Yahoo! Inc. and The Procter & Gamble Company expanded their
marketing relationship to “develop innovative marketing programs designed to
reach consumers in new ways beyond traditional advertising.”
Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
Procter & Gamble and Yahoo! said they are working together to leverage
Yahoo!’s recently introduced Fusion Marketing Online (FMO) programs. The FMO
approach to online marketing provides one-stop shopping for companies seeking
to secure a measurable presence on the Internet.
The Procter & Gamble FMO programs are interactive marketing approaches
designed to help connect Yahoo!’s global audience with P&G’s brands. Yahoo!
said it reaches more
than 60 million unique users each month worldwide, as of March 1999.
“Because we are both focused first and foremost on meeting the needs of our
consumers, this alliance really makes sense,” said Denis Beausejour, vice
president of advertising, Procter & Gamble Worldwide. “Yahoo! has developed
several innovative marketing programs for our brands which truly enable us to
reach consumers in new ways that
become a relevant and integrated part of their lives.”
P&G’s Pringles chips brand is featured in Yahoo! Games as Pringles
Ladders, offering users 12 classic card, board and tile games. Players can
redeem points for a chance to win Pringles prizes.
The Pepto-Bismol brand is featured on Yahoo! as Hot Summer Relief, a hub page that connects
users to areas of interest such
as Yahoo! Travel, Yahoo! Movies and Yahoo! Net Events.
Hot Summer Relief also includes Hot Summer School, an interactive adventure
involving
five fictitious college students visiting five countries in one
summer. The story lines include travel tips as well as product benefits
related
to Pepto-Bismol’s ability to treat various stomach aliments.
P&G and Yahoo! also developed a multi-brand sampling program featured in
Welcome Home from Yahoo!, a direct marketing program featured in Yahoo! Real Estate and Yahoo! Loans.