Mr. Propre se transforme en laveur de voitures

08/10/10 22:35
le Figaro

Procter & Gamble, leader mondial des biens de consommation, a créé deux réseaux de franchises aux États-Unis. Il compte les tester en Europe et en Asie, afin de profiter de la puissance de ses marques phares.

Un centre de lavage automobile Mr. Propre, un pressing Ariel, un salon de coiffure Pantène, une garderie Pampers, ou encore un barbier Gillette… Ces nouvelles boutiques pourraient bientôt s’installer près de chez vous. «La création de réseaux de franchises à l’enseigne de nos marques est une priorité, assure au Figaro Ross Holthouse, porte-parole de Procter & Gamble, leader mondial des biens de grande consommation. L’Europe de l’Ouest, notamment la France, et l’Asie présentent des opportunités.» Une première tentative pourrait avoir lieu «d’ici douze à vingt-quatre mois» sur un marché test.

Depuis trois ans, Procter & Gamble s’essaie à cette activité aux États-Unis. Le groupe américain, présent dans les lessives, produits ménagers, shampoings, couches et produits de beauté, a choisi le nettoyage pour ses deux premiers réseaux : le lavage auto avec Mr. Clean Car Wash, et le pressing avec Tide Dry Cleaners. Il a créé une filiale dédiée, Agile Pursuits Franchising, confiée à un vétéran du secteur, et recruté une vingtaine de personnes. «Tester et commercialiser de nouveaux modèles économiques, cela fait partie de la R & D du groupe» , selon Ross Holthouse.

Cette nouvelle activité a un double intérêt. D’une part, elle constitue une source de revenus, avec les royalties versées par les exploitants des boutiques. Le groupe ne communique ni ses objectifs ni le pourcentage prélevé sur le chiffre d’affaires de ses franchisés. D’autre part, ces magasins augmentent la visibilité des marques, en développant leur présence en dehors des rayons des hypermarchés et des pages de publicité. P&G reconnaît vouloir ainsi doper le chiffre d’affaires de ses produits phare.

Maîtrise de l’image
Après deux ans de test à Cincinnati (Ohio), où son siège est installé, le groupe compte seize stations de lavage aux couleurs de Mr. Clean, le nom américain de Mr. Propre. Six autres ouvriront leurs portes cette année.

Avec trois points de vente dans le Missouri, les pressings aux couleurs de Tide (l’équivalent d’Ariel) commencent tout juste à se développer. Tous proposent un service dans la journée, un système de «drive-in» ainsi que la possibilité de déposer ou de récupérer les vêtements dans des casiers 24 heures sur 24. Le groupe a signé avec une dizaine de franchisés supplémentaires. L’un d’entre eux compte créer de 150 pressings d’ici à quatre ans sur la Côte Ouest. Dans un marché de 8 milliards de dollars aux États-Unis, Procter & Gamble parie sur l’ouverture de plusieurs centaines de pressings d’ici à deux ans. P & G, qui recherche activement des franchisés dans les grandes villes du pays, vise «une croissance à deux chiffres d’ici un à deux ans.»

En France, Nescafé et Lustucru avaient tenté une diversification similaire il y a quelques années, avec les cafés Nes et les bars à pâtes Lustucru. Dans les deux cas, le succès n’a pas été au rendez-vous, le recrutement et la gestion de franchisés s’étant avéré plus compliqués que prévus pour des groupes agroalimentaires, plus habitués à négocier avec les géants de la distribution. Par ailleurs, si le recours à la franchise est moins risqué que l’ouverture de points de vente en propre, cette stratégie présente un risque pour la maîtrise de l’image des marques.

Letessier, Ivan

Procter & Gamble ouvre son programme d'innovation connect & develop à la France

Le 24 septembre 2010 par Camille Harel

Procter & Gamble a réuni à Paris les chercheurs français et les entreprises innovantes dans le cadre de son programme d'innovation connect & develop. Ce programme vise à nouer des partenariats entre la multinationale et des entreprises ou des universités. Ouvert en 2002 dans différents pays du monde, connect & develop s'interesse désormais à la France. "Nous comptons 26 centres de recherche dans le monde et le programme a donc commencé dans ces zones là. On l'étend désormais petit à petit à d'autres pays, dont la France", explique Loïc Tassel, Président de Procter & Gamble France. Objectif du programme : créer une relation win-win où les deux parties sont gagnantes. A peine 10 ans après le lancement du projet, les résultats sont encourageants : sur l'ensemble des innovations lancées par Procter & Gamble au niveau mondial, 50 % de ces dernières ont au moins un élément issu d'un partenarait mené avec une structure extérieure. L'ouverture de ce programme a provoqué un changement de culture au sein de la multinationale, qui jusqu'en 2002 n'innovait qu'avec les forces internes. "Sur de nombreux points, nous ne sommes pas les meilleurs. C'est donc intéréssant d'aller voir ce qu'il se passe à l'extérieur. S'ouvrir sur le monde est un réelle opportunité", indique Loïc Tassel. En s'ouvrant ainsi à la France, Procter compte nouer des partenaraits avec le CNRS et l'Institut Pasteur pour ne citer qu'eux. "Nous sommes convaincus de la qualité de la recherche en France qui va ouvrir de grandes opportunités en termes d'innovations", ajoute-il.

P&G Looks to Franchise Tide Dry Cleaning

The world's largest consumer products company attached its Tide branding to car washes
three years ago. Now it wants to open hundreds of franchised Tide Dry Cleaners

Bloomberg - BusinessWeek

September 3, 2010
By Lauren Coleman-Lochner

Procter & Gamble Co. is no longer content just to sell detergent to wash your clothes -
- it wants to dry clean them, too. The world’s largest consumer-products
company plans to roll out franchised Tide Dry Cleaners across the U.S. The strategy
could be a hit, says one franchising veteran. Andrew Cherng, founder of Panda
Restaurant Group Inc., which operates Panda Express Chinese fast-food outlets in
malls around the country, says he plans to open about 150 Tide-branded dry cleaners
over the next four years. “I wasn’t around when McDonald’s was
taking franchisees,” Cherng said in a telephone interview. “I’m not going to
miss this one.”

Cincinnati-based P&G wants to put itsbrands to work selling services as a way of
boosting U.S. revenue and increasing awareness around Tide and its other
products.P&G advanced 27 cents to $60.07 at 4 p.m.in New York Stock Exchange composite
trading. The shares have slumped about 1 percent this year. Three years ago the company launched Mr. Clean Car Wash; nine franchisees are now in business. In 2008, P&G opened three
test Tide dry cleaners in Kansas City. Having fine-tuned the concept, the company is now going national.

P&G is moving into services “that are virtually unbranded,” said Michael Stone,
head of The Beanstalk Group, a New York-based brand-consulting firm. “One
would think consumers would trust a Tide Dry Cleaners because they know P&G is
behind it,” he said. FutureWorks t he Tide and Mr. Clean concepts sprang
from P&G’s FutureWorks unit, which identifies and develops new businesses.
Nathan Estruth, who runs the division, said his staff must get “comfortable with
ambiguity” and accept that most projects “get shut down.”

P&G executives say not just any brand can be hitched to a service. They look for a
fragmented market where consumer expectations aren’t high. (Don’t expect
Pampers Day Care centers.) The company says its research showed that both cleaners
and car washes fit the bill.

P&G lacked franchising experience so it broke its decades- old practice of
promoting from within and recruited William Van Epps, who had managed
franchising at PepsiCo Inc. P&G set up a company called Agile Pursuit Franchising
Inc. and put Van Epps in charge. Van Epps’s team put a premium on
consumer convenience. Each dry cleaner features a double-lane drive-through and
lockers accessible for after-hours pickup. There are lollipops for kids and Iams biscuits -- yes, a P&G product -- for the family dog.

Eco-Conscious

The company hopes to lure eco-conscious consumers with proprietary technology
that doesn’t use the solvent perchloroethylene. P&G says its stores will
charge about the same to dry clean clothes as the industry average ($2.25 for a man’s
shirt; $11.50 for a woman’s dress). Opening a Tide dry cleaner costs a
franchisee about $950,000; a Mr. Clean Car Wash up to $5 million. Don Nix, a former accountant, operates a Mr. Clean Car Wash in Marietta, Georgia,
and plans to open a second one with a partner next year. People won’t necessarily
identify with “Don’s Car Wash,” he said. “The brand and the logo of Mr. Clean [has]
huge value for attracting new customers.” While franchising allows P&G to offload
much of the financial burden, P&G executives acknowledge the model carries
risks. Corporate parents and owneroperators don’t always agree; witness the
ongoing dispute between Yum! Brands Inc. and KFC franchisees over marketing
strategy. And dirty stores or poor service could hurt Tide, which the New Yorkbased
consulting firm Millward Brown ranks fifth globally as measured by value
derived purely from brand equity.
‘We’d Stop’ “If we did anything to damage that,” says
Chief Technology Officer Bruce Brown, “we’d stop.” Van Epps acknowledged that the risks keep him “up at night.” P&G, which declines to discuss sales
targets for its dry- cleaning strategy, argues the business is less of a departure than one
might think. In the company archives, alongside such treasures as 19th-century
wooden soap boxes and an early disposable diaper, is “The Washroom,” an
instruction manual P&G produced for commercial laundries back in 1927.

ON THE CALL: PROCTER & GAMBLE CEO BOB MCDONALD

On the Call: Procter & Gamble CEO Bob McDonald

By The Associated Press (AP) – 14 hours ago

Procter & Gamble Co., maker of Tide, Gain and Cheer detergents, is continuing a trend by household products makers to more-compact laundry products, and plans to reduce all its U.S. laundry powder products by a third.

CEO Bob McDonald explained in call with investors Tuesday that besides environmental benefits, there are many other advantages.

QUESTION: Could you talk about the compaction of powder detergents, what is driving that?

RESPONSE: We are planning a 33 percent compaction, which as well will be a formula upgrade. Meaning we have been able to improve the ingredients in the detergent, which has allowed us to remove some of the process fillers and other things.

This compaction, like other compactions, benefits everybody. Because it means the product requires less shelf space per load, less transportation costs per load, and, of course, everyone in the supply chain saves money, and the consumer saves based on the space they save at home, and of course, they get a better product.

EMERGING MARKETS SUPER P&G'S GLOBAL GAINS

Financial times 3.08.10

Procter & Gamble, already the world's largest consumer goods company, says it is making progress towards its ambitious goal of adding another one billion consumers to its global business by 2015, driven largely by growth in emerging markets. Bob McDonald, chief executive, told Wall Street analysts on Tuesday that the company had added another 200 million people to its reach during its recently completed 2009-2010 fiscal year, bringing the grand total up to 4.2 billion.

P&G products now reach nearly 61 per cent of the world’s households, up two percentage points on the previous year, and on track for its 2015 goal of 70 per cent global household penetration.

Much of this is due to emerging markets. In P&G’s most recent fourth quarter, organic volume sales - meaning the number of units shipped, excluding forex and merger activity - increased by 8 per cent during the quarter, as P&G stepped up advertising and introduced new products. But that was driven by 12 per cent growth in emerging markets, versus 5 per cent growth in its developed markets.

That included low double-digit organic volume sales growth in China, high single-digit growth in Latin America, and high double-digit growth in southeast Asia and Korea and in its CEEMEA region - Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa.

“We’re certainly seeing greater strength in developing than in the developed markets,” McDonald said, with a degree of understatement.

Jon Moeller, CFO, noted that the gap between volume sales growth in the developing and the developed markets during the past year had widened dramatically during the year, from a 1 percentage point gap in the first quarter to a 7-point gap in the fourth.

P&G attributes the sales growth to both more robust economic recovery in emerging markets, and to P&G’s drive to introduce new products and to expand existing categories into those markets.

“The biggest opportunity we have is to get all of our categories into all of our countries around the world,” McDonald said, noting that P&G was currently in around 16 product categories in China, but had 36 product categories in the US. “We have work to do to simply get the categories we are in into all markets,” he said.

During the just finished fiscal year, the company introduced a new, lower cost version of its Tide detergent in India, called Tide Naturals, that is priced 30 per cent below the regular Tide product, aimed at lower-income households. It also launched a mid-priced version of its Mach3 men’s triple-blade razor aimed at increasingly affluent middle class customers in Asia and Latin America, and a new men’s skin-care product in China.

Other efforts have included expanding its Latin American Ace brand detergent to Colombia, and further expansion of distribution of its Oral-B tooth care brand in Brazil, where it was introduced earlier in the year in pharmacies. P&G claimed that the effort has helped it regain its position as the leading oral-care brand manufacturer in Latin America.

P&G said it has also stepped up efforts “to dramatically increase” its presence in East Africa. It also highlighted its “10,000 Villages” programme with the Chinese government, which is aimed at creating distribution networks for household products in rural areas. The project, McDonald said, allows P&G to “expand the distribution of our products into rural areas of china to reach more Chinese consumers and to create economies where economies never existed”.

PROCTER & GAMBLE ET LE COI ANNONCENT UN PARTENARIAT OLYMPIQUE INTERNATIONAL

Procter & Gamble et le COI annoncent un partenariat olympique international

Procter & Gamble (NYSE : PG) et le Comité olympique international (COI) annoncent aujourd'hui un partenariat international des plus ambitieux pour les cinq prochaines éditions des Jeux olympiques, de Londres 2012 aux jeux de 2020.

L'envergure du portefeuille P&G, qui comprend 22 marques générant chacune 1 milliard de dollars américains ou plus de chiffre d'affaires annuel, et le vaste public international de quatre milliards de personnes touché par P&G, font de ce partenariat le projet olympique le plus ambitieux qui soit. Parmi certaines des marques P&G les plus connues participant au partenariat figurent Pampers®, Tide®, Ariel®, Always®, Whisper®, Crest®, Pantene® et Olay®.

P&G tirera parti de la réussite de son partenariat Team USA lors des Jeux olympiques d'hiver de Vancouver en 2010, qui ont engendré une amélioration de la perception des marques de la société, une augmentation des parts de marchés et près de 100 millions de dollars d'augmentation duchiffre d'affaires. La société exploitera le partenariat avec le COI pour réaliser sa stratégie de croissance à bon escient et contribuer à l'amélioration de la vie des athlètes, des mamans et de leurs familles au travers de la planète.

« P&G est fier de soutenir le mouvement olympique pour les 10 prochaines années », déclare le Global Marketing and Brand Building Officer de P&G, Marc Pritchard. « Mais nous savons grâce aux brillants résultats de Vancouver qu'il s'agit de bien plus qu'un simple sponsoring. Pour P&G, il s'agit de s'associer au COI pour améliorer la vie des athlètes, des mamans et de leurs familles, en faisant entrer le mouvement olympique dans les foyers des quatre milliards de consommateurs au service desquels nos marques se dévouent au travers de la planète ».

TFI News 28.07.10

BRANDS & RETAILERS COLLABORATE - TESCO/PROCTER GAMBLE

Brands and retailers take a collaborative approach

Marketing Week June 24th 2010

A groundbreaking deal between Tesco and Pringles owner Procter & Gamble reflects the shifting balance between FMCG suppliers and the retail trade that promises to benefit both parties.

Power struggles between retailers and their FMCG suppliers

are well documented but now these relationships are being taken in a new direction, with both sides collaborating. Procter & Gamble has created a "Great British Flavours" line of Pringles exclusively for Tesco, which is thought to be the first time an FMCG brand has created a unique range for the supermarket.

While P&G will not confirm how far this collaboration will extend, it is already in discussions with other retailers about partnerships. Traditional product launches still abound, with

Dunkin Brands recently launching a full range of Baskin Robbins ice cream exclusively in Morrisons stores for six months. And tie-ups are common in the fashion world, where high street retailers H&M, Debenhams and New Look run limited-edition lines from designers Jimmy Choo, Matthew Williamson and Giles Deacon.

But the mixture of P&G and Tesco is unusual in that the brand manufacturer has worked with the retailer to provide an exclusive line. P&G snack sales have suffered recently, with global snack figures down 2% in the three months to the end of April, which may have helped persuade the FMCG giant to work with Tesco.

The partnership ought to be a success because of the strength of both brands, says Mike Ashton, managing director of Ashton Brand Consulting, who started his career at P&G. "Pringles is a very strong brand and P&G is a very smart company." The bold move is not simply a case of surviving, it's creating a much closer relationship, he says. "You would question why it would necessarily want to take a premium end brand that is in no danger of being delisted, and develop it.

"This is a positive-aggressive move, which is the equivalent to 'new and improved'. It's probably a very smart way of setting a precedent on relationship development," he says.

This shows the wider trend in the relationship between retailers and suppliers, he says. Historically brands put marketing spend behind products and supermarkets put them on their shelves, but the rapport between brands and the shops they are sold in is now more complex.

"It reflects the maturity of the relationship and the shifting balance between FMCG suppliers and the retail trade," says Ashton. Suppliers realised some years ago that retailers have a growing sophistication and power and they don't have to take the big brands if they choose not to." New York trends research firm PSFK calls these partnerships "complementary creation", where brands mix together to help the customer

make a choice through association. US fashion retailer J Crew has done this by launching its first standalone men-only outlet in New York, featuring its own brands as well as specially

commissioned pieces from other brands. PSFK consultant Francisco Hui says it is a

formula that works.

Viewpoint on the Pringles and Tesco initiative

essential

Darran Snatchfold, group planning and intelligence director at integrated

Waitrose~ agency Tullo Marshall Warren

original blend

round tea bags

Waitrose: Essential range accounts for 16% of total sales

coming together to create new experiences for people is a win-win situation," he says. But he warns that these collaborations need a great deal of thought in order to benefit both parties.

"The challenge IS to figure how not to cannibalise your own products. You need to consider the untapped niches that no one has catered for," he says. "This may work if the collaborationcan create value beyond price, which is why own-brand goods tend to be chosen."

For Waitrose, this means taking control of a brand itself to mould it in a way to appeal to its own customers. It went into partnership with organic producer Duchy Originals last summer with the retailer manufacturing, selling and distributing Duchy Originals products, which will extend to more than 300 lines by the end of this year.

This follows a more aggressive trend in the supermarket's marketing, which started two years ago when it doubled its advertising spend to £50m and opened a number of overseas stores. Waitrose sales increased 11.7% from January to April this year, compared to the same period in 2009, and earlier this month put marketing director Rupert Thomas on its board.

It has also formed a partnership with Boots that will see Waitrose-branded convenience food being sold in the chemist's outlets, and Boots own-brand cosmetics and toiletries being stocked in some Waitrose outlets.

Dean Brown, head of growth for B2B at Waitrose.

This may be a new departure for Tesco and Pringles alike, but the reasoning behind it will come down to age-old issues for both brands. For Tesco, it will be a straightforward move to add value for its customer base and drive footfall. For Pringles, it's about creating noise and generating preferential store support to get its product in the hands of the consumer. And with the domination of Tesco in the market, that's a lot of hands.

It's unlikely to have an impact on a retailer's own low-cost value ranges, but this adds an extra way for both retailer and brand to compete at the mid-range price point. Presumably, given Tesco's strengths in customer data and accountability, it will have thought through potential cannibalisation and decided that the opportunities were worth the risk.

It's difficult to say whether this will be part of a wider trend for retailer and brand partnerships -although given the increasing domination of the big retailers, brands will always be looking at ways to increase their on-shelf presence and in-store promotion.

What's interesting in this case is that this is the first in a number of exclusive collaborations between Tesco and Procter & Gamble. P&G has to be mindful of how other big retailers will view this new activity. Given the stature and dominance of P&G's brands in the sectors in which it operates, delisting is not an option, but it may well see their competitors' brands given greater in-and out of-store marketing support.

I'm not convinced that Pringles is enough of a hero brand to make this activity worthwhile for Tesco. Are people really going to swap their shopping habits on the back of it? However, if P&G's other brands are likely to create exclusive ranges, this does start to sound like an interesting move to watch.

This is a positive-aggressive move, which is the equivalent to 'new and improved'. It's probably a very smart way of setting a precedent on relationship development

Mike Ashton, Ashton Brand Consulting

Boots help to reach a much wider customer base. "When partnering with brands, we look to work with those that will help us enhance the offer we provide to our customers or make our products more easily accessible.

"This allows us to make our products available to a larger number of customers and make further strides into the convenience retail sector via new formats and channels," he says. These channels include Shell, Boots and Welcome Break, which runs ten franchise Waitrose stores in the UK, with two more to open this summer.

While the supermarket is pushing its own-label as a standalone brand, back in store the retailer's Essential Waitrose range accounts for 16% of total sales and has helped the supermarket's growth, says Brown. "Our own brands are still a hugely important part of our offer and we're finding that more and more people are buying them," he says.

Own-label goods are becoming ever more important for supermarkets. A study by Ipsos in March showed that 80% of global consumers said own-label goods were the same or better than branded goods.

Asda will start revamping its 5,500 own-label products this October. The supermarket's former chief merchandising officer, Darren Blackhurst, says that innovation is key to the success of own-brand products, which account for about

half of overall food sales. "Our goal is to ensure that we offer everything that customers want for their weekly shop -backed

up by a continuous flow of new product innovation

that ensures we stay ahead oftheir needs," he says, thus competing on-shelf with brands that pride themselves on research and development.

For Ashton, the danger for brands is they may be overtaken by own-label products. "The interesting one will be if the day comes when a Tesco Finest brand of shampoo is sitting alongside Pantene, for example, and the customer chooses Finest," he says.

In the US, Wal-Mart's own-brand Equate is the label on a range of health, medical and beauty products, from pregnancy tests to shampoo. Some of its range is on a par with branded goods in terms of price, but many products undercut rival products from brands. For example, Equate anti-wrinkle face and neck cream is priced on Wal-Mart's website at $7.87 (£5.32). Its packaging invites consumers to "compare to L'Oreal Dermo-expertise Advanced Revitalift face and neck day cream anti-wrinkle and firming moisturizer", which costs $13.54 (£9.14).

Perhaps it is competition such as this that is encouraging partnerships between brands and retailers. "The lines between what the retailer does and what the manufacturer does are now blurred," says Ashton. "It's a more creative and commercially expedient approach rather than a traditional buyer-seller relationship. From a business and brand point of view, it is fascirlating how far integration can go commercially."

For the suppliers of branded goods, retail

partnerships appear to be a way to integrate

commercially to benefit both parties.