UPFRONT 1997: Health & Beauty Aids

P&G making news and spending money with acquisition of Tambrands and extension of its Ivory product line When Procter & Gamble decides to enter a health and beauty category, it's not a decision made lightly. P&G demands that its brands not just compete effectively, but lead and drive categories. That's why Procter's decision in April to buy No. 1 tampon maker Tambrands made sense, at least from a category- share perspective.Tambrands currently holds about a 50 percent share of the $644 million U.S. tampon segment. The acquisition, therefore, will instantly give P&G its second-biggest share number for all of the categories in which the company competes. Only in laundry detergents, where P&G has about a 58 percent share, is the company more dominant.P&G is also famous for valuing and nurturing venerable brands. In Tampax, a 60-year-old brand name, P&G picks up a trademark with a huge amount of equity, industry observers point out. P&G will likely put its full marketing muscle behind Tampax in an effort to squeeze every bit of value out of it. Some predict that P&G will line extend the Tambrands name across the gamut of "intimate care" products. Higher ad spending on Tampax is all but certain.Tambrands had trouble maximizing its brands, as the company was preoccupied fighting price wars with No. 2 Playtex while also changing around creative partners and watching top marketing execs come and go.The tampon category still presents some problems for P&G. Procter's last tampon entry, Rely, was pulled from the shelves after some consumers developed Toxic Shock Syndrome. Also, tampon usage in the U.S. has essentially been flat for many years, as the population of users has leveled off. Finally, women in many developing countries reject tampons for cultural reasons. P&G, which is known as a worldwide branding powerhouse, faces a big challenge in getting those women to try tampons.P&G is also making big news in the other categories. Earlier this year, Procter line-extended its 113-year-old Ivory brand with the $60 million launch of Ivory Moisture Care. The move has apparently forced No. 1 Unilever to reinvest its marketing dollars behind its traditional bar soaps, while siphoning ad money away from body washes, which received ample support last year. More spending on bar soaps is likely through the rest of 1997.In deodorants, Procter unveiled Sure and Secret "clear" extensions, formulated to keep users dry while eliminating white residue. The two products got a combined $41 million in support. In toothpaste, P&G rolled out Crest MultiCare, a baking soda product, although some questioned why it took the company so long to get a baking soda product to market. The next big product splash in the category is expected to come later this year when Colgate-Palmolive gets FDA approval for Total, an antibacterial paste. That should spur a new round of higher spending as Procter and Colgate, the leading players in toothpaste, try to differentiate their respective products.Antibacterial products continue to make headway in soap, hand lotion and hand gels. More products are likely to hit shelves in 1997 as consumers show increasing interest interest in germ-killing as an added product benefit. -Sean Mehegan HOT BUTTONS* Body wash sales slows as spending returns to traditional soaps* P&G tries to reassert its technological edge in deodorants/toothpaste* Popularity of antibacterial products soarsOVERALL: Spending will be mixedDARK HORSE: P&G's purchase of Tambrands could spur turnaround of moribund categoryCopyright ASM Communications, Inc. (1997) ALL RIGHTS RESERVED National

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UPFRONT 1997: Health & Beauty Aids

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