How Decades-Old Corporations are Catching up to the Digital Age
Posted: Mon Jan 20, 2025 7:16 am
In our day and age of social media, email marketing and other PPC, you’d be surprised to hear about large, established companies that still resort to antiquated marketing methods such as snail m…I mean direct mail, or telemarketing, in which they contact everyone in the phone directory and their mother (are there strict CAN-SPAM-type laws against unwanted calls yet?). But there are some of these companies, against all expectations given their industry, brand image or storied success, that’re doing a really good job at not only adjusting to the ever-changing times (was Pinterest even on any one’s radar a mere year ago?), but succeeding in the digital marketing landscape. Let’s take a look at three of these companies and break down how they’ve managed to do it so well:
1. Procter & Gamble: How to Master Social Media in 6 Weeks
Procter & Gamble, founded in 1837, is still considered the “granddaddy of usa whatsapp number database product marketing.” With a portfolio of brands as diverse and well-known as Tide, Duracell and Head & Shoulders, P&G has long established itself as a leading consumer goods corporation and Fortune 500 company thanks, in large part, to its strong brand marketing and communication strategy. Earlier this year, however, the company found itself in dire straits and announced in January that it would need to lay off 1,600 employees. This was due to some, ahem, “over-spending” (a sweet euphemism, given the company’s staggering $10 billion ad budget) in order to finally focus on “cheaper” social media-related efforts. This came as a surprise to some, as one of its brands, Old Spice (remember this man?) had done remarkably well in social media a couple years before. However, the company unfortunately failed to replicate that success throughout its other brands (for instance, Mr. Clean didn’t even have a Twitter feed!).
Two months after that downer of an announcement, P&G held a digital summit called “Signal P&G,” MC’d by none other than John Battelle, Wired Magazine’s co-founder. They boasted illustrious speakers such as Twitter CEO, Dick Costolo, Facebook VP of Business & Marketing Partnerships, David Fischer, and Yahoo! Chief Product Officer, Blake Irving – The world was taken by surprise (another sweet euphemism).
The summit was a rousing success, thanks to a well-constructed social media campaign leading up to the event. #SignalPG became a global trending topic in a matter of hours, with over 3,500 tweets, amounting to 14 million impressions (if you count retweets and replies). This single event “signaled” that P&G was no longer toying around with digital marketing – They were going all in, and with a bang to boot.
1. Procter & Gamble: How to Master Social Media in 6 Weeks
Procter & Gamble, founded in 1837, is still considered the “granddaddy of usa whatsapp number database product marketing.” With a portfolio of brands as diverse and well-known as Tide, Duracell and Head & Shoulders, P&G has long established itself as a leading consumer goods corporation and Fortune 500 company thanks, in large part, to its strong brand marketing and communication strategy. Earlier this year, however, the company found itself in dire straits and announced in January that it would need to lay off 1,600 employees. This was due to some, ahem, “over-spending” (a sweet euphemism, given the company’s staggering $10 billion ad budget) in order to finally focus on “cheaper” social media-related efforts. This came as a surprise to some, as one of its brands, Old Spice (remember this man?) had done remarkably well in social media a couple years before. However, the company unfortunately failed to replicate that success throughout its other brands (for instance, Mr. Clean didn’t even have a Twitter feed!).
Two months after that downer of an announcement, P&G held a digital summit called “Signal P&G,” MC’d by none other than John Battelle, Wired Magazine’s co-founder. They boasted illustrious speakers such as Twitter CEO, Dick Costolo, Facebook VP of Business & Marketing Partnerships, David Fischer, and Yahoo! Chief Product Officer, Blake Irving – The world was taken by surprise (another sweet euphemism).
The summit was a rousing success, thanks to a well-constructed social media campaign leading up to the event. #SignalPG became a global trending topic in a matter of hours, with over 3,500 tweets, amounting to 14 million impressions (if you count retweets and replies). This single event “signaled” that P&G was no longer toying around with digital marketing – They were going all in, and with a bang to boot.