P&G Signs Cover Girl, Dreft Deals - Licensing agreement with Newell Rubbermaid - Brief Article

Brandweek, June 11, 2001 by Christine Bittar

Looking for new ways to quickly beef up revenues, Procter & Gamble has inked two licensing agreements: one for Cover Girl cosmetics and another for its niche detergent, Dreft.

For its top selling makeup brand, P&G is partnering with Newell Rubbermaid's Goody unit for a line of hair accessories. P&G is expanding its baby-care detergent Dreft brand with stain remover via a partnership with Changing Paradigms, an Ohio-based private label manufacturer, Both will be previewed at the Licensing 2001 International show this week in NewYork.

To be in stores early next year, the Cover Girl/Goody line will feature 50-plus SKUs, including such styling and fashion accessories as barrettes, scrunchies, headbands and compact mirrors. Like the makeup, the line is meant to appeal to teens and moms.

In addition to print and Web support, Cover Girl and Goody will offer seasonal hair promotions that match the limited edition seasonal makeup color fashions.

The Goody initiative came about as P&G was specifically looking for ways to extend Cover Girl's brand equity according to Steve Boddget, director of corporate licensing.

While there have recently been other licensors in haircare accessories--including magazine titles such as Hearst's Cosmopolitan and Conde Nast's Seventeen--P&G's top selling Cover Girl will be the first sole cosmetics name to extend into barrettes and the like.

Goody sales dropped 13% to $234 million for the year ended April 22, versus the category, up 6% to $796 million, per Information Resources Inc.