Procter & Gamble
Touching Lives, Improving Life.
Company at a Glance
Type : Public (NYSE: PG)
Founded : 1837
Headquarters : One Procter & Gamble Plaza, Cincinnati, Ohio,
USA 45202
Key people : A. G. Lafley, Chairman and CEO
Industry : Consumer goods
Revenue : ? US$76.476<href=”#_note-summary” title=””>[1] billion (2007)
Net income : ? US$10.340<href=”#_note-summary” title=””>[1] billion (2007)
Employees : 138,000
Slogan : Touching Lives, Improving Life.
Website : http://www.pg.com/
About The Company
Procter & Gamble Co. is a Fortune 500, American global corporation based in Cincinnati, Ohio, that manufactures a wide range of consumer goods. As of 2007, P&G is the 25th largest US company by revenue, 18th largest by profit, and 10th in Fortune’s Most Admired Companies list (as of 2007). P&G is credited with many business innovations including brand management, the soap opera, and “Connect & Develop” innovation.
According to the Nielsen Company, in 2007 P&G spent more on U.S. advertising than any other company; the $2.62 billion it spent is almost twice as much as General Motors, the next company on the Nielsen list.
23 of P&G’s brands have more than a billion dollars in net annual sales and another 18 have sales between $500 million and $1 billion.
Billion dollar brands
Always is a brand of feminine hygiene products, including maxi pads, pantiliners (sometimes called Alldays), and feminine wipes, produced by Procter & Gamble.–See also Brand homepage; related trademarks: Ultra Thins; Flexi-Wing; Maxis; Alldays; CleanWeave.
Ariel is a brand of washing powder/liquid, available in numerous forms and scents.
Actonel A brand of Osteoporosis drug Risedronate.
Bounty is a brand of paper towel sold in the United States, Canada. P&G sold the brand in the British Isles.
Braun is a small-appliances manufacturer specializing in electric razors, coffeemakers, toasters, and blenders.
Charmin brand bathroom tissue and moist towelettes.
Crest brand toothpaste.
Dawn brand dishwashing detergent.
Downy/Lenor brand fabric softener.
Duracell brand batteries and flashlights.
Folgers brand coffee.
Gain brand laundry detergent and fabric softeners.
Gillette is a safety razor manufacturer
Gillette Mach3
Head & Shoulders
Iams brand dog and cat foods.
Olay brand.
Oral-B brand of toothbrush.
Pampers brand disposable diapers.
Pantene brand of haircare.
Pringles brand potato crisps.
Tide brand laundry detergent.
Wella brand hair care products.
History
William Procter, a candlemaker, and James Gamble, a soapmaker, formed the company known as Procter & Gamble in 1837. The two men, immigrants from England and Ireland respectively, who had settled earlier in Cincinnati might never have met, had they not married sisters, Olivia and Elizabeth Norris.
Since both their industries used similar resources, the Panic of 1837 caused intense competition between the two and as a result it led to discord with the family. Alexander Norris, their father-in law decided to call a meeting where he convinced his new sons-in-law to become business partners. On October 31, 1837, as a result of the suggestion, a new enterprise was born: Procter & Gamble.
The company prospered during the nineteenth century. In 1859, sales reached one million dollars. By this point, approximately eighty employees worked for Procter & Gamble. During the American Civil War, the company won contracts to supply the Union Army with soap and candles. In addition to the increased profits experienced during the war, the military contracts introduced soldiers from all over the country to Procter & Gamble’s products. Once the war was over and the men returned home, they continued to purchase the company’s products.
In the 1880s, Procter & Gamble began to market a new product, an inexpensive soap that floats in water. The company called the soap Ivory. In the decades that followed, Procter & Gamble continued to grow and change. The company became known for its progressive work environment in the late nineteenth century. William Arnett Procter, William Procter’s grandson, established a profit-sharing program for the company’s
workforce in 1887. He hoped that by giving the workers a stake in the company, they would be less inclined to go on strike.
Over time, the company began to focus most of its attention on soap, producing more than thirty different types by the 1890s. As electricity became more and more common, there was less need for the candles that Procter & Gamble had made since its inception. Ultimately, the company chose to stop manufacturing candles in 1920.
In the early twentieth century, Procter & Gamble continued to grow. The company’s leaders began to diversify its products as well and, in 1911, began producing Crisco, a shortening made of vegetable oils rather than animal fats. In the early 1900s, Procter & Gamble also became known for its research laboratories, where scientists worked to create new products. Company leadership also pioneered in the area of market research, investigating consumer needs and product appeal. As radio became more popular in the 1920s and 1930s, the company sponsored a number of radio programs. As a result, these shows often became commonly known as “soap operas”.
P&G produced and sponsored the first radio opera soap operas in the 1930s (Procter and Gamble’s being known for detergents (soaps) was probably the genesis of the term “soap opera”). When the medium switched to television in the 1950s and 1960s, most of the new serials were sponsored and produced by the company. Two of their serials, As the World Turns and Guiding Light, are still on the air today and are distributed by Procter & Gamble Productions. The serial The Young and the Restless also is sponsored by products from Procter & Gamble, as well as other daytime serials.
List of past serials produced by Procter and Gamble:
Another World,
Lovers and Friends,
The Brighter Day,
The Edge of Night,
The First Hundred Years,
For Richer, For Poorer,
From These Roots,
Search for Tomorrow,
Somerset,
Texas,
Young Doctor Malone,
In December 2005 the Pharmaceutical division of P&G was involved in a dispute over research involving its osteoporosis drug Actonel. The case was discussed in the media Doctors for Research Integrity, and more recently on a blog Scientific Misconduct Blog
Researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst have identified Procter & Gamble as the 52nd-largest corporate producer of air pollution in the United States, with roughly 350,000 pounds of toxic chemicals released annually into the air. Major pollutants indicated by the study include manganese compounds, sulfuric acid, epichlorohydrin, and bromine.