Proctor and Gamble\'s Gain Laundry

Proctor and Gamble's Gain Laundry Detergent

Today, major manufacturers of consumer goods such as laundry detergent are faced with some tough choices when it comes to marketing their various brands. In fact, the promotion of one cheaper brand of detergent to a target market may well diminish sales of another more expensive brand manufactured by the same provider unless careful thought is given to the four Ps and the effectiveness of any marketing initiative monitored to ensure it is accomplishing what is intended. This paper provides a discussion of these issues as they apply to Proctor and Gamble's Gain brand laundry detergent, including a background on the brand as well as a marketing application and analysis. A summary of the research and important findings are presented in the conclusion.

Background on the Brand

Gain detergent is manufactured and marketed by the Procter & Gamble Company's Household Care global business unit (GBU) (Proctor & Gamble, 2008). This GBU also markets other laundry care product brands such as Tide, Ariel, Dawn, and Downy (Proctor & Gamble). Today, Proctor & Gamble is promoting an entire range of alternatives using the Gain brand as a launch pad, including liquid detergents, liquid fabric softeners and dryer sheets. If fact, as shown in Table 1 below, the company lists the following Gain-related products on its Web site.

Table 1.

Gain-related laundry products.

Product

Company description

Gain "Original Fresh"

The same great scent you fell in love with. This Original Fresh scent miracle inspired many Gain scents over the years without changing its appeal. Ahhh. You can always count on Gain!

Gain "Fresh Awakenings"

Who needs that morning cup of Joe when you've got Fresh Awakenings beckoning you from the closet, drawers, hamper or sheets. it's the great scent you'll wake up to enjoy.

Gain "Island Fresh"

Your passport to the tropics - without the huge lines, lost luggage and turbulence. Why travel when we've got the freshness of palm trees and sunshine all bottled up?

Gain "Outdoor Sunshine"

Release the hounds on your tough laundry jobs with this bright and shiny Gain. It packs that extra punch for whites with a gust of the great outdoors.

2X Ultra Gain

Ultra Gain HE is 2X concentrated just like the other Ultra Gain products and is specially formulated for High-Efficiency machines. All other Ultra Gain products are not recommended for High-Efficiency machines

Source: Ultra Gain (2008) at http://www.gainlaundry.com/static/products.asp.

Marketing application and analysis

The "release the hounds" reference used to promote Gain "Outdoor Sunshine" is reflective of the company's past marketing efforts for this product that have equated doing laundry with going to war while remaining "ladylike" in the process. According to Harris (2000), "Throughout the twentieth century, the aesthetic of cleanness has been simultaneously militaristic and ladylike. The rhetoric of germ warfare infuses descriptions of cleaning products, which depict housewives as soldiers on the front lines, 'killing dirt,' 'cutting through stains,' or 'getting brutal with soiled clothing,' as in an advertisement for Gain detergent that shows a laundress in a boxing glove clutching a pair of men's underwear ('Give your boxers some punch')" (p. 250). A common theme that recurs through this marketing copy, with the sole exception of 2X Ultra Gain, is the emphasis on the way the product smells rather than any specific emphasis on how well it cleans clothes. This approach may indicate that many consumers believe that most detergents perform about the same and will opt for a detergent that smells better - and makes clothes smell fresher - than another brand.