Building Sustainability Into the Heart of a Brand: Procter & Gamble

The business case
Consumers can change their behavior if they are reassured about the cleaning performance of their products and if there are direct and broader benefits the consumer can easily perceive and for which independent reassurance is provided. There is clear evidence that P&G's customers have taken the message and are washing at reduced temperatures without compromising on cleaning performance or convenience, while saving energy, money and reducing their ecological footprint. For P&G, Ariel Coolclean's campaigns have strengthened brand loyalty, increased its consumer base, and further positioned P&G as a sustainable innovation leader.



Procter & Gamble has positioned the Ariel brand as a low-temperature wash detergent across Europe since 2003. Similar initiatives have also been launched in other regions, like Tide Coldwater in the US and Canada.

Ariel's Coolclean technology is a formulation that performs optimally at lower wash temperatures, significantly reducing energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.

By simply turning the wash temperature down from 40°C to 30°C, UK field studies in 2006 showed a 41% reduction in washing machine electricity use. P&G's “Turn To 30” UK marketing campaigns raised awareness about climate change, persuading consumers to adopt a more sustainable washing practice.

P&G and sustainability

Procter & Gamble is the world's largest fast-moving goods company with 2007 sales of US$ 76.4 billion. P&G has always been a leader in sustainability, addressing it as both a responsibility and a business-building opportunity, by providing products and services that improve the quality of life of consumers, now and for generations to come.

In 2007, P&G renewed its sustainability program articulating strategies around sustainable innovations of its products, improving the environmental profile of P&G operations, enlarging social responsibility programs and employee engagement as well as stakeholder collaboration projects to help address global sustainability challenges.

In the laundry detergent business, leading brands account for annual sales of over US$ 5 billion. P&G has developed new formulations for a range of laundry and cleaning products that enable excellent cleaning performance at lower temperatures, saving energy and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

The consumer landscape in 2008

The single most important component of a successful business program for a consumer goods company like P&G is an intimate understanding of the consumer.

Recent consumer segmentation studies concluded that a small group of consumers place a very high level of importance on the environmental and social benefits of a product. This niche group, representing an estimated 5-8% of the population, is willing to forgo personal benefits for perceived ethical and altruistic reasons.

A broader group of consumers (on average 45-50%) will buy environmental products only if the products first meet key consumer needs such as quality, performance, convenience and price. This segment is called the “sustainable mainstream” consumer.

Successful brands must establish mainstream consumer appeal by translating the sustainability benefit directly into a primary consumer benefit.

This approach overcomes one of the key limitations associated with marketing “ethical” or “green” products, as it communicates simultaneously a performance and a sustainability message to the consumer.

Building sustainability into the heart of the Ariel brand

As concern over the effects of climate change and the need to reduce our ecological footprint have become dominant societal challenges, P&G has recognized its responsibility as well as opportunity as a market leader to develop more sustainable innovations for its leading global brands.

Life cycle analyses show that, with granule detergents, up to 85% of the energy is consumed in the product use phase, mostly to heat the water in the washing machine. Therefore, the most substantial sustainable improvements can be made when the consumer uses the detergents.

With Ariel Coolclean formulated to be effective at low temperatures, P&G has established a means for substantial reductions in household energy consumption, enabling sustainable development to become a business-building opportunity.

Ariel “Turn To 30” provides the three-pronged “branded” answer: washing at reduced temperatures can 1) meet consumer cleaning expectations, 2) save the consumer money by lowering electricity bills, and 3) reduce domestic greenhouse gas emissions significantly. This strengthens Ariel brand loyalty, especially in the “sustainable mainstream” consumer segment (consumers who are environmentally concerned but not willing to compromise on performance) and P&G's leadership position as a socially and environmentally responsible actor.

The Ariel Coolclean campaign

With Ariel Coolclean, P&G recognized its ability to contribute to the global call to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The challenge was how to get the consumer to take advantage of P&G's product innovation and turn the temperature down. In the UK, where the average washing temperature had been 43.5°C (2002), the P&G campaign urged consumers to “Turn To 30”.

The Turn To 30 Ariel boxes stated the clear, consistent message: “ Energy Saving and Brilliant Cleaning ”. These two benefits were framed by the additional plus: the consumer would be supporting the environment by living more sustainably.

P&G took a holistic communications approach: coordinating the simple “Turn To 30” message in TV and print advertising, direct marketing, Internet campaigns, in-store events, PR and promotional activities.

Consumers were made aware of the energy savings of washing at 30° in layman's terms. It was expressed as: “If all of the UK turned to 30°, the annual energy saved could power over 500,000 homes for one year.”

P&G has learned that quantifying energy savings is a cultural process: in Italy, Ariel Coolclean energy savings were better perceived as the amount needed to light up the beautiful piazzas (central squares), whereas in the UK, the annual energy savings of a single home were materialized in equivalents like: watching 1,400 TV soap operas or preparing 2,500 cups of tea.

In each country where the Coolclean technology was introduced, P&G partnered with important climate-oriented and energy saving third parties. In France, P&G teamed with WWF and ADEME (a government-funded sustainability agency), a German ecological research institute, Öko-Institut, the Italian energy supplier, Enel, and the Alliance to Save Energy.

In the UK, P&G worked with the Energy Saving Trust. Together they launched the Ariel Energy Saving Promise, an individual commitment challenge with prizes and regional competitions.

They also ran the Ariel Great Energy Savings Experiment in 2006, having 122 households “Turn To 30” for two weeks (and auditing their washing machine energy consumption compared to the previous two weeks). The Energy Saving Trust, as a third party, validated the results of this field test: the average energy savings were 41% per household.

Did the consumer change behavior?

In the UK field tests conducted with the Energy Saving Trust (2006), 89% of the 122 families stated they would continue to wash with Ariel at 30°. These field test participants had to actively evaluate the wash results, providing a strong indication that the consumer is satisfied with Ariel's wash performance.

The repeated advertising campaigns have been successful in changing consumer habits. In 2007, an IPSOS survey reported that 17% of UK households now wash at 30%, up from only 2% of households in their 2002 survey.

The average UK washing temperature across all households has decreased from 43.5°C to 40.2°C. Importantly, 27% of all Ariel users washed at 30° in 2007, which is twice the average of other leading brands (13%).

According to the latest IPC Green Research, approximately 85% of consumers claimed that Ariel's Turn To 30 campaign was the main reason that convinced them to turn down their washing temperatures.

Conclusion

Mainstream consumer demand for more sustainable cleaning products is growing rapidly. There is also evidence that these consumers will buy environmental products only if they first meet key consumer needs such as quality, performance, convenience and price.

An analysis of Ariel Coolclean's brand initiatives has confirmed that consumers can change their behavior if they are reassured about the cleaning performance and if there are direct and broader benefits the consumer can easily perceive and for which independent reassurance is provided.

There is clear evidence that Ariel customers have taken the message and are washing at reduced temperatures without compromising on cleaning performance or convenience, while saving energy, money and reducing their ecological footprint. For P&G, Ariel Coolclean's campaigns have strengthened brand loyalty, increased its consumer base, and further positioned P&G as a sustainable innovation leader.

Sustainable innovation is a process of continual improvement, and as research develops and a growing number of sustainable innovation products become mainstream, public and consumer trust in branded innovative consumer goods will continue to grow.

This case study is part of a series of WBCSD member company good practice examples on energy efficiency.