Rewarding Performance Procter & Gamble is a recognized leader in ­consumer goods marketing. What, if any, ­learnings from the consumer-goods side of the business did the Prilosec OTC brand team employ in developing this program? Cleveland: Procter & Gamble and the Prilosec OTC new sponsorship program — Official Sponsor of Everything You Do Without Heartburn — provides consumers with an opportunity to receive support for their individual passions. We benchmarked the program internally and externally and applied best practices from across the company. P&G has a great digital track record and we were able to share and reapply best practices effectively. That being said, there is a lot in the program that is trailblazing work. Traditional rewards programs offer compensation for purchase behavior: buy so much of a product and get so much of a reward. This isn’t a rewards program; it’s a sponsorship. We’ve done sponsorships successfully with sports leagues and celebrities; we thought it was well past time to move the concept to consumers. The Prilosec OTC sponsorship program is unique in that it enables consumers to ask for a range of items — valued at an average of $1,000 — that will help take their personal passions or hobbies to the next level. (Consumers can apply online at officialsponsor.com.) We’re looking for real people to sponsor in pursuit of real passions. To get started, candidates can apply online, they tell us who they are, what they love to do, and what they need to do it better. We also want to know, if sponsored, who they would tell about it. Their application becomes a live profile in our online community. Then candidates can start asking friends — and everyone else — to vote for them. Votes are an important criteria for landing a sponsorship. If we like what we see, we’ll get in touch with them. Our review board contacts applicants with sponsorship deals based on matching specific selection criteria. They’ll select applicants to be our officials and distribute real rewards. If chosen, we’ll reward them with a nice contribution to their passion. Then they just continue doing what they love. Plus, we ask candidates to share updates to show everyone the difference this sponsorship has made. This program is one of several initiatives that P&G is undertaking to maintain Prilosec OTC’s category leadership position and build a greater emotional connection with consumers in the wake of multiple new competitors. Other initiatives include a partnership with the NFL and football legend John Madden to create a prestigious award to honor the NFL’s best offensive line. The Madden Most Valuable Protectors Award will commemorate the accomplishments of a high-performing group of offensive linemen and their unique ability to provide protection for their teammates. The inaugural Madden Most Valuable Protectors Award will be presented during the week leading up to Super Bowl XLIV in Miami. As a proud sponsor of the NFL for the past five years, Prilosec OTC is presenting this award to recognize the loyal protectors who serve as the backbone of every NFL team, just as Prilosec OTC provides powerful OTC protection against frequent heartburn. As an authority who appreciates the weekly battles in the trenches, Coach Madden understands the importance of great offensive line play and is an ideal ambassador for recognizing the NFL’s best offensive line. During the NFL playoffs in January 2010, fans had the opportunity to cast their votes for the NFL’s best offensive line by visiting maddenprotectorsaward.com or by visiting nfl.com/prilosecotc. Criteria for selecting the Madden Most Valuable Protectors Award winner included opinions from NFL experts, offensive line performance statistics, and fan voting. The brand will also be offering a 50% free box of Prilosec OTC at retail stores and launching a new DTC campaign in early 2010. Building Brand loyalty What are two or three best practices for building brand loyalty, especially in the heartburn space where there are many branded and generic competitors? Cleveland: First, loyalty is earned, not bought. If a company hasn’t established its core promise, and in the case of drugs this is almost always efficacy, then marketers have no right to make an emotional connection with consumers. Emotional outreach without product benefit acceptance comes across as false. As marketers we might feel good in engaging in the practice, but it won’t do anything for the business. Also, specific to heartburn, we need to be very aware of what consumers know and don’t know about the category. Loyalty is hard to establish if consumers can’t easily distinguish between brands. Prilosec OTC has a long and successful history in the category, but we still have a long way to go before all consumers with frequent heartburn understand they have the condition and how Prilosec OTC can help them.F Send your personnel announcements to [email protected]. P&G’s Robert Cleveland says the ­company has a great digital track record and was able to share and ­reapply best practices for the Prilosec OTC program pretty effectively. Robert Cleveland has been at Procter & Gamble for almost 10 years working on both CPG and ­pharmaceutical franchises. He has led a variety of marketing initiatives for healthcare brands, such as Prilosec OTC and Actonel and developed upstream biotechnology and ­specialty products. He also worked in shopper ­marketing as the marketing manager for the ­Walgreens account. Before joining Procter & Gamble, Mr. Cleveland was a regional marketing manager in Singapore for Bayer and a pharmaceutical salesman for ­ Parke-Davis. He has an MBA from Duke University, where he was a Fuqua Scholar. CAREER Highlights

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