P&G Announces Two Signature Partnerships for Future Friendly to Help 'Make Conservation Second Nature'

Multi-Media Educational Partnership with National Geographic and Special Event and Social Media Partnership with Earth Day Network Will Further Help Consumers Reduce Energy, Water and Waste at Home

News provided by

Procter & Gamble

Apr 13, 2010, 05:40 ET

CINCINNATI, April 13, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- To support the launch of P&G Future Friendly and its conservation education platform, the brand today announced two separate, signature partnerships with leading organizations in the environmental landscape – National Geographic and Earth Day Network.

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By supporting interactive conservation tools through National Geographic and awareness-raising activities through Earth Day Network, Future Friendly will help educate and motivate mainstream consumers to make simple household changes that help save water, save energy and reduce waste. Additionally, these efforts will help Procter & Gamble (P&G) fulfill its 2009 Clinton Global Initiative commitment to provide conservation education to at least 50 million U.S. households by the end of 2010.

"One of the central components of the Future Friendly program is to collaborate with external partners and outside experts to develop innovative ways to reach consumers with our conservation message," said Kirk Perry, Vice President, North America, P&G. "We see the promotion of in-home conservation habits as an important sustainability effort and the program reflects our approach to enabling the mainstream consumer to reduce her use of natural resources."

Future Friendly and National Geographic Join Forces on Multi-Media Educational Resources

Future Friendly is working with the National Geographic Society, one of the world's largest nonprofit scientific and educational organizations whose mission is to inspire people to care about the planet, to provide consumers with educational materials highlighting methods to save energy, save water and reduce waste within their homes. Conservation education material developed specifically for Future Friendly by National Geographic will be accessible through www.futurefriendly.com and www.facebook.com/futurefriendly in a dynamic, holistic consumer education experience promoting household and lifestyle conservation habits.

"This is a wonderful chance for us to help increase awareness of these important issues," said Tasha Eichenseher, Producer, National Geographic Digital Media. "The more we know about water and energy conservation and waste reduction, the better off we are. Futurefriendly.com can help deliver this important content to an even wider audience."

Future Friendly Sponsors Official Earth Day Network 40th Anniversary Celebration

Future Friendly is also a Co-Presenting Sponsor of the Earth Day 2010 40th Anniversary event with Earth Day Network. The flagship event takes place on the National Mall in Washington D.C. on April 25, 2010, and brings together top musical talent and hundreds of thousands of people from around the world to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Earth Day and reinforce the important role all persons play in promoting the health of our planet. In addition to education-focused activities surrounding the anniversary, Future Friendly is also the exclusive sponsor of the Earth Day Network's "Billion Acts of Green" iPhone and Facebook applications. The "Billion Acts of Green" global grassroots campaign seeks to inspire conservation through an interactive Web site and other social media tools that enable people to make a pledge to improve their environmental impact and promote other environmentally-beneficial habits to friends and family via social media channels.

"Earth Day Network is honoring the 40th anniversary of Earth Day with this important educational partnership with Future Friendly," said Kathleen Rogers, Earth Day Network President. "It is our hope that this campaign will inspire people to take steps in their own lives to protect the environment."

Future Friendly, Procter & Gamble's new multi-brand initiative, is an educational platform designed to provide practical conservation help and branded products featuring clear benefits in water savings, energy savings and waste reduction. The program brings together the power of trusted brands like Tide, Pampers, PUR, Duracell and others for a simple mission: to help mainstream consumers save water, waste and energy at home. A full media platform, including extensive social networking and consumer engagement components, supports the launch of the brand. Future Friendly-labeled products began appearing on store shelves in early April at approximately 15,000 retail locations across the U.S.

In recognition of P&G's long-term and continued commitment to sustainability and its real achievements, the FTSE4Good and Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI) included P&G since their inception, and the Financial Times and Just Means honored P&G with the 2008/2009 Social Innovation Award. Corporate Knight also ranked P&G in the top 15 of its 2010 "Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations in the World" list. Sustainability is part of P&G's Purpose to touch and improve the lives of the worlds' consumers, now and for generations to come. For more information on P&G's commitment to sustainability, visit: www.pg.com/sustainability.

About P&G Future Friendly

P&G Future Friendly is a program that empowers consumers to save energy, save water and reduce waste, using science, innovation and unique partnerships to achieve meaningful environmental impacts. The P&G Future Friendly program is a direct extension of P&G's long-term commitment and disciplined, science-based approach to environmental sustainability. Through the program, P&G is better able to share these solutions with consumers so they can realize the benefits in their own homes. Sustainability is core to P&G's Purpose to Touch and Improve the Lives of the Worlds' Consumers, now and for generations to come.

About Procter & Gamble

Four billion times a day, P&G (NYSE: PG) brands touch the lives of people around the world. The company has one of the strongest portfolios of trusted, quality, leadership brands, including Pampers®, Tide®, Ariel®, Always®, Whisper®, Pantene®, Mach3®, Bounty®, Dawn®, Gain®, Pringles®, Charmin®, Downy®, Lenor®, Iams®, Crest®, Oral-B®, Duracell®, Olay®, Head & Shoulders®, Wella®, Gillette®, Braun® and Fusion®. The P&G community includes approximately 135,000 employees working in about 80 countries worldwide. Please visit http://www.pg.com for the latest news and in-depth information about P&G and its brands.

About National Geographic

The National Geographic Society is one of the world's largest nonprofit scientific and educational organizations. Founded in 1888 to "increase and diffuse geographic knowledge," the Society works to inspire people to care about the planet. National Geographic reflects the world through its magazines, television programs, films, music and radio, books, DVDs, maps, exhibitions, live events, school publishing programs, interactive media and merchandise. National Geographic magazine, the Society's official journal, published in English and 32 local-language editions, is read by more than 35 million people each month. The National Geographic Channel reaches 310 million households in 34 languages in 165 countries. National Geographic has funded more than 9,200 scientific research, conservation and exploration projects and supports an education program promoting geography literacy. For more information, join the more than 14 million unique visitors who go to nationalgeographic.com each month.

About Earth Day Network

Earth Day Network was founded on the premise that all people, regardless of race, gender, income, or geography, have a moral right to a healthy, sustainable environment. Our mission is to broaden and diversify the environmental movement worldwide, and to mobilize it as the most effective vehicle for promoting a healthy, sustainable environment. We pursue our mission through a combination of education, public policy, and consumer activism campaigns.

Earth Day Network campaign and programs are predicated on the belief that an educated, energized population will take action to secure a healthy future for itself and its children. The organization has a global reach with a network of more than 20,000 partners and organizations in 190 countries. Earth Day Network is a 501(c)3 organization located in Washington, D.C.

SOURCE Procter & Gamble