P&G Cleans Up with Product Innovation that Targets 61%+ of Dishwashers
As the market leader in the $3.8B dishwashing liquids category, Procter & Gamble’s Dawn brand faces a number of headwinds in the US dishwashing liquid market. This growth strategy example shows how Dawn has “tacked into the winds” to get ahead.
These challenges include:
- Consumers cooking at home less often
- High automatic dishwasher penetration (74% of households)
- Convenience and health benefits of automatic dishwashers
- Busy lifestyles and desires to streamline, speed up, and simplify chores
Washing dishes by hand is not well liked, as P&G research showed:
“washing dishes is consumers’ second least-favorite household chore, behind cleaning the toilet.”
Despite these challenges, the Dawn brand is a strong growth strategy example with innovative product, packaging and marketing to drive brand growth.
Dawn Platinum Plus PowerWash Dish Spray, introduced in 2019, is the key driver behind the brand’s recent success. My household was a bit late to discover this product, first recognizing it in 2024. While working remotely, I was inspired to purchase the Frosted Cranberry Scent (a seasonal offering), which promised to bring a bit more pleasure to the dishwashing experience. In the course of researching this post, I learned that I was actually using the Dawn PowerWash Dish Spray product incorrectly, and I like it even more now that I am using it correctly. I was already buying it, because I liked the spray bottle and trusted the Dawn brand.
In the 2023 annual report, P&G highlights:
“Dawn has delivered outstanding results behind innovation that drives product and packaging superiority and enables more sustainable dishwashing habits. Dawn PowerWash and Fairy Power Spray are designed to clean dishes using 50% less water and help consumers get dishes done faster—just spray, wipe and rinse. The Dawn/Fairy brand delivered mid-teens organic sales growth in fiscal 2023 and reached record market share globally. Importantly, Dawn/Fairy contributed 60% of the global market growth.”
As a side note, as is evident from this quote, outside of North America, the Dawn line of products is marketed under the Fairy brand.
Growth Strategy Example:
Dawn PowerWash Consumer Target
The behavioral target for Dawn PowerWash Dish Spray is “Clean-As-You-Go” Consumers who clean while cooking and preparing food rather than waiting until all the cooking and preparation is done and cleaning afterwards. This is a large segment for this growth strategy example, as P&G research found that 61% of consumers prefer this method.
Creative executions primarily depict consumers in the 18-39 age category, based on reviewing the advertising, and include both men and women. These consumers are also convenience-driven, looking for speed and ease of cleanup.
While traditional dishwashing liquid from Dawn and others is still a fit for everyday situations that are not clean-as-you-go, as well as the 39% of consumers who prefer to clean afterward, the traditional dishwashing liquid product formulation needed to change to fit the clean-as-you-go job to be done.
“More consumers are washing one or two dishes during ‘cooking downtime,’ instead of letting them pile up and doing one big wash once they’re all done. The company says the old Dawn wasn’t intended to be used that way. Traditional dish soap is designed to combine with water and create suds to help get dishes clean, not to directly apply to dirty dishes or sponges.”
Consumers particularly dislike waiting for dishes with tougher-to-remove food to soak.
In our household, we face this situation often when cooking meat in the oven or on the stove for a group of friends. Because the dish can’t be readily cleaned immediately, the “hack” we use in this situation is to immerse an automatic dishwasher pod in hot water, and leave the item to soak overnight or for several hours. Sometimes, we even place the extreme cleaning challenge item into a trash bag if the pot’s outside needs cleaning or it won’t fit inside another item or the sink.
Going forward, we will experiment now with Dawn PowerWash to see if it can deliver in this extreme dishwashing situation. Even if it can’t perform in this case, there are many more everyday situations that it is well suited for.
For consumers who don’t cook as often and so face less extreme or challenging dishwashing situations, the product’s packaging adds to the appeal. Specifically, spraying the product feels much more empowering than squeezing out traditional dishwashing liquid into water.
Putting this together then, the target consumer for the Dawn growth strategy example is “Clean-As-You-Go” Cooks ages 18-49, both men and women who hate cleaning dishes and seek a faster, easier solution. It’s my hypothesis also that the product likely appeals a bit more to the less-experienced cook.
While we haven’t tried it, marketing executions promise Dawn PowerWash Dish Spray is ideal for other applications, like cleaning the grill (in many households, grilling falls to men, despite interest increasing among women). Cleaning the grill is a major chore, with burnt-on crusty crud.
Growth Strategy Example:
Dawn PowerWash Dish Spray Pricing, Product & Packaging
Dawn PowerWash Dish Spray delivers premium pricing. For example, pricing for Dawn PowerWash Lemon Scent is currently $5.49 at Safeway for the 16-ounce bottle or 34 cents per ounce (both the spray bottle and the refill carry this pricing). By comparison, Dawn Ultra Dish Liquid Soap is priced at $5.99 for 38 fluid ounces, or 16 cents per ounce, also at Safeway. Other retailers show a range of pricing, but there is no dispute that this growth strategy example is delivering growth through higher pricing.
The product formulation is different for Dawn PowerWash Dish Spray, with “cleaner boosters not found in traditional dish soap.” The liquid spray comes out of the packaging with a bit of a foam, somewhat similar to S.C. Johnson’s Scrubbing Bubbles. Both the spray bottle and refill packaging structure is different from a liquid dish soap dispenser bottle.
Scent choices are another important part of the Dawn Platinum Plus product strategy. Currently, there are choices for those who prefer “natural,” which are fresh clean and light pear as well as those who like citrus (lemon), fruit (apple, apple mango tango) and the seasonal options of pumpkin spice, fresh pine and cranberry. As we’ve written about before, scents play an important role in driving purchase for many consumers, and at least 40% of adults enjoy added scent in their home. Dawn also offers an unscented “Free and Clear” choice for consumers who avoid fragrance.
Growth Strategy Example:
Dawn PowerWash Dish Spray Brand Communication
Changing consumer behavior is notoriously difficult. In this case, this means spraying the product on the dish, then wiping and then rinsing. To avoid the mistake I made, the consumer needs to avoid putting water on the product before wiping. Dawn PowerWash advertising executions hit the behavior needed hard (unfortunately, I never saw them until researching this article).
The overall message of “Spray, Wipe, Rinse” has dominated the executions since this July 2020 spot. This early spot also clearly messages to the “Clean-As-You-Go” consumer, in this case a young couple in the kitchen, and explains how to use for “easy messes” or “tough messes,” and cleans grease “5X faster.”
The “What are you waiting for?” January 2022 advertising execution encourages you to “replace your dish soap with Dawn PowerWash, and spray your dishes clean.” The tonality is more aggressive, and three of the four consumers depicted are men, one cleaning a large knife.
A December 2022 “Before and After” advertising spot emphasizes that Dawn PowerWash will “deliver the power of an overnight soak in minutes,” will “even clean the grill,” and closes with “it’s more than soap, it’s PowerWash.” The spot features a “Clean-As-You-Go” young male consumer.
A July 2024 “Time Out” spot for Dawn PowerWash features Dawn’s signature ducklings as spokespeople about the product’s effectiveness with removing grease up to three times faster and closes with “Dawn PowerWash, The Better Grease Getter.” Dawn’s ducklings are a visual symbol the brand uses to make the visual connection to Dawn’s support of wildlife conservation, i.e., trusted to remove grease from ducklings. This execution moves away from the focus on the Clean-As-You-Go consumer to focus on the grease-cutting heritage.
There are also infomercials, and/or public-relations-driven content that is not positioned directly as advertising, from A&E and Brand Power, TikTok “influencers” and many others.
A November 2021 A&E Home.Made.Nation holiday spot features time-saving hacks for party entertaining, such as pre-mixed cookie dough, and of course, Dawn PowerWash Dish Spray. A back-to-school spot from September 2022 to “make going back to school a breeze” offers tips on organizing a homework area, meal prepping and suggests Dawn PowerWash Dish Spray to clean up faster to allow time for evening family fun (now that’s highly aspirational on a weeknight). The execution even suggests pretreating clothing stains with Dawn PowerWash Dish Spray and closes with the “Spray Your Dishes Clean” line.
Pseudo-Consumer Reports “authority” Brand Power (sponsored of course by P&G and other manufacturers), promises “cold hard facts” rather than entertaining advertising. Their “review” goes hard at the product’s superiority claims, i.e.,
“Cut your dishwashing time by 50%, Removes 99% of grease and grime in half the time and 3 cleaning boosters not found in traditional dish soap.”
Another example is this May 2024 farcical spot with very few views on TikTok, @joey.foo works “in partnership with Dawn” to “make cleaning fun again.” With Dawn PowerWash Dish Spray, Fee cleans hairbrushes and combs, baseball bats, children’s strollers and sippy cups.
@joey.foo #Dawnpartner#Ad The possibilities are endless with Dawn Powerwash Spray! #dawndishwash @target ♬ original sound – Joey Foo
Growth Strategy Example:
Dawn PowerWash Dish Spray Summary
The growth strategy example of Dawn Platinum Plus PowerWash Dish Spray delivers against P&G’s stated “measures of superiority,” including:
“PACKAGING: Packaging that attracts consumers, conveys brand equity, helps consumers select the best product for their needs, and delights consumers during use.
PRODUCT: Products so good, consumers recognize the difference. Superior products raise expectations for performance in the category.
BRAND COMMUNICATION: Product and packaging benefits communicated with exceptional advertising that makes you think, talk, laugh, cry, smile, act and buy—and that drives category and brand growth.”
This commitment to growth is long standing for Dawn. For example, in 2017, P&G highlighted Dawn as a brand that is “winning through superiority” with five pillars: (see chart below)
- Super Products (at that time Dawn Ultra Blue was highlighted; today it’s PowerWash Dish Spray)
- Superior Packaging
- Superior Brand Communications
- Excellent In-Store & Online Execution
- Winning Consumer & Retail Customer Value Equations
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