Recession Can Be a Marketer's Friend†

From Soap Operas to IPods: History Suggests Slumps Spawn Innovation

Advertising Age, March 25, 2008 — The massive bailout of Bear Stearns from the brink of bankruptcy could be the first of many financial rescues needed. Despite double-digit plunges, U.S. housing is still overpriced by historical yardsticks. Retail sales have gone from slow to declining, and the consumer-spending binge that propped up the U.S. economy for years may not return for a long time.

In short, it's a great time to be in marketing.

Merger Challenge: Unite Toothbrush, Toothpaste†

P&G and Gillette Find Creating Synergy Can Be Harder Than It Looks

Wall Street Journal, April 24, 2007 — Among all the products brought together in Procter & Gamble Co.'s 2005 acquisition of Gillette, two carried particularly high expectations because of their natural fit: the world's No. 1 toothbrush and the world's No. 2 toothpaste. But putting together Gillette's Oral-B and P&G's Crest turned out to be more complicated than it looked.

Bright Lights, Big Challenge†

Why China's $700 Bil. market is as much an obstacle as an opportunity for marketers

Adweek, January 15, 2007 — Just 10 years ago, Procter & Gamble's Crest brand was unknown to China's population, most of whom seldom—if ever—brushed their teeth. Now P&G, the country's largest consumer products company, sells more tubes of toothpaste there than it does in America, where Crest has been on store shelves for 52 years.