Less than 10 days after our meeting with Ron Pearce, marketing executives from P&G visited all of Intermarkets’ agencies around the MENA region. Based on guidance received from Mokhtar Shamli, all the paper clutter that normally covers staff desks was immediately cleared. Our agencies turned into living examples of a clean desk organization. This sanitation drill was not only restricted to working areas but also extended to toilets and kitchens, where all Lux toilet and dishwashing soaps were replaced by Camay and Fairy Liquid. Our staff showed ultimate professionalism and we soon received an invitation to take our P&G account team candidates on a visit to Geneva to meet with the prospective client’s Middle East marketing group and its leader, Herbert Schmitz.
I worked on planning this visit by asking the general managers of Intermarkets’ network agencies to fly to Geneva via Beirut so we could update each other on P&G’s recent visits to our respective markets. We could then rehearse en route and present a homogenous front to this important prospective client. Nadim Sfeir flew in from Jeddah, Eddie Moutran from Bahrain, Youssef Habbab from Kuwait, and from Beirut we all flew together to Switzerland. On arrival, P&G had a mini-van waiting to drive us to the Ramada Hotel, where they had booked us. As our flight had landed at around eight in the evening, we were pleasantly surprised to find that we were meant to stay – for the next two days – at the heart of Geneva’s red-light district.
The next morning, we were received by P&G’s marketing services division manager, an American who was one of the first people to join the Geneva operation. Bill Bowld drove a Rolls-Royce to the office and seemed to know every campaign route that was being used by P&G in all markets. Bill was joined by the company’s own TV producer, Khalil Ghammache, whom we quickly discovered to be friendly with all Lebanese film production people. Khalil collected our showreels so he could arrange a screening as soon as the meeting got going. We were offered coffee and croissants in the foyer of the meeting room as we were introduced to the members of the Middle East marketing team. Amongst the first people to arrive was Fouad Kouraytem, a Lebanese with many years’ experiences at P&G and a friendly demeanor. Then came Samir Hawwa, a tall Palestinian whose brothers were known to most of us. The youngest, Camille, was our classmate at AUB, while the third was a seasoned MEA pilot and the fourth, Zahi, a well-known doctor in Ras Beirut. John Langdell’s striking resemblance to Clint Eastwood put an expression of surprise on the faces of the Intermarkets’ team. Then came Kevin Roberts, who seemed totally involved in a chat with Heinz Krahenbul, accompanied by Ron Pearce.
The tall German vice president welcomed the new agency team and took us back to 31 October 1837, when William Procter and James Gamble signed a partnership agreement to establish a candle and soap factory in Cincinnati, Ohio – where 14 other soap and candle factories were operational – at a time when the US economy was in shambles. The Procter & Gamble Company, as their joint venture was called, quickly developed a reputation of not going in circles as per the business habits of the time. The new company never followed in the footsteps of other companies, but continually broke new ground, entered new fields, set new records, even raised its own high standards. The 19th century was the age of the newspaper in America, so P&G ventured into advertising by running an ad in Cincinnati’s Daily Gazette on 29 June 1838.
In 1887, the Procter & Gamble Company decided to print a stamp on all crates leaving its factory, saying “Highest Grade – Honest Weight”, this being an anomaly in the industry at that time. P&G quickly gained a reputation for selling quality products as well as being a company built on ethics. James Gamble was quoted as saying: “When you cannot make pure goods and full weight, go do something else that is honest, even if it is breaking stones.” Herbert Schmitz continued his introduction by telling us that the two partners were so aligned in introducing a corporate vision for their young company that soon afterwards James Gamble launched an honest business ethics strategy. William Procter introduced the idea of profit sharing at a company picnic, which was not an introduction at P&G only, but to the entire business community in the US. That day became known as “Dividend Day” (a day that many locations in the US continue to celebrate).
At this orientation, we also learned that P&G had built its first manufacturing facility outside the US at Hamilton in Canada in 1915. Then, in 1919, the articles of association of the Procter & Gamble Company were revised to include the directive that the “interests of the company and its employees are inseparable”. The years that followed witnessed an impressive growth in P&G’s product portfolio as consumers became familiar with the company’s brands thanks to many pioneering marketing firsts. These included the introduction of one of the first radio soap operas, which put into use different brands in the context radio storytelling. The company also introduced the use of coupons and sponsored the world’s first comic book.
Schmitz continued to highlight the fact that P&G pioneered radio advertising in 1923, when its Crisco ghee brand sponsored a cooking show on American network radio, which placed the company amongst the medium’s advertising innovators. P&G also became the first company to conduct market research amongst its consumers in the Twenties, and this forward thinking enabled it to improve products and everyday experiences. By the Thirties, P&G had all the important facets for successful brand building. However, it lacked the ability to integrate them into a single organic brand building process. This led to the creation of a brand Management System that was unique from any other company at the time. The decade of the Thirties also marked the end of day-to-day management by both the Procter and Gamble families, although the principles of the founding fathers could never be diminished. This client introduction then moved to the early Sixties, when P&G engineers were introduced to an innovative paper-making process that was under development in Japan, so they jumped on the opportunity and worked at perfecting the manufacturing process. The result was a cost-effective way to produce bulkier, softer, and more absorbent tissue and paper towels. This process became the basis to produce Pampers and Luvs diapers.
Schmitz then invited his brand managers to give us a thorough brief on their portfolio of brands, their product features, market position, distributors in the different markets, as well as its advertising history. At this stage, we were told that P&G planned to continue using the two-agency arrangement it had always had in our markets. We would be handling Ariel, Pampers, Fairy Liquid, and Daz (which was only sold in Saudi Arabia) as well as Yes (only sold in Lebanon). H&C Leo Burnett would continue to handle Tide, Luvs, and Crest. Schmitz asked us to work together with the other agency, particularly on media buying.
Following a Swiss salad and sandwich lunch in an adjacent hall, we were asked to introduce Intermarkets quickly and then take all the time we needed to screen our TV work; this being the main interest for the senior management and Middle East marketing team. The room lights were dimmed and the TVCs were projected on a big screen. As we got to the fifth or sixth commercial, we started hearing louder and louder murmuring. Then suddenly Samir Hawwa stood up and waved to the person in the projection room to stop the projector. This he did and instantly turned on the lights to allow Hawwa to address us face to face. With an expression of concern, we were asked if we had brought along different films. Bill Bowld, who was sitting next to Samir and had seen our showreel, since we had handed it to him on arrival, explained that all the films on our showreel had commentary delivered by a voice-over. On the contrary, the basic discipline at P&G was to have all commercials in a slice-of-life format, where all the cast needed to be engaged in direct dialogue in front of the camera.
At that stage, Herbert Schmitz announced to his people that the meeting with Intermarkets had ended, so they could go back to their business, the exception being those who would like to talk further with the agency. When Bill Bowld was asked to take us through the P&G advertising disciplines and operational guidelines, he reminded us that P&G had been the world’s biggest advertiser for many years and had defined many of the marketing strategies which are now taken for granted. This marketing leadership – he stressed – was derived from the company’s policy, which was focused on not permitting its advertising or promotions to be false or misleading. This meant all campaigns that our agency would be asked to create should never present exaggerated or unsupported advertising claims. The absolute rule is to tell the truth in every ad that we create.
Bowld explained that P&G was a great believer in reaching the consumers of its brands via television, as it was the medium that helped bring alive brand usage and results via picture and sound. On top of that, it was not hindered by female illiteracy in regions like the Middle East and other developing countries. Although in the US the beginning of P&G advertising was via radio, with the advent of television it realized that pictures added a very convincing dimension to communication. TV advertising had its own tried and tested ways at P&G. The storyline should always aim to feature a household problem, which is then solved using one of its products. Hence the need for a “before/after” or “side-by-side” comparison. Following this lecture, Bowld challenged us to show him examples from our own showreel that answered P&G’s criteria of good TV advertising. To our surprise, we failed to identify one. To further establish his teachings, Bowld then asked us to explain the development sequence for each of the commercials that were on our showreel. This caused a great deal of fumbling from our agency team, as we noticed that many did not exactly answer what we were asked to convey in terms of communication objectives. Bowld’s teacher-like interrogation led us to realize that many of our TVCs were sold to clients based on their witty ideas or production techniques. Amongst ourselves, we woke up to the fact that we often went along with film directors’ interpretation of our scripts and did not fight back as much as we should have in defense of what we had embarked on behalf of our clients. Bill Bowld concluded this first visit for the agency team by drilling into us the P&G copy strategy discipline, which should form the base for all the creative development from that day on.
The starting point in building a Copy Strategy Discpline statement is to clearly understand what the brand is supposed to deliver to the consumer. He cited the example of Ariel, which is supposed to deliver superior laundry cleaning and spot removal that other detergents are unable to deliver. Pampers is supposed to deliver total absorbency and all-night dryness, while Fairy Liquid cuts through the grease that other dishwashing liquids usually leave behind. These consumer promises need support so, in the case of Ariel, the superior cleaning and spot removal functions are possible because of the special formulation. Pampers’ absorbency is due to the pulp-cushioned diaper and its always-dry lining that allows babies to sleep comfortably the whole night etc. Each campaign should have a well-defined target. Ariel targets housewives with heavy laundry requirements, while Pampers targets expectant mothers and mothers with diaper-age babies, and Fairy Liquid targets women with active kitchens. Bowld concluded this brief by stressing that the copy strategy would not be complete if we did not define and ensure accurate implementation of a specific “tone of voice” for the brand, like a calm, comfortable and snuggly environment for Pampers, and a clean, bright, nice-smelling kitchen and dining room environment for Fairy liquid. We went back to our agencies in the Middle East with the voice of Bill Bowld still echoing in our ears, realizing that all we had learnt during our first visit was only P&G kindergarten level. We needed to be quick learners to secure its challenging acceptance.