Pert’s Pioneering Introduction of a Two-in-One Shampoo/Conditioner

​An award-winning Cincinnati executive, Carene Kunkler has developed impact-driven brand strategies across a number of beauty, cosmetics, and optical verticals over the decades. In the 1980s, Carene Kunkler was part of a team that developed transformative strategies for the hair care brands of P&G. In the book What Really Matters: Service, Leadership, People, and Values, John Pepper featured her efforts as part of a case study.

As Pepper describes it, the mid-1980s delivered a solution to an industry challenge that had existed for many years. With traditional shampoos stripping excessive oil from the user’s hair, conditioners left a residue that was was also excessive. There was thus an unmet market need for a “total experience” that was more convenient and left hair in an optimal condition.

Four years in the R&D pipeline, P&G’s new two-in-one (shampoo and conditioner) product still needed refinement. In a pioneering approach, technicians created a special showering facility that recorded people’s voices and provided insight into the product’s in-use experience. While this led to qualitative formulation improvements, the new version of the product still had many internal doubters on the quantitative, market-focused side. Previous two-in-one products had failed dismally, leaving companies paying heavily for advertising and production that did not deliver in revenue.

Pert had been in production since 1980 as a simple shampoo, but was losing market share. As Pert brand manager, Ms. Kunkler was a strong proponent of the viability of 2-in-1 product launch as a way of reviving the flagging brand. Her hunch proved correct, with Pert’s decline reversing “almost overnight” and the shampoo/conditioner formulation driving a threefold increase in Pert market share. Moreover, the underlying technology went on to become standard across many hair care brands, including the global market leader Pantene.

Carene Kunkler

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