P&G, Walmart, Unilever, General Mills Are Major Marketers on a Mission†

From 'We Save You Money' to 'We Nourish Lives,' Giants Make Some Big Statements

Advertising Age, November 16, 2009 — If you haven't touched and improved more lives more completely lately, you probably wouldn't last long as a Procter & Gamble Co. marketer.

The touching-and-improving mantra flows off lips at P&G these days with the eerie ease that "consumer is boss" did nearly a decade ago. The catchphrase rotation has been the most obvious manifestation of the transition to CEO Bob McDonald. He and Global Brand-Building Officer Marc Pritchard frequently answer questions about everything from growth strategy to the role of a brand manager by citing that touching/improving theme.

Marketing Evolution: Once More With Meaning

CMO Magazine, November 13, 2009 — There is no question that the chief marketing officer (CMO) role has been a crucible of corporate pressure since the job was first spawned in the mid-1990s. Marketing is the most visible expression of company strategy, customer satisfaction and corporate spending. With the accelerating changes in consumers’ media and buying habits, each of these areas is in flux. As a result, many CMOs are hired in or promoted up into the role and immediately assigned as “change agents.” The question is—Change what?

P&G Considers Booting Some Brands†

Wall Street Journal, October 29, 2009 — Facing mounting pressure to boost sliding sales and recalibrate his company, P&G CEO Robert McDonald is stepping up the hunt for acquisition and divestiture candidates, people close to the company said.

P&G Exec: Innovation Needs To Be Purpose-Driven

MediaPost Publications, October 19, 2009 — Procter & Gamble's mantra, "The consumer is boss," has become a part of the fabric of marketing. But there's another related concept that is also critical to the company's successful record of innovation, according to P&G group president, North America Melanie L. Healey.

Why It's Time to Do Away With the Brand Manager†

P&G, Unilever Among Those Embracing New Roles in Social Media Age

Advertising Age, October 12, 2009 — Managing a brand has always been a slightly odd concept, given that consumers are the real arbiters of brand meaning, and it's become increasingly outmoded in today's two-way world. That's why a new report is going to recommend changing the name "brand manager" to "brand advocate," and fundamentally changing marketer organizations in response to the onset of the digital age.

Should You Launch a Fighter Brand?†

Customers are suddenly hyperconscious of value, and new low-price competitors are nipping at your heels.

Harvard Business Review, October 1, 2009 — Managers contemplating a new product launch during the prosperous early years of the twenty-first century typically looked only in one direction: up. Thanks to consumers’ rising incomes and apparently insatiable desire for superior quality, the era began with a focus on “premiumization,” “trading up,” and “luxury for the masses.”

But times change. Economic strains are now causing consumers to trade down, and many midtier and premium brands are losing share to low-price rivals. Their managers face a classic strategic conundrum: Should they tackle the threat head-on by reducing prices, knowing that will destroy profits in the short term and brand equity in the long term? Or should they hold the line, hope for better times to return, and in... continue reading

Change By Design

In his new book, the CEO of design shop IDEO shows how even hospitals can transform the way they work by tapping frontline staff to engineer change

BusinessWeek, September 24, 2009 — As the center of economic activity in the developed world shifts inexorably from industrial manufacturing to knowledge creation and service delivery, innovation has become nothing less than a survival strategy. It is, moreover, no longer limited to new physical products but includes new sorts of processes, services, interactions, entertainment forms, and ways of communicating and collaborating.

Nielsen on Notice: Industry Demands a Meatier Metric†

P&G, Unilever, Disney Form Coalition to Drive a Cross-Media Measure

Advertising Age, September 14, 2009 — The media and marketing business desperately needs a cross-platform measurement tool, and a gang of major players got together last week and let it be known that they're going to get one — with or without Nielsen, the longtime leader in tracking TV.

How Do Great Companies Make Sure People Are Living the Values?

Huffington Post, September 9, 2009 — Each September the RBL Institute (full disclosure: as an RBL partner, I am a director of the Institute) hosts the chief HR officers of member companies in a two-day retreat hosted by RBL Group founder and University of Michigan Professor Dave Ulrich. This year, we were joined by 20 senior HR executives from well-known and respected global companies such as Intel, The Gap, Accenture and PNB Paribas. Whenever you bring insightful, worldly, HR executives together, the conversation is bound to be enlightening. And, one of the more interesting exchanges was values: how organizations ensure that employees at every level, in every function, and around the world know and live the values

Tide Turns 'Basic' for P&G in Slump†

Wall Street Journal, August 6, 2009 — Procter & Gamble Co., under assault by penny-pinching consumers, has quietly rolled out a version of Tide detergent that the company freely admits isn't "new and improved."

The product, Tide Basic, is currently for sale in about 100 stores throughout the South. It lacks some of the cleaning capabilities of the iconic brand — and costs about 20% less. Its very existence is one of the most telling signs to date of how the sour U.S. economy is forcing mass marketers to shift course.