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Coughlin Joins Shampoo Wars, Earns Pantene Endorsement

Braden Keith
by Braden Keith 1

January 26th, 2012 Industry

Hair is a huge deal for swimmers. Especially elite swimmers, who spend enough time in the water that their hair becomes dry and dread-locked regardless of how many products they use.

That’s why it’s no surprise that one of the big endorsement focuses for swimmers in this Olympic year is shampoo (along with suits and food, two other things that swimmers spend a good deal of time with).

First came Michael Phelps’ deal with Proctor & Gamble’s Head & Shoulders shampoo, and now Natalie Coughlin has signed a deal to endorse the same company’s Pantene line.

Perhaps it’s a surprise that these endorsements are only coming on now, as there’s hoards of young swimmers who are constantly looking for ways to cover up chlorine damage without going all-out for the expensive salon brands. The marketing scheme is really genious – they’ve marked the two swimmers who have to spend a ton of time in these chemicals that ruin their hair, but they also make enough public appearances that they have to maintain marketbale manes.

Head & Shoulders is the bigger of the two brands with just over a billion dollars in sales annualy (as compared to around $90 million for Pantene), but Pantene seems to appeal to a more selective demographic. While H&S got the biggest name in Phelps, perhaps Natalie’s longer hair will give her bigger pull in the shampoo industry.

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junker23
12 years ago

Seems like Proctor & Gamble is goin’ after swimmers hard.

About Braden Keith

Braden Keith

Braden Keith is the Editor-in-Chief and a co-founder/co-owner of SwimSwam.com. He first got his feet wet by building The Swimmers' Circle beginning in January 2010, and now comes to SwimSwam to use that experience and help build a new leader in the sport of swimming. Aside from his life on the InterWet, …

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