The Clorox Brand

The Clorox Corporation
Oakland, California


(note: proprietary information not revealed.)

A brand consumers love

A brand is an idea that exists in the minds of our consumers. It is a collection of everything that our consumers know, think, or feel about our products. And it is this brand that builds a relationship; a bond between us and them.

At Clorox, we build brands consumers love. We strive not only to deeply understand our consumer — how she behaves, what she believes, what she wants — but also to help her understand us, with equal depth: who we are, and what we stand for.

We nourish this understanding in several ways. First, we stay relevant to her needs, because we truly know who she is. Second, we offer her a clear difference from other brands — because we have spent nearly a century in defining the brand we are today. And finally, we let her know she can always count on us, because we constantly remain true to our core values — and to hers.

In these pages, you will discover the nature of this long-standing relationship between us and our consumer … a relationship that over the years has come to stand for something far bigger than either of us alone.

This Guide is the story of our choices for the Clorox brand: choices about whom we want to speak to, what we want to stand for, and how we want to bring our identity to life. This is Clorox.

The power of bleach

The product that would be the foundation of the Clorox company had its beginnings back in ancient times, when bleach was first shown to have a “purifying” effect in cleaning. Some 7,000 years ago, as the Egyptians relied on washing and sun drying to whiten their clothes, the Pompeiians bleached their wool by “stoving” — smoking their clothes over a sulfur fire.

By the end of the 19th century, after Louis Pasteur had discovered sodium hypochlorite’s potent effectiveness against disease-causing bacteria, bleach became widely used as a disinfectant.

But it wasn’t until Clorox introduced innovative technology that could produce both commercial-grade and household bleach products that bleach became a proven and popular product. And its versatility — in laundry whitening, disinfecting, sanitizing drinking water, and fighting infectious diseases — expanded its uses dramatically.

While Clorox bleach proved to be powerful and versatile, it also proved to be safe and elemental. It is created from salt and water — the end product contains no free chlorine — and it quickly breaks down into essentially salt and water during or after use. As such, it does not harm the environment any more than salt, nor the people who rely on its effectiveness every day.

She’s a healthy protector

Our Clorox consumer is at the center of our world. But who is she? Who is this active, engaged woman who has grown up with the traditions of home and health and family ingrained in her spirit?

It’s true that sometimes she’s not married. And sometimes she doesn’t have children. And sometimes, even, our consumer is a man.

But most often our Clorox consumer is a wife and devoted mother to her children; nurturing happy, healthy kids, in fact, is about the most important thing in her life. That’s why she’s so concerned with doing whatever it takes around the house to enable her to spend more time with her family and keep them healthy — from planning and staying on top of her cleaning to making sure that everyone eats healthful, nutritious meals.

When it comes to cleanliness, you might just say that it’s in her DNA. Her childhood memories including being with her mother, folding clean, soft, fluffy towels, or helping her wipe up a spill after having cookies and milk.

Today, cleaning with bleach and bleach-based products is a part of her life. While she is mindful of the strengths and cautions of bleach, she uses it because it gives her the confidence that she’s doing a good job. Which is a tradition that she is now proud to pass on to a new generation.

Is it any wonder she loves Clorox?