HispanicBusiness

Portfolio of leading brands creates competitive advantage.
Bleach, the company's first product, traces its origins to the saltwater ponds of San Francisco Bay, where Clorox's founders used brine and an electrical current to produce sodium hypochlorite bleach. For generations, Clorox® regular bleach has been a household staple and has played an important public health role by killing germs that make people sick. And, with its new concentrated formula, Clorox regular bleach is delivering improved whitening power and sustainability benefits from using less water and packaging materials.

From those early days, Clorox has since grown into a global manufacturer of leading brands that have become household names. Today, nearly 90 percent of the company's brands rank No.1 or No. 2 in market share.(1) And the company continues to strengthen its portfolio by focusing on the global consumer "megatrends" of health and wellness, sustainability, multiculturalism and affordability:

•In order to address emerging consumer demand for natural products, Clorox expanded its portfolio with the launch of Green Works® naturally derived cleaners and the acquisition of the Burt's Bees® brand, a leader in natural personal care. •Building on the company's strength in disinfecting products and its focus on helping to reduce hospital-acquired infections, Clorox expanded its Professional Products business into healthcare channels. In fiscal year 2010, the company acquired Caltech Industries, a U.S. leader in healthcare disinfecting products. In fiscal year 2012, the company purchased Aplicare, Inc., a leader in infection prevention products for the skin, and Healthlink, which bundles a range of products for individual physicians, doctors' offices, outpatient care centers and other small healthcare facilities. •An important part of Clorox's environmental sustainability strategy is improving the sustainability profile of its product portfolio through the continued redesign of packaging and ongoing sustainability reductions or enhancements to product formulations. Since 2005, the company has made sustainability improvements(2) to 50 percent of its product portfolio. •In fiscal year 2012, the company introduced Clorox® antihongos (antifungal spray), Clorox® desengrasante antibacterial (antibacterial degreaser) and a new line of Clorox Fraganzia™ cleaners, aerosols and spray disinfectants specifically designed to appeal to Hispanic consumers. Clorox also grew its presence among key regional Hispanic retailers, and, as a result of its efforts across many of its brands, in fiscal year 2012, our U.S. Hispanic market-share growth outpaced our general market-share growth for Kingsford®, Hidden Valley®, Pine-Sol®, Glad® and multiple Clorox®-branded products.

Product innovation is delighting consumers.
Clorox is accelerating the pace of innovation. For 10 consecutive years, the company has met or exceeded its annual innovation target of 2 percentage points, and in the last year, delivered record levels of product innovation, contributing more than 3 percentage points of incremental sales growth. Clorox recently raised its annual target for sales growth from new products from 2 percent to 3 percent. In addition to the introduction of concentrated bleach, examples of new products launched in the last few years include:

•A new, stronger Glad® trash bag that uses less plastic, saving more than 6.5 million pounds of plastic every year. •The Brita Bottle®, a reusable, recyclable bottle with a replaceable filter that improves the taste of water and can replace up to 300 standard 16.9-ounce disposable water bottles. •Clorox Healthcare™ hydrogen peroxide products, registered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, are ready-to-use disinfectants that eliminate most bacteria and viruses prevalent in commercial facilities in as fast as 30 seconds.(3) •Clorox's Smart Tube® technology, available in the company's portfolio of sprays, including Clorox®, Formula 409®, Tilex® and Green Works® products, enables consumers to spray every last drop of product. •Burt's Bees' güd® natural personal care brand that aims to be "eco-fun" and attract new, younger consumers to the natural personal care category.