December 7, 2006
Mr. Clean Gets Ready to Wash a lot of Cars
Procter & Gamble is going into the car wash business — really.
The consumer products giant has gained approval to build and test its first Mr. Clean Performance Car Wash in the Cincinnati suburb of Deerfield. The building will be 8,900 square-feet and will include a gift shop and coffee bar (Millstone blends will be served), as well. Patrons will be able to watch big screen televisions and kids will even have a chance to help clean cars with play guns that will shoot foam and water. The facility is expected to employ roughly 50 full- and part-time workers.
What happens if the test is successful?
Glenn Williams, a P&G spokesperson, told The Associated Press, “After we’ve had a chance to operate and understand the viability of the model, we would expand it to other locations.”
P&G is confident consumers will want Mr. Clean to wash and wax their cars.
“Consumers want a very high-quality wash,” said Mr. Williams. “This will have the latest and greatest state-of-the-art equipment and a level of service not commonly found in car washes.”
The Mr. Clean brand has been on a roll in recent years. P&G has introduced new products, including Mr. Clean Magic Eraser (for removing wall spots) and Mr. Clean’s AutoDry for washing cars at home.
Car washes that will be competing with the first Mr. Clean Performance Car Wash believe its arrival will benefit everyone’s business.
Operators of existing car washes who heard about P&G’s plans said they welcomed the competition.
Mike’s Express Car Wash, has six locations in the Cincinnati area including one near the site where the Mr. Clean business will be built.
“Any time a new car wash competitor comes into the marketplace, it improves the category as a whole; it helps remind people of the importance of washing their vehicles at a professional car wash,” Mike Dahm, executive vice president of operations for Mike’s, said in a statement.
Will P&G follow its Mr. Clean venture into car washes with, say, a chain of Tide Laundromats or Millstone Coffee Shops?
Mr. Williams said he is not aware of any plans by the company to open other retail business featuring its brands.
Discussion Question: What do you think about P&G testing Mr. Clean-branded car wash business?
BrainTrust
Recent Discussions
Discussion Questions
Poll
Brilliant. They’ve been cleaning the world’s clothes and bodies for decades — why not cars?
However, the big picture is not just an experimental car wash, but an experiment in brand building.
This is an excellent example of expanding into new areas while sticking with your core competencies: cleaning things. My first reaction is I would love to see the prototype.
A friend invested in a small chain of carwashes a few years ago — they are cash machines. I’m sure P&G is not only interested in brand-building, but brand leveraging into a high cash-flow business. I didn’t have time to check, but Jiffy-Lube, a subsidiary of Shell Oil (and 70% franchised) may be a good comp.
The brand marketing aspect is as interesting as the viability of the car wash business itself. One of the most interesting effects will be the extra marketing of the “Mr. Clean” brand to thousands of consumers driving by what I imagine to be a huge neon Mr. Clean sign. It is not quite as easy as this but; if the car wash itself was break even (not the goal or should be) the marketing and exposure of the brand in that location is “free.”
I think this will be a distraction to the primary businesses P&G operates. It is much like the Food companies’ obsession with the restaurant business in the 70s and 80s…seems to me they’d be better off licensing the idea in exchange for exclusive product supply to the units!
Whether Mr. Clean washing your car is a brilliant or a baffo idea, one thing seems certain. One should always be careful before betting against P&G. They follow a practice of always experimenting to reach the next marketing plateau, to wit:
Somebody said it couldn’t be done,
P&G with a wide smile replied,
Maybe it can and maybe it can’t,
But how will we know until we’ve tried?”
Today you can call me bemused. Brand building for Mr Clean and whatever else is being sold in the gift (!!!???) and coffee shops, making kids think car washing is fun so they will pester Mom and Dad to buy products they can use at home and big screen television sets because it takes so long to have your car washed? How long will it take to make money out of such a project and will they ever be able to calculate profit/loss when spread over the whole brand building concept vs cannibalising their own products while making pennies on cups of coffee and losing money while drivers sit around watching the television? This story is full of mixed messages and I really don’t see any clear up side for P&G.
It could very well work. It reminds me of the old saw about “ideas don’t work, only people work.” So it is up to P&G management, not the merits of the idea.
Procter & Gamble could pilot a few company-owned Mr. Clean car washes to test the viability, then franchise thousands more. Franchisers can be cash cows. The pilot stores will have much higher operating costs than the competition, since it’s unlikely P&G will hire the undocumented. Of course, eventual franchisees won’t have that obstacle.
Pro: Carmax being developed by Circuit City.
Con: when Ford bought the oil change/car service chain.
Carmax’s success is exceptional. P&G is a great company, but….
Bravo!!!
The brand, Mr. Clean, is very well established and will convey the new venture of P&G effectively.
The bigger idea is how this company is upscaling, if you will, the car wash business! Hmmmmmmmmm
A Mr. Clean car wash, I would imagine, will probably draw more women than average, and it will be interesting to see a car wash operate under a brand name everyone knows (even if Joe’s car wash uses Turtle Wax, it’s still Joe’s) that is outside the automotive market. Mr. Clean is not an especially upscale or premium brand. It’s everyday-accessible. It will be interesting to see if this model will keep the price/value proposition the same as we already expect from the brand, based on the services they’re offering. Will the price of a car wash at their facility be everyday-accessible?
P&G has been in the car wash business through its sales of surfactants and cleaning agents, not, however under the Mr. Clean Brand, since the mid-1970s.
While the brand has high recognition and a big franchise, getting directly into brick & mortar car washes is a huge change for the CPM giant. This would be similar to getting into the grocery business to sell their other powerbrands.
P&G has always had the driving force of being #1 or no less than #2 in the marketplace. They’ve had more successes but some high expectations with poor results, Highpoint Decaf Coffee, Citrus Hill OJ, Orange Crush/Hires Root Beer, Frymax and Extend to name a few.
It makes a lot more sense to try to sell every car wash your brand(s) rather than trying to build and operate car washes; you just can’t get to critical mass with one unit at a time.
What’s the name of you local car wash? Is there another in a different state? It would seem to me that P&G may have found the next great franchise. We have franchised food, auto paint shops, transmission repair, oil change, income tax preparation, heck, we even have franchised churches but no real national car wash franchise. Wouldn’t it be great if we had a large responsible franchisor who could develop a small footprint, energy and water efficient carwash that only used biodegradable cleaners? Wouldn’t it be great if a system was developed that didn’t rip antennas off, didn’t push wheels out of alignment, but still did a great job of washing a car? I really don’t subscribe to the kiddie play area. I would encourage P&G to work on speed and I am sure they will as revenue is directly related to how many cars can be moved through the wash in an hour. Where do I sign up?
Great idea. A cynic would suggest it’s just one more way P&G will attempt to infiltrate every aspect of our lives, but given media fragmentation, and the cost to reach potential consumers, this seems very logical. Add in the ability to sample/develop other P&G brands during the car wash visit, and it becomes a no-brainer. If it worked for Lego, with Legoland, why not Mr. Clean?
More Discussions
Is Five Below Poised For Even Greater Growth?
Five Below is hitting serious growth numbers. Can this trend continue?Should IKEA Be Flattening Management?
Should IKEA be trimming down its management headcount?Is Legislation the Answer on Visa, Mastercard Swipe Fees as ~$200 Billion Record Is Set?
Is lawmaking the way forward on swipe fees?
Brilliant. They’ve been cleaning the world’s clothes and bodies for decades — why not cars?
However, the big picture is not just an experimental car wash, but an experiment in brand building.
This is an excellent example of expanding into new areas while sticking with your core competencies: cleaning things. My first reaction is I would love to see the prototype.
A friend invested in a small chain of carwashes a few years ago — they are cash machines. I’m sure P&G is not only interested in brand-building, but brand leveraging into a high cash-flow business. I didn’t have time to check, but Jiffy-Lube, a subsidiary of Shell Oil (and 70% franchised) may be a good comp.
The brand marketing aspect is as interesting as the viability of the car wash business itself. One of the most interesting effects will be the extra marketing of the “Mr. Clean” brand to thousands of consumers driving by what I imagine to be a huge neon Mr. Clean sign. It is not quite as easy as this but; if the car wash itself was break even (not the goal or should be) the marketing and exposure of the brand in that location is “free.”
I think this will be a distraction to the primary businesses P&G operates. It is much like the Food companies’ obsession with the restaurant business in the 70s and 80s…seems to me they’d be better off licensing the idea in exchange for exclusive product supply to the units!
Whether Mr. Clean washing your car is a brilliant or a baffo idea, one thing seems certain. One should always be careful before betting against P&G. They follow a practice of always experimenting to reach the next marketing plateau, to wit:
Somebody said it couldn’t be done,
P&G with a wide smile replied,
Maybe it can and maybe it can’t,
But how will we know until we’ve tried?”
Today you can call me bemused. Brand building for Mr Clean and whatever else is being sold in the gift (!!!???) and coffee shops, making kids think car washing is fun so they will pester Mom and Dad to buy products they can use at home and big screen television sets because it takes so long to have your car washed? How long will it take to make money out of such a project and will they ever be able to calculate profit/loss when spread over the whole brand building concept vs cannibalising their own products while making pennies on cups of coffee and losing money while drivers sit around watching the television? This story is full of mixed messages and I really don’t see any clear up side for P&G.
It could very well work. It reminds me of the old saw about “ideas don’t work, only people work.” So it is up to P&G management, not the merits of the idea.
Procter & Gamble could pilot a few company-owned Mr. Clean car washes to test the viability, then franchise thousands more. Franchisers can be cash cows. The pilot stores will have much higher operating costs than the competition, since it’s unlikely P&G will hire the undocumented. Of course, eventual franchisees won’t have that obstacle.
Pro: Carmax being developed by Circuit City.
Con: when Ford bought the oil change/car service chain.
Carmax’s success is exceptional. P&G is a great company, but….
Bravo!!!
The brand, Mr. Clean, is very well established and will convey the new venture of P&G effectively.
The bigger idea is how this company is upscaling, if you will, the car wash business! Hmmmmmmmmm
A Mr. Clean car wash, I would imagine, will probably draw more women than average, and it will be interesting to see a car wash operate under a brand name everyone knows (even if Joe’s car wash uses Turtle Wax, it’s still Joe’s) that is outside the automotive market. Mr. Clean is not an especially upscale or premium brand. It’s everyday-accessible. It will be interesting to see if this model will keep the price/value proposition the same as we already expect from the brand, based on the services they’re offering. Will the price of a car wash at their facility be everyday-accessible?
P&G has been in the car wash business through its sales of surfactants and cleaning agents, not, however under the Mr. Clean Brand, since the mid-1970s.
While the brand has high recognition and a big franchise, getting directly into brick & mortar car washes is a huge change for the CPM giant. This would be similar to getting into the grocery business to sell their other powerbrands.
P&G has always had the driving force of being #1 or no less than #2 in the marketplace. They’ve had more successes but some high expectations with poor results, Highpoint Decaf Coffee, Citrus Hill OJ, Orange Crush/Hires Root Beer, Frymax and Extend to name a few.
It makes a lot more sense to try to sell every car wash your brand(s) rather than trying to build and operate car washes; you just can’t get to critical mass with one unit at a time.
What’s the name of you local car wash? Is there another in a different state? It would seem to me that P&G may have found the next great franchise. We have franchised food, auto paint shops, transmission repair, oil change, income tax preparation, heck, we even have franchised churches but no real national car wash franchise. Wouldn’t it be great if we had a large responsible franchisor who could develop a small footprint, energy and water efficient carwash that only used biodegradable cleaners? Wouldn’t it be great if a system was developed that didn’t rip antennas off, didn’t push wheels out of alignment, but still did a great job of washing a car? I really don’t subscribe to the kiddie play area. I would encourage P&G to work on speed and I am sure they will as revenue is directly related to how many cars can be moved through the wash in an hour. Where do I sign up?
Great idea. A cynic would suggest it’s just one more way P&G will attempt to infiltrate every aspect of our lives, but given media fragmentation, and the cost to reach potential consumers, this seems very logical. Add in the ability to sample/develop other P&G brands during the car wash visit, and it becomes a no-brainer. If it worked for Lego, with Legoland, why not Mr. Clean?