Spoiler alert: millennials and Gen Z-ers don’t love spending their time on laundry — and in the name of smart business moves, Tide is choosing to do it for them. The third most popular U.S.-based laundry detergent and service brand, produced by Procter & Gamble, is expanding its pickup-and-delivery laundry service in an effort to make one of the largest direct-to-consumer moves ever for a P&G brand.
With a goal of doubling pickup locations to more than 2,000 nationwide by next year, the expansion will add to its location roster (Chicago, Washington, Nashville, Dallas, Philadelphia and Denver) to include new cities like its hometown of Cincinnati. Locations for drop-off will include Tide Dry Cleaners storefronts, plus lockers in retail stores, apartment buildings and several Tide University Laundry locations on college campuses. This approach is timely and pragmatic, as more and more people are opting for urban living in apartment buildings without washer and dryer hookups, and with inconvenient proximity to laundromats.
"Now for the first time Tide will have a name and face for people interacting with the brand, not just a bottle on the Walmart shelf,” said Sundar Raman, VP of Saatchi & Saatchi, according to AdAge. "It's critical we go for this because it's a natural extension of the brand. The time people spend on chores is decreasing, and there's less and less consumption happening at home. The market for out-of-home laundry is just as big as for in-home, and growing faster."
Learn more about Tide's laundry services here.
Photo credit: University Laundry