Old Spice Marketing
Old Spice is an exceptional brand founded on a rich history. It has succeeded in transforming itself from a brand that was more focused towards my generation’s grandparents to a new millennium sensation for younger crowds to utilize by using the market penetration product strategy. Proctor and Gamble currently owns the Old Spice brand and takes up a considerable amount of the men’s grooming market segment. Old Spice is still managing to maintain a competitive advantage and is growing toward its peak in its product life cycle with little product attributes that differentiate themselves from their competitors. Proctor and Gamble is currently expanding Old Spice’s product mix and maintains competitive pricing. Old Spice’s brand is promoted a highly rated advertising strategy and distributes its products intensively to retailers and wholesalers. The creator of Old Spice is George Schultz. He was introduced to the grooming market when he was 19 years old by working as a salesman for his father, William Schultz. William’s company, Schulton Company, in the Bronx, New York in the mid 1930s. Schulton Company, originally named the Lightfoot Schultz Company, was formed in the 1920s and sold soap and toiletries. William Schultz came to the conclusion that he would never become wealthy selling a private label product during the Depression and decided to search for a product that he could trademark and capture the public eye. He met with Enid Edson, an artist, and searched for label designs through intensive research. It was only soon after when William Schultz developed the first Old Spice product. It was a female fragrance that was developed “from a memory of a rose jar his mother kept in the house, a combination of roses, cloves, herbs, and other spices, and called his new line of toiletries Early American Old Spice for Women.” While this was happening, George Schultz pursued his chemical engineering degree while continuing to make money from being a salesman for Schulton.
Cited: Berner, Robert. "Old Spice 's Extreme Makeover." Businessweek.com. Bloomberg Businessweek, 01 Nov. 2004. Web. 12 Mar. 2012. <http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/04_44/b3906116.htm>. Cover, John C. Proctor and Gamble: A Marketing Technique. 1967. Print. Newman, Andrew A. "Old Spice Argues That Real Men Smell Good." Nytimes.com. New York Times. Web. 12 Mar. 2012. <http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/16/business/media/16adco.html>. "Old Spice." Old Spice. Web. 12 Mar. 2012. <http://www.oldspice.com/>. "Old Spice Collectibles." Old Spice Collectibles. Web. 25 Apr. 2012. <http://www.cr8on.com/>. "PG: Summary for Procter & Gamble Company (The) - Yahoo! Finance." Yahoo! Finance. Web. 12 Mar. 2012. <http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=PG>. "Procter & Gamble." PG.com Home: Sustainability, Company, Brands. Web. 12 Mar. 2012. <http://www.pg.com/en_US/index.shtml>. "Proctor and Gamble." United States American History. Web. 12 Mar. 2012. <http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h1811.html>.