Is P&G selling laundry detergent and/or the possibility of clean clothes, or, is it selling the opportunity of being an excellent housewife (househusband) or mother (father)? Take a position.
             The types of personal care products that Proctor & Gamble (P&G) sells are products with relatively little differentiation. Ultimately, all laundry detergents have one, basic function-to get clothes clean. P&G has built solid brand loyalty over its formidable, long history as a company, but no company can rely upon name alone, interminably. To continue to generate revenue and expand sales, the company has attempted to be innovative in the method, market segmentation, and message of the image that it sells to consumer.
             P&G has found an effective marketing method to generate consumer interest by using 'ordinary' women to sell its products on the street by word of mouth. The spokespeople are women, are self-identified as ordinary moms, and presumably embody the type of ideal that P&G consumers wish to become, an ideal that can be achieved if the consumer uses P&G products. The importance of motherhood for P&G consumers is seen in the specific strategy of its new campaign: "P&G's Vocalpoint marketing program enlists mothers across the country to spread the word about new products to friends" (Berner, 2006: 32). It is not cleaner clothes, but the trusted 'real life' testimony of an ordinary mother that attracts product attention.
             P&G has tried a number of different product market differentiation strategies for Tide, one of its most popular laundry products. When it realized "consumers were starting to identify more with niche markets than with the one-size-fits-all brands that had long been the backbone of the consumer-products industry," it created a differentiation strategy for the once-popular detergent (Byrnes, Berner, Zeller, 2005). The message was clear-a truly 'good' housewife who care...