Bus 520 Procter & Gamble’s Tide Pods

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Zachary Peterson

BUSI 520-001

Liberty University

Abstract

Tide Pods were released in 2012 as a time saving product that would change the way people do laundry. Tide’s main demographic is women ages 18 to 54 middle class women. However, due to the ever-increasing work schedule, men are steeping up in the household chores including laundry. Also, as Tide and other companies try to target the millennial demographic HENRYs are leading the way in determining what that demographic wants. Which includes being environmental as millennials are greener then past generations.

        Keywords: Target Market, Men, HENRYs, Environmentalist, Work Schedule

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        In 2012, Procter & Gamble’s Tide released a new product Tide Pods. This product is supposed to change the way we think about laundry by appealing to men, HENRYs, and environmentalist which all are important factors of the key millennial market. However, we will discuss the trends used for those target markets and how they are used in the campaign.

The Theory of Tide Pods Target Market

        Tide is part of the P&G company which has the largest market share in the laundry detergent sector of the market. Tide in general has a target audience for women in the age group from 18 to 54 years old as well as the middle-class category. Tide Pods also plan to target Men, HENRYs, and people who are environmental.

Theory

        Market Segmentation

         By sorting segmented groups of people, marketers can be more efficient in the marketing campaign then targeting every consumer. Market Segmentation can happen in a multitude of ways such as geographic, demographic, psychographic, and behavioral segmentation. (textbook) All of these types of segmentation allow a company to focus on a specific target market. Which lets the company to advertise to them resulting in more successful advertising campaigns then if they were targeting to every consumer personably which leads to more sales as a result of correctly positioning themselves in the segment which was targeted.

Research

         Tide’s traditional target market has been 18-64-year-old women because traditionally women have played the biggest role in maintaining and upkeeping the daily chores and duties of a home, which makes women having more say of what type of brands that they prefer when it comes to cleaning. However, according to Schabner, women are leaving the households and the housewife title at home and becoming an increasing number in the workforce. This has led to men taking more of a responsibility of taking care of the house in household chores such as laundry (Schabner, 2014). In fact, according to The Wall Street Journal, men ages 18 to 34 in the last three years have increased 23 percent in doing their own laundry to 67 percent. This means 2 out of every 3 in this age group is doing at least their own laundry (Byron, 2016). Another study from Yahoo states that millennial fathers now are the primary laundry doer in the household (yahoo, 2011) . Millennials are from the ages of are typically the ages 17-37.

HENRYs are the other target demographic which Tide Pods markets to also. HENRYs (High Earners Not Rich Yet) are according to Forbes are the demographic that company’s need to focus on. The HENRY market consists earners more than $50,000 around the age of 26 years-old. The age of 26 is near the middle age of the millennial demographic which accounts for the biggest age cohort of about 93 million people. Research also shows that around this age also shows that brand loyalty forms around this age (Danziger, 2017).

Tide Pods also is more environmental. According to tide, its concentrated detergent formula contains the same cleaning power as the liquid detergent nearly twice the volume (24ml to 43ml). Also, the packaging is also smaller which thus reduces waste. Tide Pods also work in cold water which reduces the energy consumption thus reducing the carbon footprint (Tide, 2019). Also, according to Forbes, Millennial consumers are more likely to purchase eco-friendly products and loyal to those products with an greater mission. (Fromm, 2017)

Analysis

         Men, partially millennial men are in the middle of a major shift in today’s household society. With women as stated earlier leaving the house and entering the workforce more men are starting to pick up and help around the house more than their fathers did. As a result, men have more say on what detergent in what brands the house uses. Which is why according to The Wall Street Journal Tide and other companies are making new scents and other things to appeal to the arriving masculine market (Bryon, 2016).

        HENRYs, in particular around the age of 26 is the target that Tide Pods is marketing to because the past behavior is the best predictor for future behavior. So Tide Pods wants to make their brand appealing to these millennials because they may form a habit which they will carry on with them in the future and potentially to their children. Research has shown that this is when brand loyalty is formed. So, with the less time at home then anytime in history to accomplish household task. Tide Pods being marketed as a time saver due to it functionality has real appeal to the millennial demographic which improves the value of the product which is what this demographic looks for. Millennials look for products with the most value not the cheapest. For example, J.C. Penny in a recent appliance offering assumed that its lowest price appliances would sale the most in the millennial demographic. However, in fact that they turned out that Millennials would pay twice as much for the style that they were looking for. So, as Tide Pods being sold in a similar price range as Tide liquid and being marketed as a time saving product. The perceived value is enticing to Millennials everywhere (Danziger, 2017).

        Environmentalist are enticed to use the product due to its perceived environmental impact compared to liquid detergent counterparts. This is the case because the recent increase of the perceived threat of global warming. Millennials are more environmental then prior generations so the impact that Tide Pods makes by using less packing, ability to use in cold water, and efficient formula all makes small impacts to making a more environmental product which Millennials may perceive as value and purchase the product.