Tide Laundromats?

Since 2008, Proctor & Gamble has been testing its iconinc Tide brand in the interesting if unexciting world of Laundromat franchises. It appears the P&G franchise group, Agile Pursuits, is deeming the prototypes a (qualified) success, and, (if not for the $900k+ fees involved) we may see these stores in our travels.

They tried this before with Mr. Clean car washes, and although they are scattered amongst us, hardly anyone would call the effort successful.

Extending one’s brand is one thing, in fact it is a natural thing, but this is a “quantum” leap in its truest sense… a move into the franchised service industry. It’s an entirely new direction, and there is a lot at stake. The fact that the roll out appears to be slow and calculated will work to P&G’s benefit.

The take-away here is that all companies are doing strategic reviews of their intellectual property and investigating alternative revenue-producing business ventures that leverage that IP. It does conjure up some interesting discussions and analyses in future valuation reports.