How Market Research Saved Febreze Consumer

Behavior Case Study

by George Kuhn

Posted at: 7/17/2020 1:30 PM

A product with a strong brand reputation, one that has extended into multiple product
categories, and has essentially become a household name in the past few decades.

But even the biggest of brands often go through bumps in the road before they reach
the top.

Febreze was no different for Procter & Gamble (P&G) as it was almost pulled off the
shelves in the late 1990s as a result. If not for clever observational findings through
market research and a complete revamp of its marketing, Febreze would have become
an epic failure for P&G.

This emphasizes the importance of new product development market research.

Febreze should be credited for using market research to understand consumer
behavior around its product. However, when the team chose to engage in market
research was too late. This failed launch of the product likely cost the company
hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollars. A small investment in market
research in the early going would have prevented this. 

The important piece to remember is doing your market research early. Pre-launch, not
after the product has failed and you are adding to the cost and expenses for a turn-
around. Set your product, service, or business concept up for success immediately.

First the innovation.

P&G first patented the odor neutralizing absorbing spray technology in its new
Febreze product. The product was initially placed in test markets in the early to mid-
1990s with a supporting marketing campaign.

Using television commercials, the campaign educated consumers on the new

technology used in Febreze which could be sprayed on fabrics, carpets, furniture, and
other items in households to neutralize and dissolve all odors.
This non-scented spray seemed to carry great appeal internally and P&G thought they
were going to watch sales of this product take off thanks to this new patented
innovative technology.

 The initial results?

Sales were drastically lower than market estimations.

After months had passed and sales continually declined, P&G had come to the
conclusion they had an official flop but couldn't understand why?

As written by Charles Duhigg in The New York Times (author of the book titled The
Power of Habit), he explained the issues surrounding the marketing of the product and
reasons why it sat on shelves. P&G and its marketing team could not understand why
no consumers wanted this odor-neutralizing product.

Enter market research, which Duhigg further goes on to explain.

P&G's marketing research team conducted research with consumers who did not
purchase Febreze and were not likely to purchase Febreze for their home.

Ultimately, the marketing team wanted to find out "why?"

In particular, a team of two market researchers sat with a female homeowner in her
living room. This home was particularly unique because of the 9 cats that were
roaming throughout the home when the researchers arrived, all 9 of which decided to
"sit-in" on the interview in the living room. You know what they say about cats and
curiosity.

One researcher remembered the cat smell being so overpowering in the home that he
had reached the point of gagging on a few occasions.

Soon after, the golden nugget of research information the marketing team was
looking for came about through a conversation:

 Researcher to Homeowner: "What do you do about the cat smell?"

 Homeowner: "It's usually not a problem."
 Researcher: "Do you smell it now?"
 Homeowner: "No. Isn't it wonderful? My cats hardly smell at all."

Ding. Ding. Ding!

Marketing a product that neutralizes odors to a consumer base that inherently believes
no odor exists in their own home is impossible.

This simple research interview and observation created a colossal shift in both the
innovation and marketing of Febreze. Through other research interviews, the
marketing team learned that many purchasers of Febreze didn't buy the product and
use it to eliminate specific smells but rather used it after normal cleaning (e.g.,
spraying a carpet after vacuuming a room as further confirmation of "clean").

The Febreze innovation team went back and added specific refreshing scents to the
odor neutralizing technology. The new spray would serve as positive reinforcement
for Febreze users, with the pleasant scent serving as almost a reward reminder or what
neurologists would define as your dopamine. Dopamine is the neurological part of
your brain that controls your brain's feeling of reward for doing something. P&G
eventually found its dopamine hook, albeit a few years late and after some wasteful
spending on marketing.

All the more reason that simple market research and exploration research into
consumer minds can pay huge dividends and completely revamp marketing
campaigns. Even for products like Febreze that involved failed multi-million dollar
launches.

Questions:

What research method was used for Febreze ? How did they carry out ?

What are findings from the project to save Febreze ?