Essay On P & G History

P&G History & Background

William Procter and James Gamble founded P&G in 1837. These two men were brother in laws, one a soap maker and the other a candle maker. (P&G, 2014) A suggestion from their father in law was that these two to men should team up and work together made P&G the billion dollar company they are today.
The video here explains the history of this gold standard of companies. http://www.pg.com/en_US/company/heritage.shtml
P&G became the innovator in many large brands, this started with Ivory Soap. P&G boasted that this was the purest soap as well as the soap floated which was a concern of many people in this time. P&G put in a great deal of effort to market the soap in local papers, radio and other forms of media, this was a first effort by any brand to market with “Mass Media”. (P&G, 2014) P&G innovated the way the other brands began to market as well. P&G saw the opportunity to build a relationship between the consumers and product. As the 1900’s rolled around P&G grew into international markets it purchased another soap brand called Fairy Soap, out of England, which also marketed the soap, could float.
In 1910, P&G launches the use of professional athletes in its advertising. They developed print ads that featured photos and testimonials from some of baseball’s top players.(P&G, 2014) This is still a popular way to market product in 2014.
In 1939, five months after the introduction of television in the U.S., P&G airs its first television commercial for Ivory soap. (P&G, 2014)
P&G continued to innovate products that consumers wanted when they revolutionize laundry with a new detergent called Tide in 1946. Tide was seen as the “The Wash Day Miracle” by helping to make laundry faster and easier. Only a few...

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...years P&G designed a bargained priced dish soap called Gain. (Wall Street Journal, 2011) P&G needs and targets the consumer within the United States. P&G said that Americans per capita spend about $96 a year on P&G compared to other countries who come in around $4. In 2009, P&G adjusted their target audience and marketing plans. (Wall Street Journal, 2011)
P&G now divides consumers into three income groups. The high earning typically have been the primary bracket P&G marketed to in the U.S. as they are the least price sensitive and most swayed by claims of high product performance. The lower-income American consumers grew in size during the recession then P&G begin to target them more aggressively. As for the third group P&G doesn't specifically target the lowest-income in the U.S., since they are small percentage of the population. (Wall Street Journal, 2011)