The P&G-Nelson Peltz Ad Battle

• by Richard Whitman , Columnist, July 26, 2017

Procter & Gamble and activist investor Nelson Peltz are now seeking consumer support in their nasty corporate battle via ads on Google.

That battle intensified last week when Peltz’s Trian investment company disclosed that it was seeking board representation at the packaged-goods giant.

Now, if you Google “P&G,” the first two items that pop up are advocacy ads from, first, P&G and then Trian.

The ads seem more suited to trade publications or The Wall Street Journal, but whatever. And they’re fairly bland, unlike some political attack ads in which the daggers are out trying to gut the opposition.

The headline for the P&G ad reads— “P&G: Building A Better Company—Delivering $10B Productivity” — which seems to be a response to Peltz’s complaint that P&G hasn’t delivered nearly enough to investors over the past decade.

Click on the ad and it takes you here. You get a whole spiel about value creation and how great the company is with the implied message  they don’t need to be fu**ed with by the likes of Nelson Peltz. The company basically said as much in a recent SEC filing as well.

Here’s a sample of the verbiage: “This year, P&G will be 180 years old. A company does not last for that long if its management is not willing to change anything and everything, except for its purpose and core values, to serve consumers and create value for shareowners.”

The Trian ad headline reads: “Trian Can Help Revitalize P&G—Committed To Value Creation.”  Of course “value creation” means sucking more cash out your wallet, but I guess most consumers get that.

Anyway, click on the Trian ad and you end up here, where you get an earful about revitalization and how Trian can help.

Tomorrow is a big day for P&G — it’s releasing quarterly results, which, if really good, could take some steam out of the Peltz movement. And if not, well, stay tuned.

It’ll be a fun ride leading up the company’s next annual meeting in October.