“Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don’t know which half,” is often attributed to John Wanamaker (1838-1922). He was a very successful American merchant, religious leader and politician. He has been called a “pioneer in marketing”.
Digital ads are marketed to advertisers (like Procter & Gamble) by the likes of Google and Facebook as solving the problem of which half is wasted.
But now P&G says that most online advertising is a waste.
No not this Harry. 
But Harry a wannabe P&G, the giant (but sleepy) American consumer goods company. From NYT’s Dealbook: Harry’s raises $112 million to go beyond shaving |
| Since its founding nearly five years ago, the men’s grooming company has become an competitor to Procter & Gamble’s Gillette. Now its founders want to create what they describe as a next-generation P. & G. |
| The company’s new financing round, led by Alliance Consumer Growth and Temasek of Singapore, is meant to help it buy stakes in nascent consumer brands. Harry’s has already invested in Hims, which is focused on men’s hair loss prevention. But its founders want to go into products for women, babies and households. |
| More from Michael’s article: |
| “We’ve built a lot of infrastructure at Harry’s that we think we can leverage into new categories,” Jeff Raider, one of Harry’s founders, said in a telephone interview. “It’s something that we’ve been excited about for a long time, and we’re now at a point in our business where we can act on it.” |
Die, die must crush opposition to its hegemony.
Procter & Gamble, the world’s second largest consumer group, won its battle to keep activist investor Peltz out of its boardroom. Nelson Peltz wanted to be a director (one out of 11) of what he considered a badly managed company.
P&G mgt refused and won very narrowly.
The FT reports that P&G spent at least US$100 million to deny him the seat he wanted. It had hired Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Centerview Partners and Lazard as advisers. Mr. Peltz’s Trian spent at least US$25 million.
NYT’s Dealbook reported that
Many of P&G’s biggest shareholders voted to give Mr. Peltz a seat on the board of the consumer product giant. BlackRock and State Street, which hold around 10% combined, voted with Trian, these people added.
Christopher Ailman, the chief investment officer of the Calstrs pension fund:
Calstrs will own Procter & Gamble long after the current management has moved on or retired. We will continue to vote our shares to ensure that individuals — like Nelson Peltz — who are a valuable asset to a board, get the opportunity to represent us and other like-minded long-term shareholders.
And
That Mr. Peltz could come so close reflects the growing power of activist investors bent on shaking up corporate boards.
As Mr. Peltz told CNBC after the P&G shareholder meeting: “There is no company today that can’t be called to task. Not one.”
