Procter & Gamble and Google have been swapping employees, in order to share ideas and to help P&G better understand new ways to market products utilizing the online space, according to the Wall Street Journal on November 19, 2008. Developing a closer relationship is important to both companies, since P&G is recognizing that younger consumers (18-27) are spending more time online (13 hours/week) than watching TV (10 hours/week) and Google is interested in getting a larger share of P&G’s $8.7 billion ad budget, to counter slowing revenue growth. Currently P&G spends only a very small portion of their ad budget online. So Google is trying to convince marketers like P&G to shift more of their budget to online advertising vehicles, such as their YouTube video sharing site or search advertising, to market their brands, according to the WSJ.

Consumer Product Marketers Slow to Adopt Online Marketing

Consumer product marketers have been slower than other marketers to make the switch to online, because traditional forms of advertising, including TV and newspaper have been reasonably effective, noted Kevin Kells, Google’s national director for consumer package goods, to the WSJ. Some P&G staffers were initially skeptical about the effectiveness of online advertising. For example,P&G product managers for Pampers expressed concern that online advertising only works for products sold online. Kells countered that online advertising can influence consumer brand awareness. 

P&G Learns About Mommy-Bloggers

The partnership began to payoff shortly after the companies began working together. Google staffers were stunned when they found out that P&G had not invited any “motherhood” bloggers, women who run websites dedicated to child rearing, to the launch of a major promotion for Pampers, featuring Salma Hayek, according to the WSJ. P&G followed Google’s advice and a few months later invited mommy-bloggers to tour their baby division in Cincinnati. The visit was captured on video and was used to educate other P&G divisions about the power of bloggers.

Consumer-Generated Videos Prove Effective

Another example of how this collaboration has benefited both companies was the development of an “online campaign inviting [consumers] to make their own spoof videos of P&G’s “Talking Stain” TV ad [for the Tide to Go stain-removing pen] and post them on YouTube.” A total of 227 videos were submitted and a few were selected for airing on TV. Based on the positive results of this effort, Tide plans to utilize more consumer-generated ads in the future, according to P&G (WSJ).

Marketing Partnerships Could Help Your Company

What’s particularly interesting about this relationship is how staffers from a rigid corporate culture like P&G were able to partner with a team from the more free-spirited culture of Google, to help improve P&G’s online marketing approach, to better reach the next generation of consumers. In these trying economic times, I feel that many companies could benefit from a similar type of marketing partnership.