P.&G.s Chief on Whether Brand Loyalty Is Enough When Prices Keep Climbing

Featured among the glass cases in Procter & Gamble’s Heritage Center are household brands like Tide detergent, Pampers diapers and Gillette razors.There’s also an Emmy statuette.That was for the company’s role in creating one of the most enduring television formats: soap operas.

In the early 20th century, a P.&G.executive had the idea for a radio program that could both entertain and push the company’s cleaning supplies.Reaching consumers today is more complicated, Shailesh Jejurikar, a P.&G.

lifer who became chief executive in January, said in a recent interview at the company’s headquarters in Cincinnati.Years of inflation, economic jitters and a changing media landscape have made it challenging to persuade customers to buy the consumer giant’s brand-name products.Sales growth at P.&G.

has slowed for years as households with lower incomes are increasingly turning to store brands, which are usually priced lower than P.&G.’s products.At the same time, tariffs and rising energy costs caused by geopolitical conflicts have added costs to P.&G.’s operations and its sprawling global supply chain.In response, the company has raised prices and laid off workers.

Last year, it said it was cutting 7,000 jobs, or 6 percent of its work force, over the next two years as it looked to reorganize amid the changing dynamics.Mr.Jerjurikar, 59, said that the company must focus on innovation to create products that customers “feel it’s worth paying the price for.” Innovation includes using A.I.

to help the company more quickly find and develop new molecules and formulas for products like detergents and hair care.And he’s trying to adapt the company’s Emmy-winning brand-building machine to a fragmented TikTok age.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.

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