Procter & Gamble transform approach to gain more consumer

Procter & Gamble, the consumer goods giant, is transforming its approach to consumer insight in order to gain a "360-degree" view of its customers, Elva Lewis, its associate director of corporate marketing in North America has said.

Elva Lewis appeared on a panel at AdTech Chicago 2009.

Each of Procter & Gamble's brands has its own website but the company is planning to further zero in and understand the individual closely.

Now by aggregating this information, and taking advantage of the scale of its operations, in a single-source database, P&G will now "be able to understand, for the first time, the individual. We'll know who she is. We'll know what she cares about at P&G," said Lewis.

All these efforts will produce a 360-degree view of each customer's total interaction with Procter & Gamble.

Lewis predicted the new system will be fully in place by January.

Among the other aims of the programme are to provide web users with targeted online material based on their preferences and previous browsing habits. Another example of the company's activity in this area is its partnership with Kroger, whereby shoppers can download vouchers from various P&G websites straight to a loyalty card issued by the department store chain, and recoup them in-store.

This allows P&G to gain an insight into the purchase habits of specific consumers, and build a relationship with them that is "more personal than TV and more accurate than direct mail," according to Lewis.