NEW YORK -(Dow Jones)- Procter & Gamble Co. (PG) has once again turned to the soap opera genre to market its products, only this time the soap is online and the characters are in China.
Max Factor, a beauty brand that P&G is discontinuing in the U.S., is playing a central role in the firm's new marketing efforts in China. An online soap opera made by P&G's beauty and grooming group and Beijing Hachette Advertising Co. tells the story of two young, energetic professional women, Max Factor's target consumers in the country. And, of course, the show's characters use only P&G beauty products.
Foreign companies are increasingly using the Internet to reach their Chinese consumers. Marketing tools such as corporate blogs and sponsorship on social Web sites have been widely adopted by manufacturers of consumer products and electronics. Sony Pictures Television, a unit of Sony Corp. (SNE), and Estee Lauder Cos.'s (EL) Clinique, for example, have worked together to broadcast an online show "Sufei's Diary" to plug Sony Vaio laptops and Clinique cosmetics.
By tapping the Internet, P&G hopes to boost sales of Max Factor and other beauty brands like Olay and Pantene in China.
P&G wouldn't give numbers on its sales or advertising expenses in China since the debut of its online shop at Taobao.com, a unit of Alibaba.com Ltd. (1688.HK) , saying the program and the online shop are still in trial phases.
Read Rest of Article at: http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/djf500/200906171338DOWJONESDJONLINE000758_FORTUNE5.htm
-By Kate Zhao, Dow Jones Newswire; 212-416-2665; ying.zhao@dowjones.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
06-17-09 1338ET
Copyright (c) 2009 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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