Procter & Gamble's defining moves.
The defining strategic moves at Procter & Gamble — each one explained and grounded in the record.
The Adjacency Expansion · Adjacency Expansion
P&G Cut 100 Brands and Lost Almost Nothing. That Was the Whole Point.
In 2014 P&G announced it would shed about 100 brands to keep around 65. It sounds like a brutal amputation. It wasn't - the brands it cut accounted for less than 10% of sales and under 5% of profits. The discipline wasn't the cutting. It was knowing what was already dead weight.
7 min
The Cannibalization Choice · Decision Forks
P&G Didn't Cut 170 Brands to 65. The Real Number Is Messier — and the Lesson Is Bigger.
The famous '170 brands to 65' story is a cleaned-up legend. P&G's own filings say it culled 'about 100 non-strategic brands,' announced a target of 70–80, and only landed on 65 two years later. The arithmetic is wrong. The thesis underneath is dead right.
7 min
The Cannibalization Choice · Decision Forks
P&G Will Happily Kill Its Own Cash Cow — As Long As It Holds the Knife.
P&G has cannibalized itself for a century, from Tide over Ivory to Pods over liquid. But when Dollar Shave Club owned the channel instead of P&G, its razor share fell from 71% to 59% and the company reached for lawyers, not labs.
8 min
The Pricing Power · Pricing
P&G's Pricing Power Looked Like a Moat. Then It Vanished in Two Years.
In FY2023, price added 9 points to P&G's growth and the world called it premiumization. By FY2025 price added just 1 point — and Baby Care, Fabric Care, and Feminine Care were all losing share. That's not a moat. It's a cost pass-through wearing a tuxedo.
7 min
The Pendulum · Pricing
P&G Doesn't Have a Pricing Strategy. It Has a Pendulum.
Everyone treats P&G's pricing as doctrine. It isn't - it swings between coupons and stable list prices every time a shock hits. The 2020s price surge that pumped four points of growth into FY2024 isn't a new era; it's the pendulum mid-arc, already slowing.
8 min