What are other people saying about us? See below for recent media articles about Clorox, our company, brands and financial performance.
Sustainability Drives Innovation at Burt's Bees (Industry week, 5-16-12)
“Nature Becomes You” is more than just a marketing tagline for Burt’s Bees. The Durham, N.C.-based manufacturer of natural personal-care products – best known for its popular lip balm – sees sustainability as the starting point for its innovation process. “We really do try to minimize the environmental impact from beginning to end in the ingredients we choose and how we manufacture and pretty much everything we do,” said Ken McLellan, business connection leader for Burt’s Bees, which was acquired by The Clorox Company in November 2007. “It’s also about natural ingredients, obviously – finding ingredients that are safe, that have a low sustainability impact with regard to their sourcing and how they’re harvested, extracted and ultimately brought to us.”
Partner Collaboration Drives Merchandising Success (Supermarket News, 5-15-12)
Innovative merchandising created through collaboration among retailers and suppliers requires careful planning and dedication, but it can be a powerful driver of incremental sales, according to presenters at an FMI 2012 session in Dallas,. “We had to start thinking like shoppers,” said Dan Fitzgerald, senior vice president of merchandising at Roundy’s Milwaukee, speaking about a partnership with Clorox that leveraged the expertise of the chain’s pharmacists to drive sales of preventative-care products.
Pressure to Keep A's in Oakland (Associated Press, 5-3-12)
The leaders of some of Oakland’s biggest companies are joining forces with city officials to try to keep the Athletics in the city. Business leaders and city officials gathered at the downtown headquarters of Clorox Co. on Thursday morning, where Clorox chairman and CEO Don Knauss said the company is endorsing efforts to keep the A’s in Oakland. Executives from about a dozen Oakland-based companies were also at the gathering, as was Oakland Mayor Jean Quan. Knauss also said that if the owners of the A’s are not committed to keeping the team in Oakland, an ownership group has been identified with what he termed the “financial wherewithal” to buy the team. But A’s owner Lew Wolff says in an email to The Associated Press that the team is "not for sale, no one has reached out to purchase.”
Clorox CEO: Prices Up Due to Commodities Costs (CNBC, 5/2/12)
CEO Donald Knauss told CNBC on Wednesday the company has more than offset $140 million to $150 million in higher commodities costs by raising prices on its household cleaners, bleach and other consumer products. The higher prices, he told CLOSING BELL, have more than offset higher costs for such commodities as oil-based resins used in the companies Glad trash bags and other products. "We are in a global marketplace," and demand by developing markets for resins prompted the spike in prices, he said.
Can Ranch Dressing Become ‘The New Ketchup’? (The Week 4/9/12)
Condiments are a big business, worth $5.6 billion a year in the U.S., and Hidden Valley wants its flagship dressing, now available in a thicker formula called “Hidden Valley for Everything,” to have a more prominent spot on the table. How prominent? “As ubiquitous as ketchup on restaurant tables and in consumer kitchens,” says Jon Balousek, head of the food division for Hidden Valley owner Clorox.
Glad Trash Bags Has a Social Media Campaign (Mashable, 4/6/12)
One of the top players in the trash bag category, Glad, launched a Facebook- and YouTube campaign April 5 for its Black Bag line. The brand, which is owned by Clorox, reasons that not many people will talk about trash bags per se, so the brand has instead veered the conversation into the craziness of domestic life. Research revealed that families are using the Black Bag, which was designed for outdoor work and moves, for everyday indoor use. The outsize bags are particularly popular with parents with multiple children at home. Glad has used that insight to anchor a campaign around a fake reality show that features five animatronic creatures – a bear, a chimp, a raccoon, a beaver and a duck...
Clorox CEO Discusses Commitment to Hiring Veterans (CNBC, 3/27/12)
In an interview with Mad Money’s Jim Cramer, Clorox Chairman and CEO Don Knauss affirmed the importance of hiring military veterans and praised the qualities they bring to the workforce, including “mission orientation, focus on teamwork [and] values orientation.” Knauss noted that an estimated 16 percent of hires at Clorox in the current quarter are veterans, reflecting effective company programs to recruit, hire and retain men and women with a background of uniformed service to the United States.
Stein: Advocacy Spans 30 Years (San Francisco Business Times, 3/2/12)
Laura Stein, general counsel of The Clorox Company, was honored by the Business Times last night with the Lifetime Achievement Award, not only for exemplary work during the past seven years at Clorox, but also for her 30-year career path that has passed through Harvard Law School, Morrison & Foerster, and H.J. Heinz Co. Not the least of Stein’s achievements is her unremitting commitment to volunteer leadership roles tied to her profession and to the community.
Clorox CEO Targets Health-Care in Acquisition Strategy (Business Week, 2/28/12)
The Clorox Company would consider acquisitions of health-care products and services to fuel what could become a $300 million business, according to its chief executive officer. “That’s the No. 1 priority on more M&A,” CEO and Chairman Don Knauss said Feb. 23 in an interview at an analyst conference in Boca Raton, Florida. “We’ll continue to look at bolt-on acquisitions” in Latin America, the Middle East and perhaps Southeast Asia, Knauss said. He said Clorox’s health-care business was “basically nonexistent” three years ago and now generates more than $100 million in annual sales.
Clorox Plans Include Hidden Valley Ranch “Ketchup” (Reuters, 2/23/12)
The Clorox Company is bringing a thicker version of its leading Hidden Valley Ranch dressing to the ketchup aisle, hoping to entice consumers who top hamburgers and pizza with the regular version, Chief Executive Don Knauss said Thursday. Clorox knows that diners put ranch dressing on many more foods than just salads and vegetables. “Since consumers are using it as a ketchup, let’s give them a ketchup viscosity,” Knauss said.
Clorox Sees New Product Sales Boosting Growth (MarketWatch, 2/23/12)
The Clorox Company expects new products to contribute more than ever to the household-product giant's sales growth this fiscal year, Chief Executive Don Knauss said Thursday. New products like a Febreze-scented Glad trash bags and Brita water bottles should expand sales this year more than the prior company record of 3.4%.
