Spotlight

With a back-to-the-office movement in some shape or form inevitable in 2022, it’s vital that workplaces are clean and hygienic. Enter Lysol and Dettol Pro Solutions

Reckitt:

GOING PRO

It was a big year for global consumer giant Reckitt in 2021. Aside from an overall name rebrand, it also put a stake in the ground with the launch of its Pro Solutions business, aimed squarely at the B2B space.

OPI spoke to two long-serving Reckitt executives – Max Shearwood, Global Business Solutions Commercial Director for the Americas, and Jonathan Weiss, Global Business Solutions Commercial Director for Europe, Australia & New Zealand – about this development and the opportunities it could bring to the business products industry.

OPI: We’ve recently heard the Reckitt name mentioned as the hygiene provider at the November COP26 conference. For those readers perhaps more familiar with your brands – I just say Dettol, Lysol, Harpic and Air Wick here – rather than the company itself, could you give a very brief overview of the business?

Max Shearwood: Sure. Reckitt is a £14 billion ($19 billion) company with a presence in nearly 200 countries. We’re over 200 years old now and our origins lie in the UK. In 1999, what was then Reckitt-Colman merged with Germany’s Benckiser to become Reckitt Benckiser. We went by that name for some time, then it was RB for a while and last year we rebranded to just Reckitt.

We own a very strong portfolio of brands across our various geographies and our three business units of hygiene, health and nutrition. As you’ve referred to, Lysol and Dettol are probably among the best known ones.

OPI: What was the rationale behind the rebranding to Reckitt and how did that impact you in the professional space?

MS: Let me start by saying that our purpose as a company has remained the same and that is to protect, heal and nurture in the relentless pursuit of a cleaner, healthier world. We believe hygiene is the foundation of good health. As such, our products and programmes are designed to protect our customers – whoever they are – from illness-causing germs.

The new brand is predominantly a visual representation of how our purpose has evolved – we’re really moving towards being an organisation that puts doing the right thing at the heart of everything we do. Renaming the company to Reckitt wasn’t actually a massive change – particularly in Europe, many people already referred to us as this. It’s just a fresher, more dynamic way of positioning our brand.

In terms of our professional division and the launch of Lysol Pro Solutions and Dettol Pro Solutions, we’ve used the rebrand to put the spotlight on some of our ranges in a very focused B2B context in a way we haven’t done before.

OPI: Is this new focus a result of COVID-19?

Jonathan Weiss: We’ve had the professional business for some time, so I’d say it’s been the catalyst that lifted the security blanket on germ concern and brought it to the masses. And this obviously very much includes businesses.

OPI: As you say, COVID has raised awareness for the hygiene category more than anything else ever has in the past. But will it carry across into the workplace of the future?

MS: I think there’s real recognition that cleaning and disinfection have always been important, and it’s going to continue to be vital. However, it will be more about efficient and correct cleaning

in the future, as opposed to the panic pandemic cleaning that we’ve seen.

So much of it is about education and this is where we can really help and play a core role with the right programmes, protocols, training, etc.

OPI: How important are your relationships with redistribution partners and wholesalers in terms of getting this message out there?

MS: They are absolutely crucial to the execution of our purpose and our strategy. For Lysol in the US, for instance, wholesalers such as Essendant and S.P. Richards have been a critical part of our go-to-market model. They’ve ensured we’re able to address a wide spectrum of end users and their needs.

We haven’t been a specialist in a particular channel or behind a particular sector in the past. As such, these partnerships are essential to guarantee availability and to get the solutions and our overall wellness narrative into the hands of people in the workplace.

The No.1 brand on your communications BRAND POWER

GO -TO-MARKET

Innovative global logistics and servicing

SCIENCE

E ective, trusted products that kill germs

PRODUCT

Tailored training and protocols

OPI: Jonathan, your background is in marketing I believe. What strategies are you going to deploy to maximise this new emphasis on the professional space?

JW: Let me first tell you about our value proposition, and then I’ll explain how we plan to bring this to life.

When we talk about our Pro Solutions – Lysol Pro or Dettol Pro as mentioned before – the positioning is all around a trusted standard of protection. We have four so-called protective strengths we talk about, be that to an organisation, a redistribution or distribution partner, or an end user.

Historically, the cleaning category has been looked at simply as a cost line item in the P&L

The first strength relates to the products themselves: 99.9% efficacy against bacteria and viruses, and tailored innovation to meet customer and end user needs.

Next, we talk about the science and the fact that our protocols are firmly based on scientific evidence. Compliance certification is part of this strength too.

Our third USP is brand trust. We have world-leading brands and marketing expertise – this elevates confidence and drives footfall.

The final component is around our go-to-market expertise. We sell millions of products every single day and we work hand in hand with partners to deliver channel-specific solutions. These four strengths are the backbone of our Pro Solutions.

In terms of marketing, it’s all about demand generation and providing the whole package. We’re not just offering distributors products to sell. Instead, we’re talking to people about the benefits of a comprehensively targeted hygiene and disinfection protocol.

We have a marketing programme with a wide range of tools and assets, including digital media that target facilities managers, office managers and end users, to communicate the benefits of the programme and link them up through distribution.

OPI: You’re clearly putting a lot of resources into this. What is the goal in terms of growth? JW: Lysol Pro Solutions and Dettol Pro Solutions represent a strong opportunity to drive long-term and sustainable growth via our value proposition.

We will continue to partner with redistribution and distribution partners to grow the market as a whole via segment penetration and value-add incremental propositions, with a focus on the front-of-house space by setting a trusted standard of protection with our brands.

OPI: What would be your message to independent dealers or wholesalers reading this article?

MS: Historically, the cleaning category has been looked at simply as a cost line item in the P&L. COVID has changed this completely. Now there’s an opportunity to leverage a great-quality cleaning and disinfection protocol to create value, not just for the end user, but also for everyone in the distribution chain. This doesn’t only apply to cleaning products, it also extends to the rest of these companies’ portfolios.

Many people are concerned about getting back out there – whether it’s the office or anywhere else. Excellent hygiene protocols can be a real determining factor when they decide where they want to spend time – both professionally and in their spare time.

We’ve seen from our programmes that, when applied in the right way, patrons are significantly more likely to choose a facility if they know a Lysol protocol is being used.

There’s a significant end-user need and our distribution partners can help satisfy this need. Talk to us first and then talk to your customers.