Shrinking Bottles

As I don't have TV, I get excited (sometimes) about commercials. This past week, I saw one from P&G touting it's shrinking bottles of detergent. Fun creative and great message.

Although this move to concentrated detergents is old news, as reported by the WSJ in May 2007, it is a nice notch in the sustainable business bedpost.

Back when I consulted with the Feds on ENERGY STAR, we worked with P&G on campaigns around Tide HE, trying to get the word out through partnerships with utilities and manufacturers. This was as early as 2003, and was focused on the front-loading washer boom that required a more concentrated detergent. Good to see the full group has embraced the LOHAS market, even if it's been pushed there by Wal-Mart and others driving waste out of their businesses through pressure on the supply chain.

Shrinking bottles of detergent ties into the bottled water debate, which is gaining momentum. Detergent is basically large bottles of mostly water. It doesn't add any value to ship more water across vast distances. No added value + extra plastic + more transportation costs = waste. BrandWeek had a nice piece back in February 2008 that shows that the big bev boys are concerned about bottled water backlash.

Good to see Unilever changing too, though darker green brands such as Method, Seventh Generation and others (I have a super concentrated detergent at home that I'll update this post with) having been doing it for years.