Alec Black Introduction to Brand Management January 26, 2009 Brand Brief
The Tampax Community The Brand at a Glance History Tampax, the product, was created and trademarked in 1931 by Dr. Earle Cleveland Haas. He created a hand powered, hand operated machine that compressed cotton and used string to hold it together. He then found two paper tubes that to create the original applicator. He took on this this challenge in order to solve the discomfort his wife had been experiencing with her “sanitary pad”. He later sold the patent to Gertrude Tenderich who formed the Tampax Sales Corporation with a small group of Denver investors in 1934. She used Haas’ device and her sewing machine to create the devices in her home and then formed a small sales force to spread the product. They quickly found that they did not have enough capital to be profitable and sold rights to the design to Robert A. McInnes, a Canadian entreprenuer. He was given a license to manufacture the product and sell it in Canada and the “British Empire”. While trying to market the product in the East, Tenderich met Ellery Mann who was a product promoter. The match worked perfectly and Tenderich, McInnes, and Mann combined forces to form Tampax Incorporated. With Ellery’s ability to bring heightened awareness they achieved the success Tenderich had dreamed of when she bought the patent. They changed the name of the company to Tambrands Inc. in 1984 and were later purchased by Proctor & Gamble in 1997. Since the creation of Tampax Incorporated in 1936 they have been the leading seller of tampons globally. Today In 2007 they held roughly half of the entire tampon market with recent estimates putting them at 51% market share. In order to compete in