One thing has often puzzled me regarding P&G's marketing. If I...

One thing has often puzzled me regarding P&G's marketing. If I had exclusivity to a technology and a licence to world-wide distribution, it would make sense to me to blow that trumpet for all it's worth and make a feature of the new tech, including a by-line about its origin.

This is extremely common in the health & nutrition industry, think of all those supplements with reference to their special and unique properties and brand building based on that uniqueness, including almost invariably a reference to its place of origin. I mean, it adds a certain plein de vie and mystique to the product, and seems to me to be a basic tool in marketers' kits. Don't buy their brand, buy ours, because only ours has the genuine source, etc etc.

I understand the cut-throat nature of beauty marketing, but surely this is throwing away an attribute that could generate client loyalty. And without risk, as the wand is now well and truly out of the bag and no competitor can come near it, unless you count fake replicas, which premium clients won't touch.

But then again, I don't know much, I'm just a consumer.