Prologue: Eras and Themes in the Evolution of Procter & Gamble -- Foundations, 1837-1945 -- Getting Started, 1837-1890: Procter & Gamble in the Commodity Era -- From Commodities to Consumer Goods: Ivory and the Birth of the Brand -- Assembling the Elements of the Enterprise, 1890-1945 -- Science in the Washing Machine: The Story of Tide -- The Science and Selling of Everyday Products, 1945-1980 -- An Explosion in Consumer Products -- Procter & Gamble Reinvents the Paper Products Business -- Crest: A Therapeutic Breakthrough in Oral Care -- Learning from Augusta, Lima, and Albany -- Going Global, 1980-1990 -- Competition and Global Expansion -- Learning to Compete in Japan -- The Diaper Wars -- En Rio Revuelto: Finding the Formula in Mexico and Latin America -- Pantene: Building a Global Beauty Brand -- Competing in a Shrinking World: Procter & Gamble Since 1990 -- Reshaping Procter & Gamble -- Rewriting the Rules: Reconfiguring the Supply Chain -- Winning in the White Space: Procter & Gamble in Central and Eastern Europe and Russia -- Ivory, Crest, and Olay: Redefining the Boundaries of the Brand -- Prescription for Growth in Health Care -- Challenges in China -- Epilogue: Principles of Brand Building -- Graphical Timeline Prepared by P&G Corporate Archives -- Financial Results Summary, 1929-2003 -- Selected Brand Introduction Dates -- Procters, Gambles, and the Leaders of Procter & Gamble, 1837-Present.

Procter & Gamble is one of the world's largest and most influential companies -- the maker of numerous billion-dollar brands that have helped shape the way millions of people live today. Brands like Tide, Crest, Ivory, and Pampers have become household names in modern consumer culture -- and legends in the annals of brand-building history. Yet the full story behind P&G's remarkable growth and success has never been told.

Rising Tide tells the fascinating tale of P&G's 165-year journey: how it grew from a two-man soap and candle maker in 1837 into a 40 billion global brand powerhouse, employing over 100,000 people in 80 countries. As it charts that journey, the book reveals the principles and practices of brand building P&G-style: how the company learned -- through trial, error, and breakthrough successes -- to consistently anticipate and satisfy consumer needs.

Based on unprecedented access to P&G's corporate archives and exclusive interviews with key executives and employees, Davis Dyer, Frederick Dalzell, and Rowena Olegario vividly recount the key events and episodes that stimulated P&G's learning about brand building. From the birth and evolution of brand giants like Ivory, Tide, and Crest to lessons learned from product disasters like Olestra, and from intense global competition to the diaper wars, Rising Tide reveals insightful lessons about product innovation, global expansion, leadership transformation, business reinvention, and brand building. From a powerful belief in doing the right thing to an unparalleled passion for winning to a laserlike focus on consumer needs, the authors distill the powerful arsenal of branding principles P&G has built over the years.

A compelling and candid account of hard-won, sustained success, Rising Tide is also a strategic guide -- taken straight from the playbook of the brand master -- to delivering superior consumer value.