P&G CLEANS HOUSE
By Adnews Staff
Procter & Gamble has sold its Spic and Span and Cinch brands to a new marketing company formed by San Francisco-based Shansby Group. Financial details are unknown. Cincinnati, OH-based P&G has sold a number of its smaller brands over the past year in an effort to focus on its global brands. The Shansby Group is a private equity investment partnership. Past investments made by the group include Famous Amos cookies, Cutex nail polish remover and the Mauna Loa Macadamia Nut Corporation. Its new marketing company will be called The Spic and Span Company. Spic and Span is an all-purpose cleaner P&G acquired in 1945. Cinch is a glass and hard surface cleaner originally launched in 1991 as a line extension to Spic and Span. "Although [the products] are highly profitable and recognizable consumer brands, they are no longer a strategic fit for us," said P&G president of global home care Mike Clasper. The deal does not include the industrial sale of Spic and Span. Currently, no agencies hold the Spic and Span or Cinch advertising accounts.