In 1926 Procter & Gamble released a soap claiming to be unlike any other. Not only was it perfumed, but would not irritate the skin. It was smooth and light pink, unlike many other soaps which were other colors that better hid imperfections. It was supposed to make women feel soft and beautiful with a flawless complexion while other soaps were marketed mainly to get people clean. The campaign for Camay soap was a brilliant stroke of advertising, and the evidence stands even now.
While I am both far too young to have gotten to appreciate that change and am a man who was clearly not their target demographic, I can appreciate good identity work when I see it even if it is old. Camay is slowly making its way off the retail shelves in the US, where its popularity is growing slim, yet there are still thousands of older people clamoring for their Camay soap. Thankfully for them, Camay is not being discontinued and is still fairly popular in Europe which means they can purchase it online...if they're tech savvy enough.
This is a brand that has maintained customer loyalty for the duration of thousands of people's lives. Its identity, and in turn how customers identify with it, is so strong that in an age where people will switch smart phone brands because they can't find an app that will brush their teeth for them Camay has managed to retain customers. Let us analyze the decisions they've made that helped lead to this dedication.
The biggest and most important decision Procter & Gamble made was branding Camay as a beauty product. Compared to the cost of actual perfumes and makeup, soap has always been relatively cheap. To scent it and then brand it to make women feel beautiful and lovely gave women the ability to purchase something that was cheap and dual purposed; it kept them clean which justified spending money on it in the first place, and as a bonus worked as a beauty product which saved their skin from the irritation of regular soap. This is an example of marketing working hand in hand with product development, which I feel doesn't happen as often now as it should. More often that not we see companies trying to push a product that's not actually an improvement on anything, relying on marketing to get the job done instead of creating something worthwhile.
The second most important decision is brand consistency. The logo has been through small changes from advertisement to advertisement and package to package (as design was wont to do in the mid 1900's) but on the whole has remained the same in the US for the duration of its existence. Procter & Gamble created an identity that was elegant, simple, and timeless right off the bat, making them immune to the various identity crises companies have been through over the course of Camay's life. Companies should always strive for this kind of logo, because over time it will establish immense amounts of credibility and familiarity with customers. Once you change it there will ALWAYS, 100% of the time, be a group of your customers uncomfortable with the change no matter how great it is. To a loyal customer, changing your logo is like knowing a friend for years who then gets plastic surgery on their face. You'll never be able to look at them the same way again.
The third, and most important, decision wasn't really even a choice. It was something that developed because Camay provided a product that mattered to consumers. An attitude, a lifestyle, began to focus around Camay. According to NYT writer Ricki Morrell: "Tish Stoker Signet, 58, a psychotherapist in Davidson, N.C., remembers that, as a child, she and her mother would paint the soaps’ cameo imprints gold, then give them as sachets to older women at Christmas." Stories like that aren't things you can really plan when creating a brand, though marketers covet this testimonial without the corporate backdrop more than anything else. It's what happens when you create a product and brand that compliment each other so well customers look at the product as an inseparable part of their lives...
...and that's what has happened now as thousands of elderly women try to introduce themselves to the internet so they can get a part of their lives back.
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