Studying a Fortune 500 company for a marketing research course has offered more than I expected, and much of what I learned I can clearly see reflected in my own business. 

P&G does not sell products under its own name. It builds brands that speak directly to specific consumers in specific contexts. Tide, Olay, and Old Spice all live under the same parent company but each one has its own voice, identity, and relationship with its audience. P&G is the infrastructure and the strategy. The brands are the conversations. 

That is exactly what I am building with FieldCraft Operations Co (FCO). The goal is for FCO to be the operating system, with Peculiar Panorama and Sobre Mesa serving as brands with their own distinct voice. Same parent, different conversations. Studying P&G made that architecture clearer to me. 

That observation became the lens through which I approached this entire research project. 

Closing the Gap 

P&G’s core commitment is to improve people’s lives in small but meaningful ways through products of irresistible superiority (P&G, n.d.). When I applied that standard to their current portfolio, something stood out immediately. According to Mintel, more than half of U.S. men now use facial skincare, with usage rising from 31% in 2022 to 52% in 2024. P&G owns two of the most recognized male grooming brands in the country, yet neither Old Spice nor Gillette offers a dedicated facial skincare product. Their own target consumer is moving into a category where P&G has no presence. 

Old Spice FaceShield SPF 30, a daily facial moisturizer with broad-spectrum sun protection formulated specifically for men, is the product that closes that gap. It is not a stretch for the brand. Old Spice already launched its Men Have Skin Too campaign in 2023, signaling that the brand is beginning to build skincare credibility. FaceShield is the logical next move for a brand that has already earned trust with this demographic through body care. 

Where the Industry Is Heading 

Two trends make the timing of this product particularly relevant. The first is the continued acceleration of male skincare adoption. Gen Z men are leading this shift, driven by social media normalization and an evolving definition of masculinity that increasingly includes intentional self-care (Strive, 2026). Brands that establish presence in this category now have the strongest opportunity to build loyalty before the market becomes significantly more crowded. 

The second trend is regulatory. The FDA is in the process of its most significant sunscreen framework update in decades. Only zinc oxide and titanium dioxide are currently classified as Generally Recognized as Safe and Effective, while other common chemical filters remain under active review. For P&G, building FaceShield around a mineral formulation is not just a compliance decision. It is a first mover advantage in a category where competitors using chemical filters may face costly reformulations in the near future. 

Building It the Right Way 

A product entering the SPF category carries real legal and ethical responsibilities. The FDA regulatory framework governs what efficacy claims can be made in advertising, and those claims must be substantiated before they appear in any promotional material (ADSL, 2025). For a Gen Z audience that scrutinizes ingredient lists and is increasingly skeptical of vague environmental claims, this standard is not just a legal requirement. It is a brand trust requirement. Greenwashing, making clean or reef-safe claims without the formulation evidence to back them up, carries both Federal Trade Commission (FTC) exposure and reputational risk with the exact consumer FaceShield is trying to reach (Cosmeservice, 2025). 

Consumer data privacy is also worth naming directly. As digital marketing moves toward consent-based practices and state-level privacy legislation continues to expand, how a brand collects and uses consumer data is becoming as important as what it communicates. Any primary research conducted for this product, including the survey and test market observational work, was designed with that standard in mind. 

What the Research Could Not Answer 

The research plan developed for this project is a solid foundation, but it was deliberately conservative. No existing secondary data directly measures how men in the target demographic perceive Old Spice as a facial skincare brand specifically. That data does not exist because the product does not exist yet. A quantitative survey was designed as primary research to capture it, but it has not yet been fielded. The most critical strategic question, whether Old Spice carries enough credibility to succeed in this category, remainsthe most important unanswered question heading into the next phase of research. 

A more ambitious design could have integrated social media distribution to capture organic consumer sentiment at the cost of a less predictable response rate. That tradeoff between statistical reliability and authentic insight is one I would prioritize differently in the next iteration. 

The research is not finished. It is just getting started. 

References

ADSL. (06 Apr 2025). SPF regulations in 2025: Key updates for sunscreen and multi-functional products. ADSL. https://adslaboratories.com/spf-regulations-in-2025-key-updates-for-sunscreen-and-multi-functional-products/ 

Cosmeservice. (2025). Key US FDA and state regulatory changes shaping the cosmetics industry in 2025. Cosmeservice. https://cosmeservice.com/news/key-us-fda-and-state-regulatory-changes-shaping-the-cosmetics-industry-in-2025/ 

Mintel. (24 Jul 2024). More than half of US men now use facial skincare—a 68% increase from 2022. Mintel. https://www.mintel.com/press-centre/more-than-half-of-us-men-now-use-facial-skincare-a-68-increase-from-2022/ 

P&G. (n.d.). Purpose, values and principles. P&G. https://us.pg.com/policies-and-practices/purpose-values-and-principles/ 

P&G. (2025). Superiority across product, package, brand communication, retail execution, and value. P&G 2025 Annual Report. https://us.pg.com/annualreport2025/superiority-across-product-package-brand-communication-retail-execution-and-value/ 

Strive. (Jan 2026). Men’s skincare statistics 2025: Market data & growth trends. Strive Skin. https://striveskin.com/mens-skincare-statistics-2026/ 

Team TBH. (12 Mar 2025). A deep dive into the marketing strategies of Old Spice. The Brand Hopper. https://thebrandhopper.com/brand/a-deep-dive-into-the-marketing-strategies-of-old-spice/#google_vignette