What P&G taught me about Brands
In over 40 years of experience in Business, the lessons I learned at P&G have continued to be a source of much of my success. While they have been modified and informed by changing technologies and economics, the fundamentals remain essentially true. With a few annotations and comments, the core of them is outlined below: • Any brand must have a clear focus. It cannot be applied across multiple products with differing benefits. The Tide brand, which is about strength, cannot be applied to products which are mild and gentle, such as typical Ivory branded products. • • The main claimed benefit must be consistent with the product, i.e. the product must deliver. Tide products must be strong, and Ivory products must be gentle. Products are developed to meet consumer needs, even if the consumer has difficulty verbalizing them. The Swiffer is a good example of this. Outside P&G, the iPod is another. A brand alone is not enough to justify a product. • The constraint of cost which calls for one brand to be used across multiple products (to allow more effective use of advertising budgets), must be balanced against the fact that the narrower the positioning focus, the more effective the advertising. By incorporating the White Cloud product under Charmin, P&G sacrificed some focus, but felt that the gain in efficiency justified it. • Simplicity of benefit is a strength. Resist the temptation to create a long list of benefits or it will confuse the consumer. Many products will have a number of areas in which they are superior to a competitor, but the challenge is to select the one which is most relevant and meaningful to the consumer. Tide is primarily about whiteness and stain removal, while Cheer is about bright colors, even though Cheer does get stains out. • Do not launch a new product unless it beats the competition in an objective ...