Procter & Gamble Goes 'Full Throttle'

CANNES, FRANCE Cliff Francis, Saatchi & Saatchi worldwide creative director for Procter & Gamble, and Bernhard Glock, manager of global media and communication at P&G, must have felt like rock stars for a minute. At their standing room only presentation, "Full Throttle: Shifting Media and Creative Into High Gear," each audience member was given a lighter key chain and told to light it up "if you know the main media person on your creative account." A surprising number of lighters went on. (Ditto for much later in the presentation, when they asked to light up the key chain "if you agree that compensation should be based on results.") The key chains were excellent metaphors to prove that the industry is emerging from the darkness and seeing the light on the subject of the convergence of media and creative. Francis and Glock are so behind the merge that they predicted that by 2015, there would be no separate media and creative awards.The two presenters offered compelling case studies of promos done worldwide in the past year that were more creative, emotional, and relevant to the consumer. To promote "Rejoice" hair care product in the Philippines, a song was created that was heard on TV and at outdoor dance events, and later became the country's most downloaded ring tone. Played gratis on 128 radio stations four times a day, the song went gold; it was also gold for P&G, which achieved 41 percent brand awareness through that particular music promotion.For Ariel detergent in Denmark, S&S and P&G came up with a novel sampling system: They sent open bags with dirty clothes hanging out onto airport baggage carousels, followed by another open bag in which all the contents were neatly fresh and pressed, with a paper strip touting the powers of Ariel. After that, unwitting travelers waiting for their suitcases were treated to another bag saying, "See for yourself—please take a sample." A videotape showed that most people waiting did scoop one up—one guy took multiple samples and skulked away. In all, 'the pick up rate was 100 times faster than at a supermarket."The pair ended by saying, "Nothing is certain in the future,"but that "creative and media will take the journey together," and "we'll all need to be like geese." They then showed a film about how geese use extraordinary communication and teamwork to fly in a "V" formation, including "honking to encourage those in front to keep their speed."With that, everyone flapped out of the auditorium, scattering in different directions.

Brand Marketing

Procter & Gamble Goes 'Full Throttle'

Barbara Lippert

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Barbara Lippert