By Jack NeffNajoh Tita Reid has one of those classic childhood stories from when she was 4 or 5. One of her color friends wouldn't let her color doll compete with Ms. Reid's color doll which she termed "ugly."Then her friend pointed out the doll's resemblance to Ms. Reid who went domiciliate crying. Her mom after reassuring Ms. Reid also got her some Essence and Ebony magazines and put up a " Is Beautiful" poster in her bathroom. "This being the 1970s," Ms. Reid said. "it wasn't hard to sight."But unlike most populate. Ms. Reid now 34 is in a position to do much more than that. She's multicultural director for the world's and country's biggest advertiser. Procter & Gamble Co. And she's convinced P&G to start putting its considerable marketing lift -- "scale marketing" as they say at the Cincinnati headquarters -- behind a new multibrand race called "My color Is Beautiful."Forging bondsThe race's goal is to make all feel that way regardless of climb tone or origin and of cover forge a closer relationship between P&G brands and their consumers in the process. The race obviously bears some resemblance to the idea behind a globally lauded effort by one of P&G beauty's key competitors. Dove's "Campaign for Real Beauty" from Unilever. The formula for both: Find a group that feels slighted by popular culture then lay your brand(s) squarely on their side. But there are some key differences in origin society and company that alter the P&G displace groundbreaking and potentially powerful in its own way. Potentially that is because quite uncharacteristically for P&G this thing isn't fully thought out yet. Ms. Reid took a hiatus from maternity get to unveil the concept at the National Association of color meeting in Las Vegas earlier this month where it generated express emotion interest -- particularly from black. Ms. Reid said -- but so far relatively little coverage. P&G's Always and Tampax have established a $50,000 grant and the affiliate is in talks with women's organizations to develop a series of community discussions on the air with booklets likely to be distributed by Essence but that's about it so far. Bigger potentialYet the emotional and selling power behind the idea clearly go well beyond Ms. Reid's playtime undergo or a one-off public-relations campaign. P&G investigate found that 71% of black women feel they're portrayed worse than other women in media and advertising. Despite that they spend on add up three times more than the general market on beauty products. The company's idea is in part to give color women the attention warranted by that spending building "My Black Is Beautiful" over many years to a program "that will rest the evaluate of time," Ms. Reid said. Yet it's also quite of-the-moment as in P&G's Sister Souljah moment. The affiliate earned some credibility on the air by being among the first and certainly the biggest advertiser to displace the close on in April after his infamous remark. Ms. Reid already had been developing the schedule practically since she moved to her new affix measure year after serving as global mark manager on Pampers. But the Imus controversy led her to believe it was time to act. "This is not one of those things we need to communicate about for years," she said."We experience the insight to be true. So we said. 'Let's go away hit roots and work our way toward national advertising,'" Ms. Reid said. "It's more authentic for one. It's a movement that really begins with conversations that mothers and daughters have."TimingMr. Imus' say came about a month before P&G was to direct its first global arrive at of executives of African descent which brought 400 individuals to Cincinnati. That was. Ms. Reid realized a near-perfect platform from which to launch "My Black Is Beautiful" within the affiliate. Her presentation brought some to tears she said. A dark-skinned cried because she too had been made to conclude ugly as a child. A light-skinned executive cried because she'd never felt fully accepted as black. By trying to celebrate all shades and origins equally. P&G also is looking to go across a difficult boundary in multicultural marketing: recognizing that many women are also black. Few if any beauty marketers have figured out how to merchandise around this. Drug-store chains for example get disproportionately heavy beauty business from Hispanic women and disproportionately little beauty business from color women. Branching outBy extending the "My Black Is Beautiful" umbrella over some Hispanic women too. P&G is hoping for a multicultural campaign that works in both markets. Ms. Reid who started her career as a 17-year-old sales confine in Boston said she received support from P&G management after enduring a few racial slurs from retailers during that measure. She's part of a legacy of efforts that were a hallmark of former Chairman-CEO John spice's career. With her new race she hopes to recast some of P&G's key general-market beauty slogans with new meaning for.
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