1960s WORK
0107 Cussons
When I arrived at Cussons they, like PST, had a relatively large marketing structure for the volume of business. They were running with sales of around £8 million overall, in the difficult position between being a medium-sized company and a large one. They desperately needed to cross the divide and become a large company. This is why they were investing so much in the marketing activities. In fact they never managed to cross the divide until, sometime after I left, they were bought by an American conglomerate.
The main product was Imperial Leather Soap. This was, surprisingly given the size of the firm and its main competitors (Unilever and Procter & Gamble), the brand leader! It was brand leader on the basis of being a quality soap. Although brand leader, of course, Cussons overall sales were based on this one brand where the competitors had a range of brands. Between these they had a much bigger share than Cussons. Never mind, it was the brand leader and consequently much of the factory was giving over to stamping soap bars and packing it -- the soap itself was produced at a sister factory (owned by Gerrards) in Nottingham.
My part of business was 1001. This was the dominant brand in the carpet shampoo market. This had long been just a detergent. It needed to be rinsed out, since the residue when it dried was sticky. But, just before I arrived, they had launched a new version of this; 1001 Dri Foam. This was a much better product, since the detergent dried to a dust and could be vacuumed out of the carpet afterwards. It really was a major step forward. Having said that, the launch had been badly handled and my first job on arriving was to consolidate the position of the new brand.
How temporary our position was, was indicated by our offices; which were in an arc around the packing material warehouse. With the glass wall to the inside, I could look out and see all packing material we had in stock! Eventually, they built a corridor wall so that we were at least screened from this. In the other direction there was a beautiful view over the only green space in Salford; its cemetery! But I wasn't there for the view. I was there for the job.
In fact I was there for my boss, Hugh Goodwin. I found, as I had expected, that I got on very well with him. Accordingly, we worked together well and started putting in place all the things which were needed for a major brand -- from the market research through to the sophisticated advertising.
In this I also had Roger Ollerton as my brand manager. Roger was fascinating guy who was on the cusp of the 1960s sexual revolution. Thus he was free to enjoy all those new sexual experiences which I had never experienced. He came in most mornings to tell me all about his adventures the previous night. Incidentally he was in the same group of clubbers as George Best, the famous Manchester United footballer. Most nights Roger used go round the same nightclubs as him. But, Roger had something of a hangup. He was also one of the last of the older generation who couldn't quite handle sex. Accordingly he almost always ended the night with Julie, his most willing partner; who was used to provide the requisite sex when all else failed!
The soap part, Imperial Leather, was handled by another brand manager -- who I felt was a rather strange guy and somewhat political. Around in the background was one of those management consultancies, an associate of the company's accountancy firm, who were gradually working their way in -- and as usual selling their own products rather than caring about the business. On the other hand they reported to the managing director, who I will in this case call X -- since I soon found that he was the nastiest person I think I ever met!
As I have said, things were going well for us. However, X was fighting to take control of the company. He was, of course, managing director but he was not a member of the Cussons family. Thus, although he was the CEO, the family still had veto power. Marjorie Goodwin (a Cusson) was president, of course, but that was not a particularly powerful role. I used to see her at important meetings, where she delighted in presenting herself as a typical housewife. In particular she used to talk about her buying experiences in the local supermarket. What she didn't mention was the fact that the chauffeur used to take the Rolls to the local supermarket and she would wait outside in the Rolls whilst he went in and did the shopping!
The real power of the family was in the form of Hugh Goodwin. He was their insider who would warn of developments and, significantly, control unwanted changes. As a result X saw him as a major block on his ambitions.
As I said, X was the nastiest person I ever met and he set out to undermine Hugh's position. He harried him and harassed in at every opportunity -- and I felt some backlash from this as well. Eventually he was so successful that Hugh had a nervous breakdown! It is a terrible thing to force someone to a nervous breakdown simply because you want them out: as I can vouch for from personal experience later on.
Accordingly a new marketing director was hired, this time to X's own specification! Unfortunately, this marketing director also, from time to time, opposed X. This was not because he supported the family against X, but because he used his marketing experience to underpin his judgment. That did not please X. Unfortunately the new marketing director, as it turned out, was a recovering alcoholic. To get rid of him, in turn, X pushed him off the wagon. Accordingly when the marketing director got in of a morning you could smell the drink on his breath. I can think of nothing more pernicious than deliberately pushing a recovering alcoholic off the wagon!
Indeed, the whole organisation was under stress. It had far too many layers of management; since the consultants had brought in the structure needed to manage a much larger company. This structure, on a pegboard, covered a whole wall of one conference room. Every so often X’s secretary would lock herself in there for a couple of days; to rearrange things. When she finished, everyone rushed in to see if they still worked for Cussons; and often one or two found out in this way that they no longer did!
Ultimately, as a supporter of Hugh (and having been hired by him) and something of a whistleblower, I was - in my turn - eventually fired by the managing director. In some respects it was as well that this happened. For not long afterwards, when the company got into financial trouble, each layer of management -- of which there were in any case far too many layers -- sacrificed the managers underneath them to protect their own jobs. Thus the middle managers, of which I would have been one, got rid of the junior managers underneath them. But in turn the middle managers were sacrificed by the senior managers. These directors were then sacrificed by the main board. The main board in turn were sacrificed by X -- only for himself to go, as the company brought in another Cussons son to take over the organisation! It was one of the nastiest organisations I have worked for.
Mind you, Hugh Goodwin was one of the nicest bosses -- pity he didn't stay. That is always a problem in going where one person attracts you.
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