Josh Kerbel

What sort of framework do you think you could develop to keep P&G’s ad/PR firms accountable for their 50 million spend on promoting Bounty….or is all this “brand” advertising just going to turn into vapor?

Bounty Now Promises a Competent Clean – NY TIMES
By STUART ELLIOTT
Published: June 28, 2010

A year after changing campaigns for Bounty paper towels, Procter & Gamble is refocusing the brand’s advertising again.
…
The concept the campaign seeks to get across is that a single sheet of Bounty is strong and absorbent enough to get surfaces clean. The subtext is, of course, the economy, and how frugal shoppers are watching how many paper towels they use each time there is a mess to be mopped up in the kitchen.

Procter, the nation’s largest advertiser, has been zigging and zagging during the last couple of years as consumers changed their buying habits to cope with the financial crisis and the recession.
…

Although the budget for the campaign is not being disclosed, Procter spent $46.9 million to advertise Bounty last year, according to the Kantar Media unit of WPP, compared with $55.8 million in 2008 and $53.3 million in 2007.

The campaign begins amid a burst of marketing activity for household cleaning products as consumers stay home more as a result of economy-related cuts in traveling and eating out.

Um, what’s their slogan again?

to get your direct to consumer e-commerce project off the ground……

Bay wants suppliers to match Sears deals

Marina Strauss

Sears Canada battle with its suppliers about recovering benefits they enjoyed from a soaring loonie is reverberating in the retail industry.

This week, rivals Bay and Zellers warned their suppliers that they risk losing the two retailers’ business if the suppliers don’t match the improved terms that they may offer to Sears.

Hudson’s Bay Co., parent of Bay and Zellers, doesn’t demand outright retroactive payments to cover the rise in the Canadian dollar against the greenback, as Sears did a few weeks earlier. “However, it is very important to understand that vendors who are prepared to offer lower costs due to a stronger Canadian dollar, who have not otherwise agreed to do so with the Hudson’s Bay Company, place their business with us at risk,” the HBC letter said (read more…..)

Having dealt with large Canadian retailers, this is just another reason why you need the independence of your own sales funnel