P&G TO CLEAN UP IN BABIES' BOTTOMS
By Adnews Staff
Procter & Gamble s buying three brands of baby wipes from Kimberly-Clark Corp. for $220 million(US). They are Baby Fresh, Wash-a-Bye Baby and Kid Fresh wipes. The purchase includes worldwide trademark rights and manufacturing facilities. Kimberly-Clark acquired the brands when it bought another U.S.-based company, Scott Paper Co. However, the U.S. Justice Department required Kimberly to sell the three brands. Kimberly already had Huggies, the biggest selling wipes brand in the U.S. with a 27% market share. The purchase from Kimberly makes P&G a player in the wipes market; Baby Fresh and Wash A-By Baby have a combined U.S. share of 27%. Currently, P&G only sells Pampers baby wipes in Europe. In Canada Scott is selling the three brands under a license from Kimberly-Clark so a separate transaction has to take place, Canadian P&G PR manager Rob Fichtner told Adnews last week. How long this will take is unknown. Bozell Palmer Bonner of Toronto currently handles advertising for the wipes in Canada. It's too early to say who will handle Canadian advertising when the deal goes through here, Fichtner said. In the U.S., it will be done by D'Arcy, Masius, Benton & Bowles of New York, which is takin over the assignment from Bozell Worldwide in New York.