American Salon - July 2009

WE ARE TAKING A STAND

AGAINST DIVERSION

For the growth of our industry. For the success of our salon partners. For the respect and the creativity of the stylist.

An Open Letter to the Professional Salon Industry,

Conventional wisdom says diversion in the salon industry can’t be controlled, that it’s too big to stop. At P&G

Professional Care, we beg to differ. With the relaunch of Sebastian Professional, we have adopted a wholly new approach to product control, one that helps prevent diversion before it happens as well as helps detect products in unauthorized outlets.

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To your continued success,

Our program covers the bases.

• Sebastian Professional’s 21st-century program employs modern methods of data and demand mapping, digital monitoring, tracking and enforcement to curb diversion at every level of distribution.

All Sebastian distributors and salons sign binding contracts agreeing to professional-only use and sale. We maintain a national hotline (1-800-829-3788) to report diversion and we offer rewards for information leading to successful civil litigation and even criminal prosecution.

• We’ve deployed proprietary coding that gives us bottle-by-bottle identification for tracking to cut off supply to unauthorized outlets.

Our 3,000-strong National Watchdog Network visits mass market outlets through North America to locate, record and report diverted products.

• Our team of asset protection professionals identifies high-risk order situations before they occur and monitors and identifies the source of distribution in unauthorized outlets.

Ultimately, we are prepared to turn to state and Federal courts to bring civil litigation and, in appropriate circumstances, to seek criminal charges.

Our anti-diversion program works.

According to Nielsen tracking, Sebastian diversion is down 42% over last year. Other leading manufacturers have seen diversion increase year-to-date, some by triple digits. In addition, all the major mass market websites have de-listed Sebastian from their pages because they just can’t get their hands on the product. At P&G Professional Care, we’re proving that the salon industry doesn’t have to put up with diversion. That you, as a professional, can and should get the full rewards of your professional recommendation. That to stop diversion, what you have to do is do it.