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Procter & Gamble · 13 May 1931

The “brand men” memo

A young P&G advertising man sets out the duties of “brand men” and their assistants, to win approval for more staff in the Promotion Department.

Author
Neil H. McElroy, Advertising department
Written
13 May 1931
Document
Internal memo; a scanned file copy of unconfirmed provenance, circulated on personal websites
Notes
8: 3 fact, 5 editorial
Last reviewed

Short excerpts from a three-page scanned copy of the memo, posted on personal websites rather than by P&G; we transcribed and proofread the scan.

Excerpts · 8 notes
Procter & Gamble1931
From:
N. H. McElroy
Date:
May 13, 1931

Because I think it may be of some help to you in putting through our recommendation for additional men for the Promotion DepartmentEditorial · 1Known at the timeThe memo is a staffing request. McElroy does not argue for a new organisation in the abstract; he describes the jobs in enough detail that the extra posts look necessary. The structure arrives inside the budget ask., I am outlining briefly below the duties and responsibilities of the brand men.

This outline does not represent the situation as it is but as we will have it when we have sufficient man power.

[ … ] Not shown: Brand men have been doing their assistants’ work.

Brand Man

[ … ] Not shown: Study shipments, copy what works, diagnose weak territories.

(b) After uncovering our weakness, develop a plan that can be applied to this local sore spot. It is necessary, of course, not simply to work out the plan but also to be sure that the amount of money proposed can be expected to produce results at a reasonable cost per case.Editorial · 2Known at the timeThis is the line that turns a promotion job into a business job. The brand man must show the money will pay back at a unit cost, not just that the plan is clever. Ownership comes with a test.

[ … ] Not shown: Win the Division Manager’s support, equip salesmen, measure results.

(4) Take full responsibility, not simply for criticizing individual pieces of printed word copy, but also for the general printed word plans for his brands.Editorial · 3Known at the time“Full responsibility” covers advertising plans and spending, but not the sales force. In weak territories the brand man must still obtain the Division Manager’s “authority and support”. The memo creates accountability without line authority.

[ … ] Not shown: Other advertising spend, wrappers, and district visits.

In short, when the brand men have approached their fullest responsibilities, they should be able to take from the shoulders of the Division Managers and of the District Managers a very heavy share of individual brand responsibility.Editorial · 4Known at the timeThe pitch to the sales hierarchy is relief, not loss of control: brand thinking moves to the advertising side, and the sales heads keep “general volume pressure”. Framing a transfer of power as lightening someone’s load is how this memo avoids a fight.

[ … ] Not shown: Freer sales heads; the assistant brand man’s first duties.

(4) Finally, be able to step into the shoes of his superior at a moment’s notice.Editorial · 5Known at the timeThe assistant is an understudy, not a clerk. Building the next brand man into the job description makes the unit a training ladder as well as a team.

With the above outline of responsibilities it is not hard to understand that one man should not have to work on more than two brands at the very most.Fact · 6With hindsightEach brand gets one responsible man, but the memo does not dedicate a man to a single brand: one man may carry two. It never names Camay. Later accounts tie it to Camay; Wikipedia, for example, says McElroy wrote it while “managing the advertising campaign for P&G’s Camay brand of soap”. We have not found a primary source for that link.SourcesSriram Krishnan (personal website)Screen-Shot-2016-04-20-at-2.08.29-PM.png18 Oct 2019WikipediaNeil H. McElroy - Wikipedia2026

[ … ] Not shown: A Group Products brand man; assistants tied up in field checks.

We believe that we can relieve the entire situation by adding to our organization two menFact · 7With hindsightKen Norton writes that McElroy “was given permission to hire two people”. We have not found a P&G source for the decision.SourceKen Norton, Bring the DonutsProduct Management Was Born in 1931 (Maybe, Sort Of)13 May 2021

[ … ] Not shown: Field checking on all products, freeing brand men for field studies.

With these two men our organization would be lined up as shown on the attached chart headed “Division of Brand Responsibilities in 6-Man Organization.”Fact · 8With hindsightWhere this copy comes from is not established. The scan is a typed copy marked “COPY”, with a handwritten file label, “MARKETING - Brand Teams, 1931”. We found it only on personal websites, Ken Norton’s and Sriram Krishnan’s, not on any P&G website. P&G’s own innovation timeline lists “1931 Neil McElroy creates brand management” but does not publish the memo. The attached chart is missing from both copies.SourcesSriram Krishnan (personal website)Screen-Shot-2016-04-20-at-2.08.29-PM.png18 Oct 2019Ken Norton, Bring the Donutsneil-mcelroy-brand-memo-1931.pdf13 May 2021Procter & GambleInnovation | P&G2026Ken Norton, Bring the DonutsProduct Management Was Born in 1931 (Maybe, Sort Of)13 May 2021

N. H. McELROY

All 8 notes and their sources
  1. Because I think it may be of some help to you in putting through our recommendation for additional men for the Promotion DepartmentEditorial · 1Known at the timeThe memo is a staffing request. McElroy does not argue for a new organisation in the abstract; he describes the jobs in enough detail that the extra posts look necessary. The structure arrives inside the budget ask.Back to the passage
  2. It is necessary, of course, not simply to work out the plan but also to be sure that the amount of money proposed can be expected to produce results at a reasonable cost per case.Editorial · 2Known at the timeThis is the line that turns a promotion job into a business job. The brand man must show the money will pay back at a unit cost, not just that the plan is clever. Ownership comes with a test.Back to the passage
  3. (4) Take full responsibility, not simply for criticizing individual pieces of printed word copy, but also for the general printed word plans for his brands.Editorial · 3Known at the time“Full responsibility” covers advertising plans and spending, but not the sales force. In weak territories the brand man must still obtain the Division Manager’s “authority and support”. The memo creates accountability without line authority.Back to the passage
  4. they should be able to take from the shoulders of the Division Managers and of the District Managers a very heavy share of individual brand responsibility.Editorial · 4Known at the timeThe pitch to the sales hierarchy is relief, not loss of control: brand thinking moves to the advertising side, and the sales heads keep “general volume pressure”. Framing a transfer of power as lightening someone’s load is how this memo avoids a fight.Back to the passage
  5. (4) Finally, be able to step into the shoes of his superior at a moment’s notice.Editorial · 5Known at the timeThe assistant is an understudy, not a clerk. Building the next brand man into the job description makes the unit a training ladder as well as a team.Back to the passage
  6. one man should not have to work on more than two brands at the very most.Fact · 6With hindsightEach brand gets one responsible man, but the memo does not dedicate a man to a single brand: one man may carry two. It never names Camay. Later accounts tie it to Camay; Wikipedia, for example, says McElroy wrote it while “managing the advertising campaign for P&G’s Camay brand of soap”. We have not found a primary source for that link.SourcesSriram Krishnan (personal website)Screen-Shot-2016-04-20-at-2.08.29-PM.png18 Oct 2019WikipediaNeil H. McElroy - Wikipedia2026Back to the passage
  7. We believe that we can relieve the entire situation by adding to our organization two menFact · 7With hindsightKen Norton writes that McElroy “was given permission to hire two people”. We have not found a P&G source for the decision.SourceKen Norton, Bring the DonutsProduct Management Was Born in 1931 (Maybe, Sort Of)13 May 2021Back to the passage
  8. attached chart headed “Division of Brand Responsibilities in 6-Man Organization.”Fact · 8With hindsightWhere this copy comes from is not established. The scan is a typed copy marked “COPY”, with a handwritten file label, “MARKETING - Brand Teams, 1931”. We found it only on personal websites, Ken Norton’s and Sriram Krishnan’s, not on any P&G website. P&G’s own innovation timeline lists “1931 Neil McElroy creates brand management” but does not publish the memo. The attached chart is missing from both copies.SourcesSriram Krishnan (personal website)Screen-Shot-2016-04-20-at-2.08.29-PM.png18 Oct 2019Ken Norton, Bring the Donutsneil-mcelroy-brand-memo-1931.pdf13 May 2021Procter & GambleInnovation | P&G2026Ken Norton, Bring the DonutsProduct Management Was Born in 1931 (Maybe, Sort Of)13 May 2021Back to the passage

What happened next

Dated events, each with its source. They are what followed the memo, not proof that it caused them.

  1. 17 yrs later

    McElroy becomes president of Procter & Gamble.

    US Department of Defense (Internet Archive copy)

  2. 22 yrs 5 mos later

    TIME reports that for every P&G product there is a brand man who “takes full responsibility for results”.

    TIME

  3. 26 yrs 5 mos later

    McElroy takes office as US Secretary of Defense under President Eisenhower, serving until 1 December 1959.

    US Department of Defense (Internet Archive copy)

  4. 67 yrs 4 mos later

    P&G announces Organization 2005: four geographic business units become seven Global Business Units based on product lines, centring profit responsibility on brands rather than geographies.

    Procter & Gamble, Form 10-K filed with the SEC (Exhibit 20; Internet Archive copy)

  5. 83 yrs 3 mos later

    CEO Alan Lafley tells analysts P&G will focus on 70 to 80 brands and shed up to 100 others.

    Fortune

The calls, against the record

Each claim in the memo’s own words, the evidence, and our reading of it. Verdicts are editorial.

  1. Held up

    “they should be able to take from the shoulders of the Division Managers and of the District Managers a very heavy share of individual brand responsibility”

    Evidence

    P&G’s own timeline credits McElroy with creating brand management in 1931; by 1953 TIME reported that for every P&G product a brand man “takes full responsibility for results”.

    Procter & GambleTIME

    Our reading Editorial

    Brand responsibility became P&G’s standard model within about two decades, and its 1998 reorganisation still centred profit responsibility on brands. We have not traced how quickly responsibility moved from the sales line after 1931.

  2. Open

    “We believe that we can relieve the entire situation by adding to our organization two men”

    Evidence

    Ken Norton writes that McElroy was given permission to hire two people; we have found no P&G record of the decision.

    Ken Norton, Bring the Donuts

    Our reading Editorial

    Plausible and widely repeated, but unsourced in anything we could check.

  3. Open

    “one man should not have to work on more than two brands at the very most”

    Evidence

    We have found no source on how many brands P&G’s brand men carried after 1931.

    Our reading Editorial

    Open until a P&G or business-history source gives the load per brand man.

Takeaways Editorial

  1. Sell a structure as a set of jobs

    McElroy’s organisational change arrives as a list of duties attached to a headcount request. Concrete jobs are easier to approve than an abstract reorganisation.

  2. Give ownership a test of cost

    The brand man must show results “at a reasonable cost per case”. Ownership without a measure of return is just a title.

  3. Check the legend against the text

    The memo is remembered as one man per brand, written about Camay. The text lets one man carry two brands and never names Camay. Read the source before you cite the story.

Practise the strategy skills in this memo

Socratify is an interview coach. Each link opens a practice session with this memo as the case; nothing is sent until you choose to start.