Breakthrough!

24

Implement a Readable Test

EARLY IN HIS advertising career, Paul was the assistant account executive on P&G’s Charmin bathroom tissue. It was not yet a national brand, but it was the leading brand in virtually all markets where P&G sold it. Charmin had conquered most of the United States and was putting the finishing touches on its West Coast expansion. Market testing was slow, methodical, and vitally important. A test market could easily endure a year or more before rollout was committed. The best packaged-goods marketers understood this and were very disciplined in their test marketing. Eventually, Charmin completed its national rollout and became the powerhouse brand in the bathroom tissue marketplace.

The marketing world moves at a faster ...