P & G May Transfer Old Spice Mktg To Menezes
Procter & Gamble (P&G) is likely to transfer its Old Spice brand of mens toiletries to Menezes Cosmetics Pvt Ltd, a Goa-based personal products company, to market it for them.
Sources said talks are on between the two companies and the move will allow the US multinational to focus more on its core categories like laundry, hair-care and healthcare segments. A P&G spokesperson, however, denied any such move.
The sources said P&Gs sales force has already been informed of the move and the company is likely to implement the decision soon. The move comes as a fallout of P&Gs move globally to focus on core categories which have been identified as laundry, paper, healthcare and hair-care.
P&G chief executive officer John Pepper had said some time back that the company would give less importance to non-core areas like soaps, perfumes and toiletries.
David Thomas, who recently quit as P&G India CEO, too, had said just before leaving that the toiletries market in India would be a big one over a period of 10-15 years. The focus would be on existing brands like Ariel, Pantene and Vicks, he added.
Old Spice came to the P&G stable in the late Eighties when it took over Shulton Laboratories, the original owners, world-wide. In India, the brand was being manufactured by Menezes Cosmetcis at its subsidiary unit, Colfax Laboratories in Goa.
After the takeover, P&G bought over the marketing rights and allowed Colfax to continue production.
The latest move will see Menezes not only producing but also marketing the product. P&G will, however, continue to own the brand and may charge some royalty from Menezes for marketing the product.
Old Spice is the market leader in mens toiletries and had successfully withstood Hindustan Levers onslaught with Denim range.
But with P&G determined to put its entire effort behind select core brands, Old Spice was clearly not high on the priority list.
Besides, the mens toiletries market in India has not developed fully like hair-care or cosmetics, forcing P&G to consider other alternatives.
The resultant savings in marketing costs would enable it to invest more in its other brands, too.