So, what happens when your company mantra is “The Consumer is Boss”?

The Procter & Gamble Company (P&G) is a multi-billion dollar MNC which specialises in consumer packaged products. Its business units encompass a variety from Beauty & Cosmetics to Baby Care to Fast-moving Consumer Goods and its operations serve more than 4 billion people in 180 countries.

CORE VALUES• PEOPLE: Attract and recruit finest people.

• LEADERSHIP: Clear vision and deep commitment.• OWNERSHIP: Accept personal accountability to meet

business needs and improve.• INTEGRITY: Do the right thing.• TRUST: Determined to do the best at what matters the

most.• PASSION FOR WINNING: Confidence and foundation of

trust among colleagues.

STRENGTHS • Dedicated to understanding its consumers.• Multi-brand approach.• Innovative products with unique selling point.• Invests heavily in R&D for product innovation. • Its core business is in Home Care and fabric

care.• Great brand outreach with huge public

visibility, with 250 brands in at least 6 main product categories.

THREATS• Competitors e.g. Unilever & Colgate are

eyeing the same markets. • Increasing availability of generics store

brands of consumer products, making it harder for P&G’s brands to compete.

• Over centralization in its management.• Rising commodity prices and costs of

production. • Declining expenditure on innovation, one of

P&G’s core competencies.

CHALLENGES

Rigidity in changing product portfolio to enter new markets (Over-Centralization)-during times of economic weakness, when consumers are forced to switch to cheaper options.

Prioritizing market share over profit. Brand Erosion and higher profile of company mistakes-As

the market leader, consumers pay closer attention to the company; as such, mistakes committed by the company would usually gain more negative publicity.

Limited Room for Growth. First-Mover’s Disadvantage- Competitors have the

opportunity to make similar improvements to their products, without incurring nearly as much R&D cost.

THE BIG IDEA?Managing Brands Amidst Growing Popularity of Social Media.

MEAN STINKS-The combination of message, channel, content and cause! Mean Stinks, the anti-bullying campaign of Procter & Gamble’s

Secret deodorant.

In the first 15 days of the campaign, Secret added more than 50,000 fans on Facebook. It had 222,000 Likes—now 334,000—with visitors using a "Good Graffiti" app to pass along 32,000 positive messages to friends.

Includes a referral page for counseling centers, a section where women can upload video apologies or complaints about past acts of meanness, and a store that sells T-shirts with anti-bullying messages (along with links promoting F-commerce sales of Secret products and other P&G brands).

#touchthepickleWhisper’s #touchthepickle campaign by P&G India was created to debunk the taboos of things women supposedly shouldn’t do when they’re on their period.

The undeniably hilarious hashtag #touchthepickle is in reference to the superstitious belief that if women touch a pickle jar when they’re on their period, the pickles inside will rot.

RIO 2016 SPONSOR“THE THANK YOU M0M CAMPAIGN”

“Strong”-THE VIDEO explores the simple human truth that the daily courage moms show echoes at critical times throughout their kids’ lives, when a mother’s strength makes all the difference, and builds to the moment each child summons their own courage on the world’s biggest stage—the Olympic Games.

As part of P&G’s dedication to bringing the best to moms around the world each and every day, P&G brands will partner with Olympians and their moms on their journey to the Rio 2016 Olympic Games across 21 countries around the world.

• Project Shiksha is part of the company's global philanthropy programme P&G Live, Learn and Thrive that focuses on the development of children in need across the globe.

• Shiksha aims to build the educational future of India ‘Brick – by – Brick’ by addressing the need for better educational infrastructure and building the tangible asset of schools.

WHAT NEXT?P&G uses the major social media sites Facebook, Youtube

and Twitter. It has only a minor presence on other sites such as Pinterest and Google+. P&G needs to raise the media impact beyond using ambassadors or advocacy campaigns. Through the websites, it can invite users to real-life product-related events, and subsequently post positive images of customers in the event.

P&G should consider to expand on the market segments targeted on social media. Currently, the main segment targeted is 25- to 54-year-old women. While this may be suitable for a majority of its products, there remains uncovered ground. It can consider having separate social media groups to deal with other significant market segments.

For instance, it can have a group to handle the male market for brands. In this instance, it could hold events that appeal to men, such as sports events, and subsequently post the event pictures on the groups.

P&G should also use social media to manage the online word of mouth. According to an online study, consumers are relying more on online reviews for purchases.

P&G can develop good word of mouth to use social media as a platform to disseminate usage instructions and tips so that customers can achieve a better effect with their purchase. This way, they will be less likely to have negative experiences with the product due to misuse, and are more likely to give positive reviews.

DISCLAIMER

CREATED BY PRANJALI DONGRE, VNIT NAGPUR, DURING A MARKETING INTERNSHIP BY PROF. SAMEER MATHUR, IIM LUCKNOW..