Ed Artzt obituary: Remembering former P&G CEO

Cellphone data controversy

Artzt beforehand had change into well-known, or notorious, in 1991 for convincing authorities to show over cellphone data of calls to Wall Road Journal reporter Alecia Swasy in an effort to root out leaks behind her reporting, which was later compiled within the e-book “Cleaning soap Opera.” The e-book was extremely vital of Artzt and P&G, however Artzt later acknowledged it was a mistake to go after the cellphone data.

“I don’t suppose it had a long-lasting impact,” past a number of weeks of controversy, Pepper stated. “I don’t suppose it ever had any impression in any respect in the important thing areas of recruiting or buyer relations.”

Artzt was nicknamed “The Prince of Darkness,” which some colleagues stated mirrored his mood, however he stated got here from his behavior of working late. One of many extra well-known quotes from Swasy’s reporting: “I actually don’t need to have a brief set off with individuals and never give them an opportunity. However positive I’ve cleared out deadwood. In all probability a few of it was nonetheless respiration when it was cleared out.”

The rivalry that wasn’t

“He was a warrior,” Pepper stated, but in addition a person of kindness that is not precisely captured by that quote. “I don’t suppose we might have had a greater CEO from 1990 to 1995,” he stated.

Pepper stated this regardless of the assumption by many within the Nineties that he himself had been a candidate for the CEO put up that went to former P&G CEO John Smale, together with characterizations in Swasy’s e-book and amongst some P&G alums that he and Artzt had been rivals.

That Pepper spent appreciable time over current years serving to Artzt assemble his oral historical past actually suggests no rivalry persevered, and Pepper denies it ever existed. “There was by no means any rivalry,” Pepper stated. “Early in my profession it was only a deep respect that grew into affection.”

Regardless of hypothesis within the Nineties that Pepper may go away for an additional firm after Artzt’s promotion, Pepper stated, “That was by no means one thing that I thought of.”

‘A maniac on model fairness’

Definitely Artzt was an intense competitor, stated former P&G International Model Officer and now unbiased marketing consultant Jim Stengel. “He was only a maniac on model fairness, aggressive standing and model positioning,” he stated.

Stengel recalled seeing that firsthand when he was affiliate advert supervisor on Crisco and Puritan working beneath Artzt, who objected to newly launched Puritan being positioned as “the wholesome oil,” which he felt would undermine the larger Crisco model. Stengel stated he obtained a name from Artzt one Sunday telling him he’d be becoming a member of him in a gathering at Gray Promoting in New York the subsequent day to speak about how the company would deal with Crisco’s well being positioning.

In one other case, when Wesson launched shortening that undercut Crisco by 50 cents per unit and P&G executives had been resisting chopping record costs to match, Artzt summoned them one Friday to demand they get the record value down on shelf by 50 cents by the subsequent Monday, Stengel stated.

However Artzt was additionally personable and sort, Stengel stated. He recounted being informed by Artzt in 1985, when Stengel was a newly minted assistant model supervisor, to deal with a Jif look on a telethon in Atlantic Metropolis for a juvenile diabetes charity, as a result of the illness had affected Artzt’s household and Jif was useful for diabetics.

Stengel recalled being interviewed throughout round 2 a.m. through the stay telethon about peanut butter, along with his dad and mom within the viewers, having pushed over from Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

“After which Artzt came to visit, and he was completely charming with my dad and mom and with me,” Stengel stated. “That was a aspect of him too, for positive.”

Attila the coach

Artzt did examine Attila the Hun and admired him, not for his brutal conquest of a lot of Eurasia, however for the way in which he used oral historical past to show individuals beneath him, Pepper stated. That oral historical past method grew to become the idea of the P&G’s case-study-intensive inside faculty coaching system that Artzt instituted and has operated for many years, Pepper stated.

“A number of the finest coaching I had in my complete profession [Artzt] did personally” at P&G faculty periods, Stengel stated.

“He was a ferocious recruiter,” Pepper stated, noting that Artzt frequently went to campuses himself to recruit, spending 23 days on campuses one 12 months throughout his CEO tenure.

That target recruitment and coaching was “massively vital for an organization that’s largely promote-from-within and knew its success trusted its future leaders,” Pepper stated, including that Artzt had a “main impression on people by believing in them or educating them.”