known for marketing several brands in the same product category.
• Some examples are Head & shoulders and pantene, OralB and crest , Tide & Ariel etc.
• They are also known for producing brands in several sizes and forms and launching of new brands
under the name of parent brand.
• They also used emotional branding which is evident from “Thank You Mom” campaign.
Multi brand Strategy & Brand Extension

24. • P&G mostly relied on television commercials,dramas and operas to sell their products .
• The ads were based on their product superiority and clear functional benefits of the product.
• P&G ,with the help of other agencies tried to develop the media neutral idea that could be
translated across a range of media
• They created a brand character named “commander safeguard “ in Pakistan “ for safeguard
soap.
Advertising

26. • P&G has been involved in many sponsorship activities.
• The firm was the US team sponsor in the 2010 games , also sponsored in 2012 winter games
in Russia , and 2016 summer games in Brazil.
• This helped the firm to increase its visibility .
• They also tied in with NFL’s play 60 initiative.
Sponsorships

27.  P&G has been involved in many sponsorship activities.
 The firm was the US team sponsor in the 2010 games , also sponsored in 2012
winter games in Russia , and 2016 summer games in Brazil.
 This helped the firm to increase its visibility .
 They also tied in with NFL’s play 60 initiative.
Sponsorships

28. • The firm used the celebrity endorsements to promote their brands.
• This help them affect the opinion leaders which helps in the growth of brands .
• Roger Federer featured in gillette fusion product ads .
• NHL player named Alex Ovechkin was named the brand ambassador of Gillette and starred in
TV commercials promoting gillette fusion razors and other new products.
• Many similar kind of endorsements was done by P&G for different brands.
Celebrity endorsements

29.  The firm used the celebrity endorsements to promote their brands.
 This help them affect the opinion leaders which helps in the growth of brands .
 Roger Federer featured in gillette fusion product ads .
 NHL player named Alex Ovechkin was named the brand ambassador of Gillette
and starred in TV commercials promoting gillette fusion razors and other new
products.
 Many similar kind of endorsements was done by P&G for different brands.
Celebrity endorsements

30. • The firm launched websites such as pampers.com which provided product
information and also served as interacting forum.
• P&G also used mobile marketing campaigns to publicize crest whitening plus
toothpaste in 2006.
• Digital marketing enabled a raft of niche segmentation targeted to specific
consumers including online serials , video games and youtube channels for specific
products.
Digital Marketing

31. • Old spice television commercial “the man your man could smell like “ gave the
greatest exposure to the company.
• It was a successful campaign and also the video was one of the most viewed videos of
youtube.
• This campaign was seen as a milestone in P&G’s transition from mass marketer to
one to one digitized marketer.
Digital Marketing

32. • P&G maintained it’s marketing budget despite the recession in 2009.After that , it also started
advertising on the social media.
• P&G launched two campaigns, capessa for women on yahoo! Health and People’s choice community
associated with people’s choice awards.
• Facebook was used as marketing supplement .
• P&G is known for identifying the needs of their consumers and providing an alternative for it.
• An example of this is “manofthehouse.com”.
Social Media

33. • P&G needs to get more active on social media and work out on more effective ways to reach people
through social media.
• They should also develop their website.
• They should monitor their consumers time to time and understand their needs .They should also try to
reduce their cost of products.
• They should also keep a close eye on their competitors and just be ready to answer their any move.
Certain areas P&G should focus on

34.  P&G maintained it’s marketing budget despite the recession in 2009 .After that , it
also started advertising on the social media.
 P&G launched two campaigns, capessa for women on yahoo! Health and People’s
choice community associated with people’s choice awards.
 Facebook was used as marketing supplement .
Social Media

35. Disclaimer
This presentation is made by Upkar Singh, SRM University under the guidance of
Professor Sameer Mathur,IIM Lucknow during an internship of marketing
management.