When Procter & Gamble acquired Gillette five years ago, the then-leaders of both companies ballyhooed the deal as a historic blockbuster that not only would yield "reverse synergies" but also add a point to the company's annual growth. It hasn't happened that way, Jack Neff reports -- in fact, by all appearances, the deal has been a drag on earnings, new products have had, at best, mixed results, and many former Gillette execs have departed. But what outsiders don't see, some top insiders suggest, are qualities that are not all that quantifiable. They credit the deal with fostering …

Body wash outsold bar soap for the first time last year in food, drug and mass outlets tracked by Information Resources Inc., Jack Neff reports, defying skeptics who thought that the American male "was profoundly pouf-averse." Body-wash sales grew 5% last year in those outlets while bar soap was up 1.4. But Neff points out that the numbers exclude Walmart, club and dollar stores where there may be a higher bar-to-liquid ratio. Overall, Neff writes, body wash is a hotly contested market with four companies -- Unilever, P&G, Colgate and Henkel - maintaining double-digit shares. In …

Retail buyers, licensers and myriad toy professionals and gawkers converged at the American International Toy Fair in New York yesterday as the four-day event opened at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center. It is expected to draw more than 32,000 attendees and feature 100,000 products, Andrea Chang reports. Among the action figures, stuffed animals, remote-controlled cars, board games, costumes and jewelry-making kits were a moonwalking Mickey Mouse, Bubber, a non-sticky modeling dough with the consistency of stale marshmallows, and Mattel's three-month-old toy golden retriever that posts pre-written tweets to Twitter. Buyers are generally optimistic …

Duncan Hines and Citrus Hill are long gone. So, too, are Hawaiian Punch and Jif. Folgers is a more recent sell-off. Hard to believe, but true: Procter & Gamble's sole remaining food brand is Pringles. Why, then, has the company been testing a recipe site, DinnerTool.com, where you can recover your meal-planning sanity "one day at a time" or get a week's worth of recipes "with just one click"? P&G's strategy, Elaine Wong explains, is analogous to Goodyear showing fancy sports cars, which it doesn't make, in its ads because all cars need tires. …

BMW, which has long promoted the power and performance of its cars with auto-focused ads and its "ultimate driving machine" tagline, is shifting into a new gear with a campaign that highlights the joy of owning its vehicles and the suggestion that the cars are safe for women and children, Alex P. Kellogg reports. The campaign also features photos of actual BMW owners more than product shots. "We hope to really add some humanity to our brand" and show the diversity of buyers, says Jack Pitney, vp of marketing for BMW North America. The "ultimate driving …

It didn't make the draft of the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) that went online this week, to the chagrin not of major marketers of processed foods but rather the Washington-based Eating Disorders Coalition, Bonnie Rochman reports.