Stengel breaks mould for P&G

As Jim Stengel never tires of spelling out, the conventional marketing model is broken. But Procter & Gamble's global marketing officer is not looking to make any repairs. Instead, Stengel's thoughts are focused firmly on the future, and on the critical need to innovate if P&G is to continue its dominance of FMCG markets across the globe. A key element of Stengel's mindset is his oft-repeated mantra that the consumer is now king -- words that could easily ring hollow, were it not for the concerted efforts P&G's consumer market knowledge division has made over recent years to genuinely understand the lives of its customers. On a recent trip to China, Stengel relates with visible excitement his own experience of this approach, which involved visiting low-income and high-income homes. "Immersion is a major focus for us," explains Stengel. "This is where our company's strengths play to our advantage -- we don't do business in a 'headquarter' city, and we have people in the markets that are sensitive to what's going on." Stengel spoke to Media in Singapore, where he was heading a major training initiative for P&G's Asean, Australasia and India division. The most concrete manifestation of the programme is a comprehensive new brand-building framework for the company, referred to as V3.0, the successor to 2001's earlier version. The new framework formalises much of what Stengel and his marketers have learned in recent years: that traditional marketing models have little place in today's changing societies, where consumers are more empowered than ever. "There is a model that a lot of companies used, but that model is not in touch, not relevant, too expensive and too one-dimensional," says Stengel. "What we try to train and teach is that we have a philosophy to brand-building, but the resulting marketing model will be more diverse." Diversity is certainly something that Stengel does very well. He credits his own background -- which includes roles in the foods and cosmetics divisions, along with regional and emerging market experience, and a global babycare strategic planning position -- during his 20-year P&G stint, as being central to his ability to meet new challenges. He also points to his new role as a Motorola board member, noting that it has opened his eyes into the marketing ideas that are driving the mobile giant's renaissance. Following consumers into less-charted waters such as blogs, word-of-mouth and podcasts, of course, could have its casualties. Stengel stops short of saying that the 30-second TV spot is dead, instead noting that it is considerably less effective in many markets. In Asia, however, Stengel adds: "TV is still a very important and effective medium, but we are trying to make our content more compelling. We need to think of our advertising as bringing a bit more joy and optimism as well as making a difference for our brands." In this region, many recent P&G campaigns -- from a Pampers nursery rhyme tie-up in the Philippines, to the Head & Shoulders 'Take it off' campaign in Singapore -- have made considerable progress in dispelling the company's traditional reputation for formulaic work. As Stengel points out: "If you go to any agency now and ask them to show you their best work, P&G will be in there, and that wasn't the case a few years ago." Stengel talks of creativity in terms of its impact on market share and brand equities, which may trouble some on the creative side of the advertising profession. But there is truth to his assertion that P&G is now a "magnet client", and it appears clear that P&G's laser-like focus on measurement and evaluation has precipitated a similar response on the part of its agencies.