Oil of Olay

It’s hard to say who was more successful at building the cosmetic empire of the Oil of Olay products – the chemist, Graham Wulff who invented it or the former copywriter, Jack Lowe, who marketed the original skin-softening lotion. Using packaging verbiage that included nothing more than the tagline of “Share the secret of a younger looking you,” this lanolin-based product grew from a two-man operation in 1949 to what it is today: a multinational corporation now owned by Procter & Gamble.

Wulff and Lowe began with one product – Oil of Olay – that included among its ingredients certain tropical oils. But as the formulation changed over the years, as well as the addition of many other products, the “Oil” in the name was dropped. Today the products are all under the one simple heading of “Olay.”

Growing & Changing With the Times 

No longer is “Oil of Olay” the one, rather unassuming lotion many of our mothers knew simply as the “pink” one because of its uniquely delicate hue. The pink has changed to white and now the product line encompasses a whole range of skin-care items, including four that focus on moisturizing only, several cleansers that include facials and one made for the shower, plus a sunless tanning product.

For a product that has lasted more than 50 years, one has to reason it must be good. Those products that have resulted from the original Oil of Olay lotion indicate that not only do these skin-care agents do what they promise, but they do it so well the demand for its formula – and variations thereof – in other products relating to the skin must be met.

Educating as Well as Selling

What was once Oil of Olay and is now simply, “Olay,” has also broadened the brand’s horizons with regard to educating its customers. No longer does the lone tagline encouraging women to “share their secret” exist to garner sales. The brand now focuses more on informing, particularly on how skin differs from one person to the next. Involving women to better learn about their own bodies no doubt led to the brand’s current slogan: “Love the skin you’re in.” The Web site (www.Olay.com) features articles that instruct how to deal with dry skin; what UVA and UVB rays do to one’s skin, and how to protect against and counteract those effects; and, finally, a highly informative piece on the extrinsic and intrinsic components involved in how skin ages.

Oil of Olay – now “Olay” – started as a good product and now has become an entire family of great products. Women around the world have learned to trust the name “Olay,” through more than five decades of using it and seeing for themselves its obvious results. It doesn’t take a $60 bottle of “wonder” lotion to maintain a healthy, more youthful appearance – all it takes is consistent use of a tried-and-true family of skin-care products, educating one’s self, and then applying what one has learned to have attractive skin. So before you make an investment in your skin, look into what you can get from Olay. You just might find yourself pleasantly surprised for a whole lot less money than you thought.