Recording and transcription of an Oral History interview with Christine Drury conducted by Melanie Peart on 3 December 2009 in Unilever House, London. [Duration 01:05:45]

Christine Drury joined Lever Brothers and Associates as a UCMDS Marketing trainee at Fetter Lane in September 1969. Between 1969-1971 as part of the trainee programme she worked in Port Sunlight in toilet soaps (one of the first women to do so). In 1972 she was appointed Assistant Brand Manager for Sun, Sqezy and Omo. In 1974 she was appointed Lux Brand Manager and became the first female member of the Lever Senior Executives Group [NB in April 1974 Lever Brothers moved from EC4 to Kingston offices]. After a break for maternity leave Christine was appointed Toilet Soaps Marketing Development Manager (1978-Jan 1980). Between Feb -May 1980 Christine went to Harvard Business School and in June 1980 resumed her new brand development work in Toilet Soaps. With a second maternity break Apr -Nov 1981 she returned to a new role as Value Analysis Manager in the Technical Department.

OH 46 CHRISTINE DRURY PART 1: ORAL HISTORY INTERVIEW INDEX

[00:33] States maiden name as Gilson and mentions taking a degree in Economics at Cambridge University. Describes coming from a scientific/medical/teaching family and being known as a rebel for wanting to go into business. Mentions having an aunt who was an engineer. Mentions manner of application to UCMDS training scheme and interview process via the Tavistock Institute. Mentions also being offered a job at P&G, and describes P&G’s reservations about taking on a woman at the time. Talks about experiences as a woman on UCMDS. Describes living in a house in Bebington with Richard Rivers, Jeremy Stubbs and Robert Davidson. Talks about which UCMDS trainees stayed with the business – mentions Howard Belton and Chris Sharples. Describes life in the UCMDS house in Bebington and mentions stuffing newspaper in the skirting board to keep the mice away.

Mentions working in Sales at Motors Department in Port Sunlight. Describes borrowing salesman’s cars that were not in use and taking them to a beach on the Wirral to do skid turns with trainee friends. [5:05] Comments on Lever Brothers headquarters on New Fetter Lane at that time and Lintas House. Mentions going on trainee courses and sales assignments. Describes being sent to a sales area near parents’ home in South Wales, around Bristol and Swansea, and accompanying salesmen on rounds. Recounts spending a week working in a wholesaler, with four days spent on the bacon counter, for the purposes of understanding how retail and wholesale operations worked. Mentions going to fortnightly sales meetings where salesmen would be berated for not meeting targets. Recounts building shop display stands and negotiating with store managers around merchandising [late sixties/early seventies]. Comments on how merchandising process has changed over time.

Mentions trainee assignments in Port Sunlight. Recounts not being put on a production line assignment by virtue of being a woman and comments on poor representation of women in certain manufacturing roles. Mentions being sent to work in Sales Admin department instead. [09:30] Describes being offered to do computer simulation work in Port Sunlight while fellow trainees returned to London to take up Assistant Brand Manager jobs. Describes IBM360 mainframe computer in Port Sunlight used for payroll and manufacturing planning. Recalls size and style of computer and describes writing programs and punching cards. Recounts reorganisation of toilet soaps factory under Peter Evans as Production Director and Frank Harris as Production Manager at Toilet Soaps No. 3. Recalls number of production lines and u soap plodding. Recalls difficulty of producing coloured soaps. Long description of toilet soap production and packing process for Lux soap and Knights Castile. Long description of process of using GPSS [General Purpose System Simulator] computer simulations on IBM360 to optimize efficiency. Description of inputting data in punched card format and receiving outputted data in printouts.

[15:31] Long description of making sales visits to stores to replenish stock, take orders and build merchandising displays. Describes relationship of sales agents with store managers. Comments on impact of introduction of handheld computers on ways of working and describes how these were used and implemented. [21:10] Comments on competition with competitor products and rival reps from P&G etc.

Comments on nature of training received – understanding of sales, manufacturing, operations, basics of accounting and finance. Mentions Unilever Executives’ Advertising Course. [25:04] Long description of using “brand sheets” to forecast sales volume and plan promotions in order to meet brand targets and process for consolidating forecasts with actuals to balance the brand sheets. Long description of internal competition between brand teams within Lever Brothers and dominance of Persil in brand hierarchy. Comments on target setting and proposal writing. Also comments on internal competition between Fabrics [David Bailey, Fabrics Marketing Manager] and Household Cleaning [Dirk Ridell]. Mentions joining Lever Brothers when it was known as Lever Brothers and Associates, soon after acquisition of Domestos [c1964?]. [30:19] Describes organisational structure of marketing groups and role of Advertising Managers. Mentions Jerry Allcock, Norman Strauss, Jerry Landers. Comments on internal competition and rivalry between marketing groups. Remarks on “fiefdoms” on different floors of Lever House.

[31:35] Long description of promotional planning process within Lever Brothers and role of the Marketing Manager in distributing promotions equally among brands. Long description of multibrand promotions. [33:15] Mentions free railway ticket promotion for Persil in conjunction with British Railways organised by Peter Dart and Peter Parker. [34:20] Remarks on origins and launch of Cif, formerly Jif, and use of Cif/Jif reference mix as a model for future launches. Remarks on organisational structure and relationship between operating companies and role of Co-Ordinations. [36:16] Recollection of discussion with Jacques Marculy at the request of Len Hardy, Lever Brothers Chairmen, regarding Lux. Remarks on nature of knowledge-sharing within organisation.

[38:10] Remarks on nature of career progression within UCMDS. Comments on interest in technical and scientific side of business. [39:18] Mentions working on Sun, Squezy, Vigour. Comments on role of Harry Bab in Marketing Projects Department. Describes sales infrastructure and administration required to organise and deliver logistics for promotions. Gives purchase of books and relationship with kitchens and Hygiena as examples. Mentions on pack claims and descriptions as well as different types of on pack promotions e.g. gift, quiz etc. and implications of Lottery Act. [41:00] Describes process for getting sign off for promotional packs from Legal. Mentions role of John Lane as lawyer responsible for approval. Recollection of promotion involving Christmas CD where copyright clearance was not sought. [42:50] Comments on scale of Promotions Department compared to main Brand Marketing Department and hierarchy in operation between the two. [43:26] Mentions role of Promotions Buyers responsible for buying eggcups, plastic flowers etc. Recollection of faulty promotional eggcups bought from China that led to problems with people cutting their fingers. [44:35] Comments on mutually beneficial relationships with firms like Hygiena who benefited from free advertising through on pack promotions. [45:10] Describes process of off-line packing activity for in-pack promotions. [45:29] Remarks on cessation of promotional activities in favour of traditional advertising and reducing manufacturing costs in favour of price promotions. [46:06] Comments on role of Assistant Brand Manager in liaising with Promotions Department. Remarks on length of lead times for promotions and impact of this on pack design and production. [47:00] Describes in-house printing process for Persil, Omo, Surf packs.

[48:02] Comments on input of agencies for coming up with and implementing promotions. Also role of graphics agencies in Fetter Lane. Remarks on move to Kingston from New Fetter Lane in 1974 and the fact that graphic agency also moved to Kingston to maintain business. [49:44] Describes role of brand plan sheets in planning promotions and ordering promotional items based on how much you hoped to sell. Comments on residuals i.e. end of line promotions, and relationship with street market traders, small shops, wholesalers to unload once promotions had ended.

[50:58] Comments on issue of brand saturation in categories due to difficulty of shelf placing and getting a place in promotions programmes. Remarks on stagnation that could occur in such cases. [52:06] Describes problems facing Omo and struggling relaunches of Blue Omo, White Omo despite attempts to revive the brand. Remarks on impact of arrival of Bio and change from un-encapsulated to encapsulated enzymes brought about by manufacturing difficulties. [53:06] Mentions early Persil crisis (pre-Persil Power) regarding allergy claims which resulted in launch of Persil Non-Bio (1971). Comments on lack of corporate memory as a causative factor for repeat of crisis during Persil Power debacle in 1994. [54:18] Describes different consumer bases for Ariel and Persil and competition between the two. Mentions impact of oil crisis on Ariel’s popularity in 1974 due to manufacturing issues for Persil and ability of Ariel, using enzymes, to wash clothes at a lower temperature. Also comments on impact on Daz from within P&G and Doorstep Challenge. [56:30] Mentions launching bio variant of Omo to little success. Describes use of sunburst image and pack design for Omo relaunch. Compares to modern concept of Brand DNA. [58:13] Comments on conversations with Technical teams regarding enzyme content, perfume and formulation. Describes process of carrying out market research. Mentions Jon Snoxall as Market Research Manager. [59:44] Long description of writing market research briefs.

[1:02:27] Mentions mix testing process including pack, perfume etc. for relaunch. [1:02:55] Long description of use of test markets for new launches. Remarks on choice of areas based on ability to customise television advertising. Mentions use of Westwood and Dover Test Markets for this purpose. Mentions deliberate sabotage of test markets for competitors. [1:04:10] Comments on regional market share variation for soap powder use and availability of sales and market share data from Nielson.

END 1:05:46

Recording and transcription in three parts [Parts 1-3]

See also OH47 for the second part of Christine Drury's interview.