and marketing strategy by focuses on a consumer product called Dryel. Proctor and Gamble manufactured and distributed Dryel. Dryel was a home clothing care kit. It sold in supermarkets and retailed at around $9.95. This product was supposed to clean garments that were labeled dry clean only, but without the cost and inconvenience of having to deliver ones dry cleaning to the cleaner one day and pick them up at a later date.
The trouble is that the Dryel product did not work. Instead of clean clothes, consumers found they had clothes that remained dirty but smelled good. Researchers estimate that Proctor and Gamble spent $400 million to develop and rollout the Dryel product, and millions more on advertising to try to encourage consumers to try this product. According to Graham, once the promotional budget was gone, so were the customers. One year after its introduction, PG made the decision to stop production and promotion of Dryel.
Graham suggests that at PG the recommendation of the company's marketers were ignored, or they were not even asked to comment on what market share they believed PG could reasonably expect. Graham writes that it is not uncommon for senior management not to include the marketing department in the final decision-making process prior to a launch. Graham suggests that in some cases marketing managers have only themselves to blame. In meetings, some marketing professionals make senior management feel uninformed when they discuss the problems and limitations of new products under active consideration by senior management. By alienating members of senior management, the marketing department virtually guarantees they will not be asked to be part of the final decision process.
Graham is highly critical of current marketing research methodologies. He believes that a great deal of current marketing research is a smokescreen. He believes that marketers use research, and in particular focus groups, a...