P&G Launches Huge Ad Campaign for Clairol

The Procter & Gamble Co. is starting a massive ad campaign to try to revitalize the Clairol hair care brand it acquired from Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. in November. “This intensive initial campaign is just the beginning of our efforts to re- energize Clairol as a global hair-color leader,” said Rob Matteucci, president of P&G’s Clairol division.

The saturation campaign, which begins today, will include broadcast ads, a billboard in New York’s Times Square and eight-page inserts in leading women’s magazines. “We’re really trying to surround the consumer,” said Paul Scoggins, Clairol group products manager. “We really want to reinforce Clairol as a leader in color.”

The $4.95 billion deal that brought Clairol into the P&G family also added Herbal Essences and Nice ‘n Easy brands to P&G’s hair care products, which include Pantene, Pert, Head & Shoulders and Vidal Sassoon.

Company spokeswoman Francine Gingras declined to say how much the Clairol brands contribute to P&G’s bottom line. “We don’t break down the category, but our beauty care division represents about 20% of revenues and about 22% of profits,” Ms. Gingras said.

P&G, whose products include Crest toothpaste, Tide detergent, Pampers diapers and Folgers coffee, reported earnings of $4.35 billion on sales of $40.2 billion in the fiscal year that ended June 30. The company cited strong sales of its Clairol products as one reason why its profits exceeded expectations for its fourth quarter.

Clairol, second only to industry leader L’Oreal, controls 39% of the U.S. hair-coloring market, according to the A.C. Nielsen market-research company. L’Oreal controls 50%.Clairol dominated the market until the late 1990s.

Some of the new ads will be aimed at baby boomers, both men and women, who want to change gray hair to a more youthful-looking color and who will remember questions posed by Clairol decades ago: “Do blondes have more fun?” and “Does she or doesn’t she?”

“We are reinventing the legendary ad lines,” Mr. Scoggins said. “They speak to the fact that Clairol has been a leader in hair color. Consumers will recognize that.”

Others ads will steer people to a jazzy website or a toll-free hot line.

“We really see ourselves as an educator,” Mr. Scoggins said. “We get 10 million-plus calls per year on our 800 number. It really is one of our crown jewels.”

Ads will urge women to put “more life in your color and more color in your life.”

“One of the things really important about the campaign is the celebration of color, the joy of color,” Mr. Scoggins said. “The transformation is not only a color change but also an emotional transformation that is very powerful in women’s lives.”