Procter & Gamble (P&G) was founded in 1937 by brothers-in-law William Procter and James Gamble. Procter had previously worked as a candlemaker, while Gamble worked as a soap maker. The pair rapidly developed their soap and candles business; hiring dozens of employees and hitting $1 million in annual sales by 1859.
In the decades that followed, the company increased its soap range, while the candle business slowed until it was eventually discontinued in the early 1920s. Around the same time, P&G had begun production outside of the U.S. and was quickly acquiring new brands.
Today P&G is the largest consumer goods company in the world, reporting net sales of $82.0 billion for the fiscal year 2023. The company’s capacity to develop (and scout) best-selling products, coupled with its superior marketing strategies have seen it establish a huge portfolio of trusted brands including Gillette, Always, Pampers, and Pantene.
Here’s a rundown of P&G’s entire portfolio, which includes:
- Fabric care
- Family care and feminine care
- Home care
- Hair care
- Oral care
- Skin care
- Health care
Fabric Care
Ariel
Ariel is a brand of laundry detergent founded in Belgium in 1967. The company employs more than 1,000 people and has an annual revenue of more than $500 million.
Bounce
Bounce produces a range of washer and dryer sheets designed to help fight static, pet hair, wrinkles, and lint. The brand’s first products were patented in 1969 and launched nationally in 1975.
Cheer
Launched in 1950, Cheer is a budget laundry detergent specially formulated to keep colors bright.
Downy
Downy, which is known as Lenor in Europe, Russia, Taiwan, and Japan, develops a wide range of fabric softeners and dryer sheets. Launched in 1960 and headquartered in Sacramento, the company employs around 200 people and reaches an annual revenue of around $17 million.
Dreft
Dreft develops baby laundry detergent and other washing products, including in-wash scent boosters, and all-purpose cleaning spray and wipes. Its baby detergent is top-rated by pediatricians in the United States. The company introduced its first product, a synthetic detergent, in 1933.
Gain
Gain is an exclusively North American brand that sells a wide range of laundry detergents, fabric softeners, dryer sheets, and dish detergents. It was launched in 1969 as an enzyme-driven stain removal detergent but rebranded in 1981 to market its fresh scent. In 2007, P&G announced Gain as its 23rd billion-dollar brand.
Tide
Launched in 1946, Tide produces a wide range of laundry products, including washer pods, liquid detergents, stain removers, and fabric care products. Tide is the country’s top detergent (based on sales), controlling almost a fifth of total U.S. liquid laundry detergent sales in 2022. This amounted to revenue of over $2 billion.
Era
Era is another budget laundry detergent designed for high-efficiency washing and effective stain removal. It was introduced in the 1970s but never gained the popularity of rival brands, including Tide.
Family Care And Feminine Care
Charlie Banana
Charlie Banana produces eco-conscious cloth diapers, swim diapers, potty training pants, and other accessories, including changing mats, tote bags, and cotton wipes. The company is a member of 1% For The Planet, which means every purchase contributes to a greener world. All products, for example, come in fully recyclable packaging. Charlie Banana was founded in 2009 and acquired by P&G in 2020.
Luvs
Diapers brand Luvs was launched in 1976 with the help of astronaut Kenneth Buell. In the 1980s, it introduced diapers with thicker padding and started marketing itself as a budget brand. Today, it sells just one type of diaper in a range of seven sizes and has a revenue of $19.74 billion.
Ninjamas
Ninjamas is a line of nighttime underwear that sits underneath P&G’s billion-dollar Pampers brand. Launched in 2020, the brand’s absorbent nighttime underwear products have become some of the best-selling bedwetting pants on the market.
Pampers
Pampers, a producer of baby and toddler products, was founded in the U.S. in 1961 and is P&G’s first and only 10-billion dollar brand. Today, it sells products including diapers, training pants, baby wipes, and pull-up pants. In the first three months of 2023, the $356 billion company reported that its sales had grown 4% year-over-year to reach $20 billion.
Bounty
Bounty is an American brand of paper towel that launched in 1965. The company is committed to keeping forests green; it sources pulp from 100% third-party certified lands and plants two trees for every one it cuts down. In 2017, Bounty was the third leading paper towel brand in the U.S. with around $619.9 million in sales.
Charmin
Charmin sells toilet paper and flushable wet wipe products. Its toilet paper was invented in 1928 by the Hoberg Paper Company, which changed its name to Charmin in 1950 and was acquired by P&G in 1957. Charmin Ultra Soft is the brand’s highest-selling product, with an annual revenue of $1.09 billion.
Puffs
Puffs sells a range of facial tissues including Puffs Plus Lotion, Puffs Ultra Soft, Puffs Plus Lotion with the Scent of Vicks, and Puffs Simple Softness. The company was founded in the 1950s and acquired by P&G in 1958. The company is committed to sustainable practices. For example, it is certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), which means its pulp products are sourced from well-managed FSC-certified forests.
Always
Founded in 1983, Always sells a range of menstrual hygiene products, including pads, liners, period underwear, and intimate skincare. Always is by far the most preferred menstrual hygiene brand, with 34.85 million women in the U.S. saying they used Always in 2020.
Always Discreet
The Always brand extended its offering in 2014 with the launch of Always Discreet. Selling incontinence products, including liners, pads, and underwear, the brand promises up to 100% leak protection and provides odor control, comfort, and discretion to the one in three women who have a sensitive bladder or incontinence.
Tampax
A Denver-based female entrepreneur purchased the tampon patent in 1934 and began selling the first Tampax tampons in 1936. The company was acquired by P&G in 1997 and today sells a range of tampons including Pure Cotton, Cardboard, Radiant, and Pearl. Tampax is a customer favorite, with a 29% global market share.
This is L
L. sells a wide range of menstrual hygiene products, including tampons, pads, liners, period wash, and cleansing wipes. The brand is committed to making exceptional period care accessible for all, providing funding every year to non-profit, community-based organizations that increase sustainable access to period care products.
Home Care
Ambi Pur
Launched in 1976 in Spain, Ambi Pur sells a range of air freshener products, including car freshener gel and air freshener sprays.
Cascade
Cascade is a top-rated dishwasher detergent brand that sells gels, powders, and ActionPacs. Founded in 1953, it has long been committed to helping the dishwashing process save water and energy to improve sustainability. It was the first dishwasher detergent brand that allowed people to skip pre-rinsing dishes before loading them into the dishwasher. The brand brings in $900 million in annual sales and controls ⅔ of the U.S. dishwasher detergent market.
Dawn
Introduced in 1973, Dawn is the best-selling dish soap in the United States. In 2017, it achieved sales of $624 million.
Febreze
Febreze sells a range of household odor eliminators, including wax melts, candles, car air fresheners, small-space scent diffusers, pet odor eliminators, fabric sprays, air mists, and plug-in scent diffusers. The brand launched its first products in 1996 and became the 24th brand to join P&G’s $1 billion brand portfolio in 2011.
Gain
Gain is a homecare brand that launched in 1969 and today sells a range of laundry detergents, fabric softeners, dryer sheets, and dish detergents. In 2007, P&G announced Gain as its 23rd billion-dollar brand, a particularly impressive feat given that Gain products are only sold in North America.
Microban 24 sells antibacterial products that kill 99.9% of bacteria for 24 hours. Its products include sanitizing spray, all-purpose cleaning spray, and bathroom cleaner. Following a surge of sales during the COVID-19 pandemic, P&G announced the brand was expanding outside of the U.S. and launching in the UK.
Mr. Clean’s household products include magic cleaning erasers, cleaning wipes, and multi-surface liquids and sprays. Ohio artist Harry Richard Black created the brand’s trademark character, the charming muscular Mr. Clean, in 1956 and P&G launched the brand two years later.
Salvo
Salvo was launched by P&G in the mid-1960s as a laundry detergent. Today, the brand sells dish detergent exclusively in Latin America.
Swiffer
Launched in 1991, Swiffer is a household cleaning products brand that sells mops, dusters, vacuum cleaners, and cleaning solutions. Swiffer revolutionized the cleaning industry with its Trap & Lock technology that attracts dirt, dust, and hair, and eliminates the need for brooms and dustpans. The Swiffer product line generates $500 million in sales annually.
Zevo
Zevo develops household insect sprays, plug-in trap systems, and on-body products to control crawling, flying, and stinging insects. The brand was launched in 2017 and is America’s fastest-growing pest control brand.
Hair Care
Aussie
Aussie is a sustainable haircare brand that uses natural ingredients from Australia. It sells shampoos, conditioners, deep conditioners, hairspray, hair treatments, and stylers. The brand was founded in the U.S. in 1979 and is now the nation’s largest shampoo brand, with a revenue of $114.8 billion.
Head & Shoulders
In 1949, John Parran Jr (a chemical engineer and bacteriologist from the University of Tennessee) was hired by P&G to research and develop anti-dandruff hair products. Following many years of clinical trials, Head & Shoulders’ first anti-dandruff product – a hair cream – was launched in 1961.
Herbal Essences
Founded in 1971 and headquartered in Kingsport, Tennessee, Herbal Essences sells haircare products including shampoos, conditioners, hair treatments, and styling products. Today, around 23% of hair care users in the U.S. use Herbal Essences. The company had 2020 revenues of approximately $8.5 billion.
My Black Is Beautiful
My Black is Beautiful has celebrated Black beauty and culture since 2006. In 2019, it launched a line of hair care products, including shampoos, conditioners, and styling treatments, that was “created by Black women for Black women”. Its products were made available exclusively in Sally Beauty stores to support healthy coils and curls.
Old Spice
Old Spice sells a wide range of male grooming products including deodorants, body lotion and wash, shampoos, conditioners, and hair styling products. It was founded in 1937 as a women’s fragrance brand before a men’s product line was introduced a year later. Old Spice was acquired by P&G in 1990 and rebranded in the late 2000s to attract a younger audience. In 2022, the brand generated a sales growth of 15% compared to the prior fiscal year.
Pantene
Pantene is the world’s most popular hair care brand, selling shampoos, conditioners, hair treatments, and styling products. It was first introduced in Europe in 1945 and acquired by Procter and Gamble in 1985, at which point Pantene distribution was expanded on a massive scale. The brand owes its success to a string of iconic marketing campaigns. In 2023, the Pantene brand was valued at approximately $4.64 billion.
Oral Care
Crest
Crest is an American toothpaste brand born from a P&G research program that sought to find ingredients to reduce tooth decay. The result of the program was Crest’s fluoride toothpaste, which was launched in 1955. In 1960, the American Dental Association confirmed that the product was effective in preventing tooth decay. Today, Crest sells a range of toothpaste, mouthwashes, whitening treatments, and kids’s dental hygiene products.
Fixodent
Fixodent develops denture solutions including denture adhesive cream and cleansers. Its denture adhesives are the top recommended brand by dentists in the UK, Germany, and the United States. In 2018, Fixodent was the leading denture adhesive brand in the U.S. with sales that amounted to approximately $94 million.
Oral-B
Oral-B had its beginnings in California in the late 1930s when a soft nylon-bristled toothbrush was first developed. In the 1950s, Dr. Robert W. Hutson filed a patent for a similar design and in the years to follow, the Oral-B brand was born. Today, Oral-B’s revenue is $42.8M and it sells a range of electric toothbrushes, toothpaste, flossing products, and mouthwashes.
Skin Care
Braun
Braun is known for its small electrical appliances including shavers, epilators, and electric toothbrushes. It was founded by mechanic and engineer Max Braun in Frankfurt, Germany in 1921. In 1967, the Boston-based company Gillette bought a majority stake in Braun, and in 2005 both companies were acquired by P&G.
Gillette
Gillette, formerly known as the American Razor Company, was founded in 1901 by traveling salesperson King C. Gillette. Acquired by P&G in 2005, the brand sells razors and various shaving accessories. In 2023, Gillette’s brand value added up to approximately $6.6 billion.
joy+glee
joy+glee is a Gillette brand selling razors, no-heat body wax, wax strips, and hair removal creams. It is exclusively available at Amazon, Meijer, and Walmart.
Venus
Venus is another Gillette brand, which was launched in 2000. At the time, Gilette pledged to spend $100 million on marketing the brand’s first product; a three-bladed razor designed exclusively for women. Today, it sells a range of refillable and disposable razors, shaving gels, and hair removal products. In 2019, Venus sold approximately 6.6 million units of disposable razor products in the United States, making it the nation’s second-leading disposable razor blade.
The Art of Shaving
The Art of Shaving was founded by Eric Malka and Myriam Zaoui in Manhattan in 1996. The premium shaving brand sells shaving creams and soaps, pre-shave oils, post-shave balms, and razors and blades and has an estimated annual revenue of $87.1 million.
Ivory
Ivory is a personal care brand launched by P&G in 1879. Though less money has been invested in Ivory in recent years, the brand continues to sell bar soap, body wash, deodorant, and laundry products.
Native
Native manufactures deodorants, body washes, hair care products, and lotions that are clean, simple, effective, and cruelty-free. Founded by Moiz Ali in 2015, Native is the fastest-growing CPG company in the United States. It was acquired by P&G in 2017 for $100 million and has over one million customers nationwide.
Olay
Olay is a skincare brand selling moisturizers, serums, cleansers, toners, wipes, and SPF products. The brand’s first product, an anti-ageing “beauty fluid” was created in a South African lab in 1952 by ex-Unilever employee Graham Wulff. Olay’s product range gradually expanded and it was acquired by P&G in the 1980s. In the United States, 28% of face care consumers use Olay.
Safeguard
Safeguard’s products, which include bar soap, body wash, liquid hand soap, and foaming hand soap protect its users after washing by slowing the regrowth of germs, bacteria, and fungi. P&G launched the brand in 1963 in response to increasing consumer demands for odor and germ protection. Today, Safeguard donates more than $10 million in products to organizations and communities impacted by COVID-19.
Secret
Secret was the first antiperspirant/deodorant brand designed exclusively for women.
It launched Secret Ice Blue, a roll-on deodorant, in 1958, and its first aerosol, Secret Aerosol, in 1964. Secret’s 1970s advertising slogan “strong enough for a man, but made for a woman’ remains one of the most famous marketing lines of all time.
SK-II
SK-II is a personal care cosmetics brand launched by the Japanese branch of Max Factor & Company in 1980. Its brand name was changed to SK-II when it was acquired by P&G in 1991 and yet it has maintained its unique identity. For example, SK-II has used the same product packaging for the past 32 years. In 2012, it became P&G’s first Asian home-grown brand to reach a billion dollars in sales.
Health Care
Align
Align Probiotic is a personal healthcare brand selling a range of supplements designed to support gut health and daily wellness. Its products can help to improve occasional gas, bloating, and abdominal discomfort by adding good bacteria that support digestive balance. Once only available online and through special order from pharmacists, Align has appeared on retail store shelves nationwide since 2009. It is the number one gastroenterologist-recommended probiotic supplement in the country.
Clearblue
Clearblue is one of P&G’s most recognizable brands. It sells a range of pregnancy and fertility diagnostic products, including early-detection pregnancy tests, ovulation kits, and a menopause stage indicator. In 2019, Clearblue generated sales of approximately $82.6 million, equating to a 25.7% share of the market.
Metamucil
Metamucil sells psyllium fiber supplement solutions for digestive health. Its products include powders, capsules, fiber thins, and gummies. The brand was introduced in 1934 by G. D. Searle & Company and acquired by P&G in 1985.
Pepto-Bismol
For more than 100 years, Pepto-Bismol’s products have been providing effective relief from nausea, diarrhea, and upset stomachs due to overindulgence in food and drink, as well as treating heartburn and indigestion. In 2019, Pepto Bismol was the top-ranked stomach remedy tablet brand in the United States with sales of about $114 million.
Prilosec OTC
For the past 15 years, Prilosec OTC has been the number one doctor-recommended treatment for frequent heartburn. Its product works by preventing excess acid production, which is the cause of painful heartburn. In 1989, Prilosec was introduced as the first prescription proton pump inhibitor (PPI). In 2015, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Prilosec OTC as the first over-the-counter treatment for frequent heartburn.
Vicks
Vicks provides over-the-counter medicines to treat colds, coughs, sinus and nasal congestion, sore throats, and the flu. Its first product, Vicks Croup & Pneumonia Salve, went on sale in 1894 and the company was acquired by P&G in 1985.
ZzzQuil
ZzzQuil is a Vicks brand selling over-the-counter nighttime sleep aids. Launched in 2012, its products include gummies, chewable tablets, and liquid solutions for both adults and children. ZzzQuil is a non-habit-forming sleep aid designed to reduce the time it takes to fall asleep.
Procter & Gamble’s Commitment to Sustainability
As evidenced by its wide range of eco-conscious products and long-term goals, environmental sustainability is embedded into how P&G conducts business.
For example, the company has pledged to achieve net zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions across its operations and supply chain by 2040. In addition, P&G’s Climate Transition Action Plan addresses the entire lifecycle emissions of its products and packaging to accelerate climate action.
The company has also pledged to design all consumer packaging to be recyclable or reusable by 2030 and has launched a strategy to restore water in water-stressed areas for people and nature and reduce the use of water in its operations. By 2030, it hopes to restore more water than is used.
P&G has stressed its commitment to ensuring it positively impacts homes, communities, and our planet.
Global Reach and Impact
P&G has a huge global presence. Its portfolio currently consists of 65 brands, which serve around five billion customers across more than 70 countries.
As of June 2023, the company employs 107, 000 people.
Innovative Marketing and Branding Strategies
For P&G, maintaining an efficient and effective marketing strategy has always been a top priority and contributor to its long-term success.
Its marketing and branding efforts are characterized by the following:
- A broad target audience – P&G markets its brands to a diverse range of consumers, from Gen Z-ers to baby boomers.
- Extensive product range – P&G’s brand portfolio spans multiple categories, from health and oral care to cosmetics and home care, enabling it to capture multiple markets.
- Different price points – P&G’s brands span from budget to luxury, catering to customers with varying budgets.
- International distribution – P&G brands are sold all over the world and the company has established a wide network of distributors, including retailers, chemists, and e-commerce sites.
- Memorable marketing campaigns – P&G invests heavily in memorable marketing campaigns for TV, print media, and online advertising. Its ads are customer-centric and often leverage emotional storytelling and well-known faces to compel prospective audiences.
Procter & Gamble’s Future in Brand Management
P&G always has its sights set on bigger and better things.
A big part of its future vision is to experiment and learn in the metaverse. In 2020, the company accelerated its work to create virtual consumer experiences with the launch of the P&G LifeLab. This is an immersive hub in which consumers learn about the company and interact with people and products from a range of its most-loved brands.
P&G is also committed to partnering with the world’s most innovative minds via its Connect + Develop program. Members of the Connect + Develop team scout for innovations and work with prospective partners to shepherd breakthrough ideas through the company and into market.
P&G is forecast to grow its earnings and revenue by 5.8% and 3.9% per annum respectively.
