526: How product management transformed Olay from a dying brand into a market leader – with Nancy Dawes

Serial innovators see dead people Watch on YouTube TLDR The transformation of Olay from a declining “Oil of Old Lady” brand into a market-leading skincare innovator offers valuable lessons for product managers and innovation leaders. Through deep consumer research, strategic pricing, and holistic product development, P&G’s Nancy Dawes led a team that created an entirely new market category of “mass-prestige” skincare products. The success of this transformation hinged on understanding consumer psychology, developing innovative technology, and carefully positioning the product between mass market and luxury price points. Key Topics * Characteristics and strategies of successful serial innovators in product development * Comprehensive approach to consumer research and insight gathering * Strategic product positioning and pricing in the mass-prestige market * Integration of technical innovation with consumer psychology * Organizational navigation techniques for innovative product managers * Holistic approach to product development and brand transformation * Market validation and testing strategies for premium products * Cross-functional expertise development for product innovation Introduction Remember when Pringles was just another potato chip, or when Olay was losing its shine in the cosmetics aisle? If you’ve ever wondered how struggling brands transform into market leaders, you’re about to get a masterclass in product innovation and consumer insight. Today, we’re joined by Nancy Dawes, a legendary force in product transformation who tripled Pringles sales and breathed life into the Olay brand by creating new product lines. She was Proctor & Gamble’s first female engineer to be honored as a Victor Mills Society Research Fellow. Nancy has also been recognized as a Serial Innovator—featured in the book Serial Innovators: How Individuals Create and Deliver Breakthrough Innovations in Mature Firms. She spent 38 years at P&G mastering the art of understanding what customers want before they know they want it. After retiring from P&G, Nancy continues to guide founders and entrepreneurs in creating products customers love and also volunteers with Ohio State College of Engineering and Girl Scouts of Western Ohio. Whether you’re leading a product team at a Fortune 500 or founding a startup, Nancy’s proven approach for uncovering consumer insights and driving breakthrough innovation could be the difference between your product’s decline and its dramatic comeback. Serial Innovation in Product Development Nancy characterized serial innovators as those who: * conceive new ideas for products that solve problems * develop those ideas into breakthrough new products and services * invent technologies as needed along the way * guide those products into the market for commercial success Serial innovators solve important consumer problems, and often figuring out the right problem is just as important as fixing it. They invent new technologies to support their solutions and follow their products into the marketplace rather than handing them to someone else. The Olay Transformation: A Product Innovation Case Study Nancy told the story of how Olay transformed from a struggling brand, called “Oil of Old Lady” by some customers, to a market leader through strategic product innovation. The story begins in 1985 when P&G acquired Olay, which was then known as Oil of Olay. By 1995, when Nancy joined the project, the brand had declined by approximately 50% in value. Market Analysis and Opportunity Recognition Nancy identified four factors that created the perfect environment for transformation: * Demographic Opportunity: 75 million Baby Boomer women were ent...