This 2015 Clio Awards Gold winning entry titled 'Dadsong' was entered for Old Spice. Georgina Gooley / Wieden+Kennedy, Portland Jessica Monsey / Wieden+Kennedy, Portland The real lovers of Old Spice throughout the world ain't been right since.Nathaniel Lawlor / Wieden+Kennedy, Portland November 1st, 1990: The first of P&G's many reformulations of Old Spice roll of the line. September 14th, 1990: P&G follows Mennen's lead and decides to drop saccharine from its cosmetics due to unfounded hysteria surrounding new evidence that shows saccharine as a potential carcinogen. Most of the Shulton stock is shipped up North to Canada, where it can sometimes still be found sitting on the shelves to this day. July-September 1990: Somewhere in this period Proctor and Gamble begin their own production of Old Spice. July 10th, 1990: Proctor and Gamble formally announce the acquisition of the Shulton division from the American Cyanamid group. It is later sold to Kolmar Labs on January 31st, 1992. March 1990: Production of Old Spice soap and liquids ceases, pending formal buyout by P&G.Īpril 22, 1990: The Memphis Tennessee Shulton plant is the next to last Shulton facility to be sold to Proctor and Gamble. begin to prepare their facilities for the proposed takeover.įebruary 1990: P&G purchase the first two Shulton facilities. The blog then blamed the campaign itself for the dip in sales, which, sorry Isaiah Mustafa. Nothing formal has been reached, but A.C. It’s the most plausible explanation, and a Jezebel column from July of 2010 did report that sales of Old Spice body wash fell 7 percent in the months since the The Man Your Man Could Smell Like ad campaign launch, citing a report from WARC. January 1990: Proctor and Gamble take a look and decide to roll the dice. Revlon takes a look, and decides to pass. Late 1989: American Cyanimid begins seeking a buyer for its Shulton division. Tell me if this timeline looks accurate to you: Here in the states, cosmetics containing saccharine as an ingredient were coming under fire as being possibly carcinogenic, so Proctor and Gamble announced in late September 1990 that they would be dropping it as an ingredient from Old Spice, and I believe that the first bottles to have this new formulation rolled off the lines on November 1st 1990. The company was formed in Seattle, and has offices in Long Beach, California and Dallas,Texas.
What I'd like to add is that a majority of the old stock (pre PG acquisition) US-manufactured bottles ended up in Canada. CTB Company is a family owned business, formed to market Chile de Arbol peppers from Chinas Yunnan Province. Your time line is pretty much spot on from what we know concerning the acquisition of Shulton. Well I am out of the old stock so I quess I will have to see for myself how the fragrance has changed Sad but seems like most of the time to pay for the purchase companies cheapen the old brands. But I worked at the plant that manufactured Pine-sol as a QA Supervisor for almost 10 years and I saw the Clorox company make major changes in that old time brand. I wonder what those would have fetched on the evil bay? I had never thought that P&G would have changed an old classic. Yes I had a huge stockpile of the fragrances for years and I even threw away 2 huge lighthouse decanters in one of my cleaning sprees. This was prior to the advent of JIT manufacturing so I feel certain that anything that was purchased prior to June of 1991 was old stock. American Cyanamid had stock stuffed in warehouse facilities all over the US. The sale of the plants proceeded through the first half of 1990 with the Memphis Shulton plant sold to best of my recollection in April of that year. Also included were the female fragrance brands of Nina Ricci Lair dutemps,Nikki and several others.Also included were the brands of Pine-Sol and Combat roach trays. The brands that were affected included Old Spice,Grey Flannel,Pierre Cardin in mens fragrances. The sale of the different plants that fell under the Shulton umbrella was announced in early 1990. Shulton was the consumer product division of a much larger corporation called American Cyanamid. As a ex-Shulton employee I wanted to add a little information that may help to clear up the dates of change in Old Spice.