P&G: We Don't Care Where the Ideas Come From

Tried and true branders like P&G are picking up the pace of innovation rather than merely relying on their branding prowess. New CEO A.G. Lafley has said, “[W]e don’t care where the ideas come from.” And that includes customers.

And I couldn't help notice P&G's revenues have been climbing since CEO Lafley's tenure. I had to cut out much of this from my essay, but this is instructive. (BTW, there was a recent cover story on P&G new practices in a major business magazine - but I can't remember which one...anyone have a clue?)

P&G, Samsung, and others like them put great energy into learning what their customers crave [via new ethnographic and behavior practices from anthropology and psychology] - and into designing their innovation process to satisfy them. So close are they to their customers that they are beginning to co-create with them.... Success increasingly goes to those companies who focus on creating better things with [emphasis mine] their customers, not for them. - Business Week "The Innovation Economy" issue editorial, October 11, 2004

To juice the pace of innovation, [CEO A.G.] Lafley is breaking down the company’s storied insularity. When P&G researchers came up with technology for a better plastic wrap – a new category for the company – Lafley decided that more profit lay in joining forces with rival Clorox, whose Glad brand was already well established. The result, Glad Press’n Seal, grabbed 20 percent of its market in a year and a half. Lafley has also been going outside P&G to buy ideas, reaping winners like the Swiffer Duster and the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser. Already, more than 35 percent of new products are licensed; Lafley wants to boost that to 50 percent. When asked recently how he chose that goal, Lafley chuckled. “It’s just a number I made up,” he said. “For me, it’s a metaphor for the fact that we don’t care where the ideas come from.” – “P&G’s Growth Wizard”, from Business 2.0, Jan/Feb 2005

Comments

[John Deasy]

I found this very interesting as i am researching the differences between Kimberly Clark, P&G, and Georgia Pacific. Does consumer tissue marketing drive how a supply chain reacts? Are there other bloggers who know these strategies?

[t. johnson]

They don't care where the ideas come from just as they don't care how many they cause to have asthma in Cincinnati, Ohio. This is a company that hates human beings.