Procter & Gamble Cuts Back Spending on Targeted Facebook Ads

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Procter & Gamble is just one of the many big-name advertisers working with Facebooks targeting tools – will any others reach the same conclusion?

Procter & Gamble – the FMCG giant behind brands like Pantene, Gilette and Oral-B, and the worlds single biggest spender on advertising – is reportedly cutting back on targeted Facebook ads.

According to the Wall Street Journal, P&G has concluded that targeting specific customers based on their interests, life events, and all the other granular data Facebook offers, has limited effectiveness.

“We targeted too much, and we went too narrow,” CMO Marc Pritchard told the publication. “Now we’re looking at: What is the best way to get the most reach but also the right precision?”

He shared the example of a Febreze ad which originally targeted large families and pet owners, which had no uplift on sales until the campaign was expanded to include anyone over the age of 18.

The company will maintain its level of spending on Facebook in general, and will continue to deploy targeted ads in certain situations – like reaching out to new mothers with its Pampers brand. Overall, P&Gs ad spend is in fact actually increasing, on both digital and old media.

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