P&G's Brand Management System

In 2003, the company marketed more than 300 brands to nearly five billion consumers in 160 countries across the globe. P&G had a significant market share in several product segments (Refer Exhibit II) including laundry and cleaning (Tide, Cascade, Dawn), paper goods (Bounty, Charmin, Pampers), beauty care (Pantene, Olay, Cover Girl), food and beverages (Folgers, Pringles, Duncan Hines), and health care (Crest, Scope, Metamucil). Commending P&G's exceptional growth, an analyst said, "Within a paternalistic corporate culture, P&G pioneered in brand management, in consumer surveys for marketing research and in new product research and development."³

The company introduced the category management model in the 1980s, focused on the 'glocal' branding strategy in the early 1990s and made changes in its brand management system under the Organization 2005 restructuring exercise⁴ in the late 1990s. In 2000, P&G introduced the 'cohort management strategy' for managing brands. The strategy involved grouping of brands to appeal to similar consumer groups. Describing the future of cohort management strategy, Robert Rubin (Rubin), Director of Netquity at Forrester Research,⁵ said, "The days of reaching large audiences with generic messages and promotions will give way to a new era in which individuals will be targeted and measured based on their behavior...