Olay Case Study
The proof case of Playing to Win, P&G's reinvention of a dying brand into the world's 1 skincare business. Situation, late 1990s.
Situation, late 1990s. Oil of Olay: ~$750M, flat, aging consumers, nicknamed "Oil of Old Lady." Options: let it die, acquire a prestige brand, or reinvent. They reinvented, by running the Strategy Choice Cascade with unusual discipline.
- Winning Aspiration: #1 skincare brand globally; create the "masstige" segment.
- Where to Play: women 35–50 noticing first signs of aging, not the existing 50+ segment; mass retail, not department stores.
- How to Win: science-backed "fight the seven signs of aging"; prestige cues at $18.99 in mass channels (vs $3.99 before).
- Must-Have Capabilities: R&D partnerships; the invented "technical marketer" role bridging dermatologists and beauty editors.
- Enabling Management Systems: new talent, metrics and retail-partnership systems built for masstige.
Result: ~3.3× revenue, 10%+ annual growth for a decade, category leadership.
The lesson is Integration: every choice makes the others work; remove one link and the chain fails. Conditions were tested, not assumed, What Would Have to Be True in action.
Our synthesis of Roger Martin’s published work, sources credited. Read the originals: they’re excellent.
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