P&G Eases Throttle on Targeted Facebook Advertising

P&G drilled too deep and now it is scaling back its targeted* Facebook ads.

Facebook — and other social media platforms where people openly discuss their interests and preferences — affords advertisers the ability to target untold demo- and psychographics. But maybe there is a downside to such microtargeting.

P&G CMO Marc Pritchard told the WSJ:

“We targeted too much, and we went too narrow,” he said in an interview, “and now we’re looking at: What is the best way to get the most reach but also the right precision?”

It’s hard to not read this as a failure of Facebook advertising account management – that team should be the one guiding large advertisers like P&G through the right mix. But, separately, maybe a CPG like P&G has done mass marketing for a reason. No amount of social media posts are going to alert any company when someone is in the market for dish detergent.

Here’s Facebook’s statement to DMN:

“Our partnership with P&G grows every year in service of effective and efficient advertising. We learn from each other and iterate. That has always been the spirit of how we work together and challenge one another. The cornerstone of our ad strategy is a mix of mass reach and personalized targeting that lends well to mobile consumption and is a strong complement to TV. Our clients tell us this strategy works because we can deliver relevant marketing to the right audiences, with unprecedented scale. It enables partners like P&G to drive the business metrics they care about.”

* This blog post previously implied P&G was cutting back on Facebook advertising. It is scaling back targeted advertising but planning to keep its overall spend the same.