P&G shifts £8m Clairol business

Procter & Gamble has shifted its £7.9m UK Clairol haircare business out of Banks Hoggins O’Shea/FCB and into Leo Burnett and Grey Worldwide, London.

The decision, which was expected to follow P&G’s recent acquisition of Clairol from Bristol-Myers Squibb, follows the company’s announcement that it is moving its Natural Instincts and Nice ‘Easy brands out of FCB Group’s Foote, Cone & Belding. The brands will now be handled by Ericsson Fina New York, part of Grey Global Group.

Kaplan Thaler Group, the US division of BCom3, has been retained to handle Herbal Essences and Aussie brands in the US.

In the UK, Burnett, which already handles P&G’s Vidal Sassoon haircare range, will handle the Clairol Herbal Essences range. Grey will handle Clairol’s Nice ‘Easy, Natural Instincts, Hydrience and Ultress hair colour brands. Grey already handles Pantene, Hugo Boss and Cover Girl.

P&G global marketing officer Jim Stengel says: “This appointment fully integrates the Clairol brands into the P&G’s agency line-up and is consistent with our efforts to align assignments with our global roster agencies.”

P&G uses Saatchi & Saatchi for its Head & Shoulders range in the UK.

The most recent Clairol Herbal Essences ads included the courtroom ad in which a female lawyer is transported into orgasmic fantasy as she has the “urge” to go “herbal”.