A global giant Proctor & Gamble

A GLOBAL GIANT

Procter & Gamble is one of the world’s best-known household names in the area of consumer packaged goods with a 50-strong brand portfolio in the beauty and household care segments, including big names such as Pampers, Ariel and Olay. Industry Europe takes a look at its top-selling brands and some of the latest news from the global leader.

Established in 1837, Procter & Gamble is a truly global corporation. The company employs 127,000 people around the world and achieved sales in 2012 of $83.7 billion. In western Europe, a region that represents 21 per cent of overall turnover, the average supermarket is likely to contain dozens of Procter & Gamble products. The company makes its biggest impact on people’s lives through its 23 so-called ‘billion dollar brands’, each of which generates more than $1 billion in annual sales. By offering a more convenient and effective solution, these brands make a difference to many areas of

everyday life, from doing the laundry (Ariel) to changing the baby’s nappies (Pampers).

Eighty thousand suppliers serve Procter & Gamble, and all of them have a part to play in helping the company realise its objectives. This is why Procter & Gamble organises a Supplier of the Year award to recognise the achievements of its very best suppliers. The company also presents Excellence Awards to external business partners whose performance it rates as consistently high.

Products and innovations

The range of products in the P&G stable is so vast that they can’t all be mentioned here. In the beauty segment the big names include haircare brands such as Braun, Herbal Essences and Aussie, whilst its fragrances include Gucci and Lacoste, as well as a number of beauty products such as Olay. Then there are the grooming and personal care brands such as Venus for women, Old Spice and Tampax.

In the other main segment, household care, brands include cleaning products, laundry products or brands such as Charmin toilet tissue. Brands such as Ariel and Bold need no introduction for the majority of consumers, and cleaning products such as Mr Clean are equally well recognised.

During 2012, an ongoing commitment to innovation helped P&G launch three of the most successful new products of 2012. Its Crest Complete Multi Benefit range placed fifth, Febreze CAR Vent Clips ranked eighth and Olay Body Collections placed ninth in the Top 10 of IRI’s New Product Pacesetters list of non-food products.

This year (2013) has also seen some big new product launches. In the area of beauty, the Olay Regenerist Micro-Sculpting Eye & Lash Duo is the first eye cream and lash serum product with a dual applicator designed to provide a 360° eye-care solution treating lids, lines and lashes for a total eye transformation. Meanwhile the recently launched Gillette Sensitive portfolio combines outstanding shaving performance and comfort to address the needs of the 70 per cent of men who say they have sensitive skin.

The household care segment has seen the introduction of the Ariel PODS new three-chamber liquid unit dose pods which build on the brand’s history of delivering superior cleaning with breakthrough technology and expand on the successful launch of Tide PODS technology in the USA. In January this year, the household fragrance brand Febreze launched the Stick&Refresh – the only product of its kind – with innovative

technology that slowly releases scented oils, without the use of plugs or batteries, to eliminate odours and provide long-lasting freshness. Indeed, with such a large number of brands in its portfolio the list of innovative products introduced by P&G is pretty much constantly being updated.

Germany is of special importance to Procter & Gamble because of the company’s German subsidiary, Braun. The Braun technical centre at Kronberg is also Procter & Gamble’s global centre of excellence for Devices and it cooperates on product development with Gillette. Braun’s small electrical appliances have long been famous for successfully combining superior engineering with elegant design. After the world-famous designer, Dieter Rams, joined Braun in 1955, Braun’s products began to acquire their distinctively minimalist appearance. Sustainability is key

In total, Procter & Gamble serves around 4.2 billion of the world’s consumers, so a tiny improvement to any one of these billion dollar brands can have a measurable effect on the lives of millions of people. Innovation also plays a vital role in realising Procter & Gamble’s ambitious objectives on sustainability. Procter & Gamble helps to preserve the environment by designing products that enable consumers to consume less energy. For example, Ariel washing powder and liquid can achieve excellent results on clothes at temperatures of only 30 degrees Celsius, thereby helping households to reduce their carbon footprint.

Procter & Gamble is also on a drive to use packaging that is more environmentally friendly. In 2011, the company introduced new bottles for Pantene shampoo and conditioner. The main raw material for these bottles is a plastic derived from sugar cane. Sugar cane is a renewable resource and sugar cane-based plastic takes 70 per cent less fossil fuel to produce than traditional petroleum-based plastic. In western Europe, Procter & Gamble uses these bottles for its Pro-V Nature Fusion collection.

As part of its 2020 Sustainability Plan, P&G has set a number of sustainability goals in areas such as renewable materials, waste, cold water washing and packaging reduction. For example, it is looking to replace 25 per cent of petroleum-based raw materials with sustainably sourced renewable materials for its products and packaging. It is also hoping to have 70 per cent of all washing machine loads use cold water by 2020, and reduce packaging by 20 per cent per customer use. n