Stuart Elliott: On Madison Avenue, It's All Coming Out in the Wash

Not only are new ad categories climbing aboard the TV bandwagon most notably technology products and services but many mainstay categories are recommitting themselves to television Take for instance one that has been a cornerstone since TV39s earliest days laundry detergentFrom the 1940s through the early 2000s three giants of consumer household goods battled it out on the airwaves for the loyalty of consumers on washdays ColgatePalmolive Lever Brothers later Unilever and Procter ampamp Gamble Among the ColgatePalmolive combatants were Ajax Dynamo Fab Super Suds and Vel while Lever countered with brands such as All Rinso Surf and Wisk Procter39s troops were led by Tide which created the category of heavyduty synthetic detergents in 1946 the Procter lineup also included Bonus Cheer Dash Dreft Duz Era Gain Salvo and SoloTide39s dominance of the detergent aisle it39s the No 1 brand by a wide margin helped Procter push aside its rivals ColgatePalmolive exited the North American laundry category in 2005 selling its offerings to a company called Phoenix Brands Unilever followed three years later with a deal that formed a firm named Sun Products Though other detergent marketers remain factors most notably Church ampamp Dwight maker of Arm ampamp Hammer and OxiClean Procter has ruled the roostThen in March of last year Walmart made a surprise announcement that it would begin to sell in its American stores a premiumpriced laundry detergent Persil ProClean made by a European behemoth Henkel which also sells household products in the United States under brand names like Dial Purex and Renuzit Henkel and Procter are global competitors so the arrival of Persil pronounced PurrSILL on American soil was seen as a savvy strategy by Walmart to offset Tide39s strength among shoppers Walmart loves to gain the upper hand over its suppliersTelevision commercials started to appear for Persil ProClean featuring a dapper character in a white dinner jacket known as the Professional who touts the benefits of the brand The Professional soon had something to crow about when a Consumer Reports test found a variety of Persil ProClean outperforming a premiumpriced variety of Tide that had been atop the magazine39s laundry detergent rankingsAs Henkel expanded Persil ProClean beyond Walmart the marketing for the brand has accelerated Last month there even was a commercial during the year39s biggest day for television Super Bowl 50 the spot which called out Tide by name was preceded by a TV and online teaser campaign This month Walmart has sent emails to customers on the anniversary of Persil ProClean39s arrival with the subject line quotCelebrating 1 year of premium cleanquotLast year Henkel spent 84 million to run commercials for Persil ProClean 7754 times on American television according to the researchers at iSpottv So far this year iSpottv reports the brand39s commercials already have appeared 3736 times And as a result of the high price tag for Super Bowl spots the amount spent to date this year for Persil ProClean TV spots 102 million according to iSpottv already has surpassed last year39s totalProcter is not standing by idly as Henkel tries to muscle in on its territory The company spent 657 million last year to run Tide commercials on television 32695 times iSpotTV reports and so far this year Tide commercials already have appeared 11016 times at a total cost of 275 millionProcter recently brought out a TV commercial that doesn39t sell Tide39s efficacy as a detergent but rather burnishes its brand image as the category leader The spot timed for Tide39s 70th anniversary year begins with an announcer asking quotHow do you become America39s No 1quot He answers his own query quotStart by taking care of families for 70 years Earn the trust of 32 NFL teams Be there for America39s toughest and help when help is neededquotThat imagebuilding commercial is running on TV along with regular spots for Tide Pods and a trio of new commercials featuring cute youngsters describing in charming kidspeak how they concoct mud pies and other hardtoclean messesAll that Tide activity is being augmented with television commercials for Gain which serves as a flanker brand protecting Tide Procter has spent 59 million so far this year to run 3485 spots for Gain according to iSpottv after spending 225 million last year to run 10390 commercialsToss in tens of millions of dollars worth of spots for other detergents All Arm ampamp Hammer OxiClean and the category is showing surprising new vibrancyAnd relevancy too as evidenced by the widespread attention to a recent post by Sheryl Sandberg of Facebook fame praising a commercial on Indian television for a Procter detergent brand Ariel Sandberg expressed gratitude for the spot39s discussion of gender issues it addresses how men and women don39t equally divide household duties like laundryHmmmmm Perhaps Procter can counter Henkel by bringing Ariel to America promoting it in TV spots as quotthe detergent for those who ShareTheLoadquotImage at top courtesy of Corbis The opinions and points of view expressed in this commentary are exclusively the views of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillageMyersBizNet management or associated bloggers

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Stuart Elliott: On Madison Avenue, It's All Coming Out in the Wash

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