Hasta La Creative!

Back in 2008, I had the chance to lead Procter & Gamble’s Joint Business Planning with Facebook and other big digital media players. The intent of the Joint Business Plan wasn’t about just increasing advertising dollars. It was about sharing knowledge between the two companies with the goal of having a strategic relationship where we both became better businesses as a result. P&G expanded its digital knowledge while Facebook learned more about how brand marketers thought. Now that Facebook is buying the messaging system WhatsApp in cash and stock valued at $16 billion, it looks like the company didn’t just learn how to think like P&G; it may be becoming a P&G as well.

What I mean is that Facebook appears to be using the Procter & Gamble playbook for building a “house of brands.” This playbook is about building a portfolio of businesses that often will compete against each other but ultimately give your company a larger market share. For instance, P&G’s global laundry market share is around 31%. This includes brands like Tide, Gain and Ariel, each of which contributes above $1 billion in annual sales. But the company also has brands like Bounce, Downy, Era and others that all compete in the same space. The same goes for baby care with both Pampers and Luvs as well as hair care with Pantene, Head & Shoulders, Aussie and Herbal Essences.

Facebook has long been an active acquirer, with WhatsApp being its 45th purchase by some counts. But its purchases have historically been either acqui-hires for the talent or foundations for future Facebook features. Hot Potato became the basis for Facebook Places, for example, while Karma became Facebook Gifts.

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