Procter Gambles That You’ll Do the Dry Cleaning at Home
Procter & Gamble Co.’s spin cycle hits high gear this month as the company’s much-touted home dry-cleaning kit reaches store shelves in California and nationwide.
The maker of Tide, the No. 1 laundry detergent, is launching a media blitz to persuade consumers to do the unthinkable: use P&G;’s kit to clean their expensive dry-clean-only clothes at home.
The Cincinnati-based consumer-products giant can’t afford to take a high-profile tumble just a month after announcing a restructuring in which it will ax 15,000 employees and write off $1.9 billion in costs.
P&G;’s Dryel, though not the first attempt at home dry cleaning, represents a leap that consumers might not be ready to make. It resembles a miniature chemistry set and requires a three-part process to use--far more complicated than tossing clothes in the washer.
P&G; is betting that consumers will find the $10 kit, which can freshen up to 16 garments, to be an economical alternative to the traditional dry cleaner. And operators in the $7-billion dry-cleaning business are clearly worried about the P&G; product.
“At first, panic set in when we heard about [Dryel],” said Jacquelyn Smith, president of the California Cleaners Assn. and owner of Class Act Cleaners in Westminster.
Dryel consists of a rudimentary liquid stain remover, four pads, four dryer sheets moistened with cleaning formula and a giant plastic sack. Users rub the stain remover over spots, put up to four garments in the big bag, toss in a dryer sheet, then dry for 30 minutes.
Despite Dryel’s advertising slogan--”Suddenly dry-clean-only . . . isn’t”-- Procter & Gamble is wary of raising expectations too high. It is spinning the product as a complement to traditional dry cleaning, not a replacement for it. Indeed, Dryel is not effective on all stains.
“We’re just allowing people to care for clothes in between trips” to the dry cleaner, said Kevin McCallum, P&G; brand manager for Dryel. “Dryel is going to grow this category. You’ll see folks buying more dry-clean-only clothes, wearing them more and caring for them more.”
Procter & Gamble has identified working women between 20 and 50 years old as the primary market for Dryel. Company surveys show they crave the convenience of at-home cleaning, own the most dry-clean-only clothes and worry most about the cost of caring for them, McCallum said.
The product’s TV commercials, produced by Chicago-based Leo Burnett Co., zero in on these concerns. One shows a woman racing to pick up clothes at the dry cleaner after work, only to find the store closed. Another shows a woman debating whether to buy a dress, hesitating at the thought of dry-cleaning bills.
“Many [women] feel like they’re paying for a garment three or four times just to care for it,” McCallum said.
Procter & Gamble executives will not say how much the company has spent to develop and market Dryel. Besides national ads, which begin Labor Day weekend, P&G; plans interactive display kiosks at malls and a cross-promotion with apparel giant Liz Claiborne Inc.
“This is a pretty big launch, even for P&G;,” said Jennifer Timpe, assistant editor of New Product News. “Companies like that have the power to make a mountain out of a molehill.”
P&G; projects first-year sales of $300 million to $400 million--or around 5% of what Americans spend on dry cleaning each year.
Testing by the International Fabricare Institute, a cleaning-industry trade group, showed Dryel performed comparably to dry cleaning in eliminating odors and did almost as well on water-soluble stains such as wine, blood or cola. But to remove creases or to get out tougher stains, from lipstick to oil to ink, consumers will still need the pros.
“If you have something dirty, this isn’t what you should use,” said Jacqueline Stephens, IFI’s vice president of textile testing and analysis. “There’s no solution penetrating your clothes to remove soil.”
Dryel contains enough material to freshen 16 items at a cost of about 63 cents each. Professional dry cleaners charge an average of about $3.50 per item, McCallum said.
Dry cleaners acknowledge they’re worried about the lure of those savings. And about how their mom-and-pop businesses, which promote themselves through Pennysaver coupons, windshield fliers and old-fashioned word of mouth, can take on the Procter & Gamble promotional machine. The industry is already in a slump, thanks to a trend toward casual office dressing.
“It’s going to take business away from me,” Smith said. “Maybe customers won’t bring in garments every time they use them. Maybe only every other time.”
Still, Smith and other professionals doubt that consumers will entrust their most costly or beloved clothes to Dryel.
“I can’t see someone throwing a $1,000 Armani suit into the dryer,” said Harvey Gershenson, owner of Sterling Cleaners in Westwood and Palms. “Economy cleaners, who attract customer with price, not service, will lose business to Dryel, not us.”
Dryel faces the extra marketing hurdle of putting the at-home dry-cleaning category onto the mainstream consumer’s shopping map.
Consumers know how to use detergent and fabric softener, but Procter & Gamble will have to teach them to use Dryel--and convince them that it’s not too confusing, won’t ruin their clothes and doesn’t contain harmful chemicals, McCallum said.
Creative Product Resources Inc. of Fairfield, N.J., which makes Dryel’s lone competing product, Custom Cleaner, hopes to piggyback on Procter & Gamble’s promotional express.
Custom Cleaner, introduced on the QVC channel in 1994, now retails for about $8 at supermarkets in 40% of the country, including Southern California. The company would not disclose sales figures for Custom Cleaner, which works in a manner similar to Dryel.
“From a PR standpoint, they’ve certainly created a lot of thunder,” Creative Product Resources President Betty Murphy said. “The more people know about something, the more people go to the shelves looking for it.”
