P&G ties up with Yahoo

MANILA, Philippines - Procter & Gamble Distributing (Phils.) Inc., (P&G) has teamed up with Yahoo! for an online site that will allow the former to engage with consumers and promote their products to achieve higher sales.

In a press briefing yesterday, P&G country media manager Charibelle Morados said that given the increasing use of the Internet by women for beauty and fashion tips, the company has decided to tap the online space by partnering with Yahoo! to launch custom branded and entertainment site Style Factor, to engage with its existing consumers and reach new ones.

“Style Factor is a site for a digitally savvy woman who is smart and discerning about engaging with brands online. Yahoo! has shown how custom branded content will allow us to engage with our consumers and create conversations around our brands,” she said.

Style Factor is inspired by the Thread on Yahoo! Shine which was developed for P&G in the US, to bring latest celebrity news and information on fashion, skin care, hair care and makeup to users.

Style Factor, which will be available on Yahoo! Philippines’ leading entertainment site OMG, will feature original video entertainment episodes with localized content related to celebrity fashion developed by Yahoo!.

Yahoo! is developing 78 videos for the site, with the first to be launched later this month.

The site will also showcase P&G’s most popular brands including Pantene, Olay, Downy, Ariel, and Head & Shoulders.

Arlene Amarante, country ambassador and sales director of Yahoo! Philippines said in the same event the site would allow P&G to go beyond advertising and to engage with consumers to better understand them.

“This is all about users...Content is king,” she said.

Morados said the move to begin spending for the online platform to promote their products is in line with the global mandate to invest more in such and less on traditional advertisements.

The online site is seen to present opportunities for the company as women are spending more time on the internet nowadays, with studies showing that 150 percent more spending at least 40 minutes per day online.

Studies also showed that women spend less time watching television from six hours per day before to just two to four hours per day now.

Morados said that as the company gets to interact and hear more from their consumers and as consumers get to know more about their products through the site, it expects to see higher sales and revenues.