• Ad Age, Monday, June 18, 2007 11:15 AM

Procter & Gamble is partially consolidating its marketing groups to put retail-marketing strategy under the same marketing directors who oversee brand teams instead of under the group that manages the sales force. General managers or marketing directors who find a brand responds better to trade marketing than consumer marketing will be able to shift more funds in-store.

There are no reliable figures on how much the industry pours into various forms of trade marketing--from temporary price reductions to in-store ads--since most of it is not reported externally. But the total likely exceeds $2 billion annually for P&G alone.

The new system should help P&G end turf wars over retail marketing by treating it like the rest of the marketing mix and subjecting it to the same budgeting, oversight and return-on-investment criteria. It also could add legitimacy to a retail-marketing field that struggles for respect.

Read the whole story at Ad Age »