Procter plans June launch of fabric refresher
Febreze will get rid of odors without washing Wednesday, April 1, 1998JEFF McKINNEY
The Cincinnati Enquirer
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Procter & Gamble Co. in June will launch a refresher called Febreze that kills odors on a variety of fabrics and clothing without washing.
''In the next year, we think it will comfortably join our stable of nationally known products,'' said R. Kerry Clark, president of P&G's laundry and cleaning products unit in North America.
Febreze will be available at grocery, drug and convenience stores and could sell for about $1.50 for the regular size up to $5 for largest size. It will hit shelves after being test-marketed for the past two years in Phoenix, Salt Lake City and Boise, Idaho.
Saul Ludwig, an analyst at McDonald & Co. in Cleveland, said Febreze is an innovative product that should make a nice addition to P&G's laundry and cleaning products division. But he said it's too early to say how Febreze might sell or affect the P&G bottom line.
Febreze includes a cleaning formula that penetrates fabrics to eliminate odors, not just cover them up with perfumes. The air-pump product is being billed as a way to neutralize smoke and other odors on everything from the fabric on sofas to the insides of sneakers.
It joins other products such as Banish, made by CNS Inc. of Bloomington, Minn., that are sold specifically to fight smoke odors that linger on clothes but also can be used as fabric refreshers on other items.
Febreze is the latest example of ''new category'' innovations that P&G has developed in recent years -- including new products like the fat substitute Olean and home dry-cleaning product Dryel -- aimed at helping the consumer products company reach lofty sales goals.
P&G Chairman and CEO John Pepper wants innovation -- new-to-the-market brands and new categories -- to generate $12 billion in new sales in the next 10 years. And Febreze is among a few breakthroughs to flow out the program coordinating that effort -- the company's internal Innovation Leadership Team.
Mr. Clark said P&G is bullish on Febreze, saying it is an innovative product that has the potential to be blockbuster.
''The market development is paralleling what we saw with Downy (fabric softer) in sales when we introduced it,'' Mr. Clark said.
Though P&G would not say how much money it's spending to launch Febreze, the Cincinnati-based company could invest up to $65 million in advertising to support the product, according to Brandweek magazine. P&G plans to begin a national marketing campaign in July.
Mike Jensen, P&G's director of research and development, said more than 500,000 consumers from around the world have used Febreze since it was first test-marketed in May 1996.
''We've heard of people using it on a wide range of fabrics including everything from sofas and carpets to the inside of sneakers, canvas gym bags and even car interiors.''
P&G executives declined to say what sales they project for Febreze. But they estimated that consumers spend about $2 billion annually in the United States and $4 billion a year globally on odor-control products.
Mr. Clark said that although Febreze is a fabric refresher, it could compete with other products such as air-freshener sprays like Glade, plug-in deodorizers or potpourri candles.
He said consumers are using those products as alternatives to remove odors from fabric and they are not happy with them.
''This takes us to a new area of household care that we're not in,'' Mr. Clark said.
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