Then, Now and Tomorrow: 100 Years of Analytics & Insights at P&G

P&G has been evolving Analytics & Insights for a century. From the moment P&G began its focus on deep consumer understanding to the methods we’re pioneering today, one thing has remained the same – our unwavering focus on the consumer. Meeting consumers where they are and staying ahead of where they will be next will be critical to the success of our industry as we look to the next 100 years.

THE START OF P&G’S DELIBERATE FOCUS ON CONSUMER UNDERSTANDING

In 1924, P&G was 87 years old with just two major brands — Ivory soap and Crisco food shortening — and doing business in just the US and Canada. That's when a curious, young PhD asked a question that changed the way P&G would operate forever.

As the story goes, P&G executives were in the CEO’s office discussing commodity prices when “Doc” Paul Smelser spoke up and asked a question no one had the answer to ...

“How many of our consumers use Ivory Soap for washing their hands and body versus washing their dishes and clothes?”

That moment was the beginning of P&G’s focus on consumer understanding and the start of Analytics & Insights at P&G.?

Doc Smelser was tasked with answering his own question and many more, and he was soon put in charge of a formal Market Research Department. He hired a team of field investigators to engage in conversations with consumers about their daily lives. For the next 36 years, Doc built this group into the unit that would become the Analytics & Insights discipline for P&G today.?

Doc Smelser was a trailblazer. He uncovered a fundamental truth that has directed our business for the past 100 years…

The success of any P&G brand directly correlates to our proximity to the consumer. ?

This ignited P&G’s focus on creating consumer-centric business models that support our superiority strategy to provide superior brand experiences for our consumers - across product, packaging, brand communication, retail execution, and value - that sustain value creation for our consumers, shareholders, and retail partners and drive market growth for the industry.

WHAT WE DO REMAINS THE SAME

The type of question that Doc Smelser asked about Ivory in 1924 is still one we continue to ask on every brand and every category today.

The more we gain specific, nuanced insights to understand the jobs consumers do, their habits, attitudes and lifestyles, the more we can create superior experiences that improve their lives and grow the market. ?

Here are a few examples of how P&G uncovers unmet needs to develop products that delight consumers:

ZzzQuil

More than 70% of consumers in Europe suffer from occasional sleep troubles, but fewer than 20% use any kind of sleep aid. Based on our insights and understanding of consumer preferences, we recognized the need for a sleep aid with no dependency and no next-day grogginess. So, P&G launched ZzzQuil, a simple food supplement in a gummy form. Within two years, it has become Europe’s #1 selling sleep aid brand.?

Aussie

In P&G broadly, we’re striving to serve and represent each and every consumer. In Hair Care, we discovered 91% of curly-haired consumers are constantly looking for new products because the ones they have are either too light or too heavy. Our Aussie brand created a new Bouncy Curls formula to address the concerns of these specific consumers. The product delighted consumers and drove category value ahead of fair share with strong performance in the UK.?

Always Discreet

While 30% of women have reported experiencing incontinence, only 15% use an incontinence product. Urinary incontinence is often shrouded in embarrassment and secrecy. Always Discreet changed this stigma by promoting a positive narrative and a product offering that is both effective and discreet, successfully improving the consumer experience while growing the category.

HOW WE WORK HAS CHANGED DRAMATICALLY

While Doc Smelser was pioneering market research for P&G, the industry was burgeoning around us. This gave Doc and his team of field researchers new partners and avenues to pursue.???

Specialists in their fields were busy developing tools and methodologies such as scientific polling, focus group research, forecasting models, predictive statistical techniques and commercial viewing meters. At P&G we are proud of our long history of contributing to the development of so many of these methods, but we could not have gotten here alone. I am grateful to all our partners who have enabled us to propel our industry forward.

It is important also to reflect on how we got here.

Over the past century, technological advancements have changed how we connect with consumers and our industry has evolved significantly with each technological advancement. Face-to-face surveys gave way to telephone interviews as long-distance calls became cheaper. Computer-assisted methods in the 1970s streamlined data collection and analysis. And online surveys replaced traditional methods in the mid-1990s as internet usage and connectivity took off. Then we moved from desktop to mobile and device agnostic surveys. Today, it’s big data and AI.

But technology is just one component.?

From trends in consumerism to an increasing aging population, social, economic, and cultural forces are shaping consumer perception and choice. ?

The globalization of the world economy and the opportunity to reach each and every consumer have underscored the need to ensure our research is inclusive of all our consumers. ?

The evolution of new sciences, such as behavioral and neurosciences, led to new capabilities and solutions to understand consumers.?

Productivity has become a huge opportunity as macroeconomic cycles have driven cost pressures. ?

The regulatory environment and privacy concerns are crucially important as GDPR and other privacy regulations around the world have driven a lot of changes in our industry.?

We once had to ask consumers for their opinion. Today, whether it’s a ‘like’ on social media or a rating or a review, we are asking much less. The shift from asking to listening is an important signal as we look to what’s next.

As an industry, we have a greater depth of knowledge on Behavioral Sciences and Shopper Psychology to better understand and influence decision-making. We are using technology to understand actual consumer behavior versus claimed data, which we know can be biased. We’re using artificial intelligence to decipher the deeper meaning of what people say and predict the in-market success of our executions.???

One example of how P&G is using new applications of technology to create superior products is our connected home platform.

Dawn/Fairy

With our connected home technology, we place sensors in the homes of consenting consumers to measure their usage behavior in real-time. Technology helps us to see and measure what the human mind cannot answer. In hand dishwashing, we discovered that consumers were spending too much time rinsing excess suds. This led to a new formula for our Dawn and Fairy brands that delivered superior cleaning, but with fewer suds, and an upside-down bottle to get the precise dose needed every time.?

These forces that have shaped us are intertwined and will continue to evolve in different ways, but there is also the way we do our work and how we respond to these external factors.

THE TALENTED P&G ANALYTICS AND INSIGHTS TEAM

When I think about the type of people who work in Analytics & Insights at P&G, I see four common characteristics time and again.

We’re Curious.

We’re Courageous.

We Change and Adapt.

And We Constantly Learn.

These traits have been hallmarks of our discipline for a hundred years.?We explore new ways, experiment with novel solutions, and identify non-obvious opportunities. We do the right thing – speaking up for the consumer, even when it isn’t easy.?And we must be willing to experiment, test, and learn at an accelerated pace.

WHERE WE SHOW UP CONTINUES TO EXPAND

WHERE market research shows up today is EVERYWHERE. And it’s anywhere there is a transformation in the consumer’s life.

The past 10 years have seen an extraordinary transformation in media – in how consumers are getting their entertainment, informing themselves, and engaging with content.

Tide

Around 2015, our North America team wanted to understand how well they were reaching Tide consumers. The answer, unfortunately, was not very well. We recognized that the world of media had changed, and we needed to recommit ourselves to understanding the transformation. We immediately began to pivot, and Tide became one of the first P&G brands to bring media planning, buying, and operations in-house. The team dramatically improved mass reach, effectiveness and efficiency. Seeing the change in consumer behavior and adapting our focus to meet consumers where they are, have been critical to our brand’s success. Today, Tide is reaching 90% of its audience with messages that make buying decisions easier.?

The revolution we’ve experienced in data processing capability is astounding and will continue to have a huge impact on our consumer understanding ability. But what we must never forget is that ultimately all data is Human. Behind every single one or zero lies a person, our consumer. And that human interaction and understanding can be augmented but never replaced. Not by an algorithm, not by GenAI, not by a virtual consumer.?

It is the combination of Human + Data + Technology that has brought us to this place and will lead us into the future. ?

THE NEXT 100 YEARS

What we do hasn’t fundamentally changed and will not change in the future, but how we do the work has changed dramatically and will continue to do so. And where we show up will continue to expand as the world becomes more data-rich and connected.?

As we look to the future drivers of our work, it’s important to return to the idea of our proximity to the consumer.

We must take a long-term view of the transformations happening in the world around us and anticipate the shifts so we can build our capabilities and get ahead, rather than constantly be catching up. We must understand the consumers in their context and meet them where they will be. How can we stay close to consumers in a manner that they will want to engage?

Digital advancements and emerging technologies such as Generative AI are showing transformative potential, and we need to be both optimistic yet also cautious. The question I keep asking myself is, “Do these allow us to get closer to real human beings?” How can we improve the coverage of our methods today to include all consumers and all retail stores? How can technology help us make our samples better balanced?

Also, how do we keep the human researcher in the loop and really at the center even as technology enables more automation and machine-driven actions?

Our world is changing. Doc Smelser sent his investigators out to ask carefully designed questions. But we have seen a fundamental shift from asking questions to listening and observing. How do we operate in a world where we no longer control the questions or may not even be able to ask any questions? We need to consider how we will improve the quality of our insights.

We must proactively address data privacy, not only in the context of current global regulations and consumer concerns, but with a forward-looking view to the consequences of a world where we’re listening and observing more. ?

Finally, in a world that is more global and yet more fragmented, we must ensure that we are representing each and every consumer. What are we doing to proactively reach and listen to people of every gender, ethnicity, age, ability and income?

As we stand at the EDGE of a Century of Analytics & Insights at P&G, we consider today “day one.” Today is a great day to renew and make a new start. We’re proud to have grown our industry together for 100 years.

Tomorrow, we must maintain our unwavering focus on the consumer. We must take a long-term view, focus on the quality of our research methods and seek new ways to represent each and every consumer.

But above all, we must always stay true to our purpose – keeping close to the consumer and always looking for a better way to understand and serve them.

To learn more about our 100 Year Journey of P&G Analytics & Insights: Read here