Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[Blossom]

Can anyone tell me what Oil of Ulay is, please?

[Lorikeet]

Do you mean "Oil of Olay"? It's a skin moisturizer. You can find out more if you put "oil of olay" into google.

[advoca]

There is an interesting story behind Oil of Ulay, Blossom.

During World War II a South African chemist named Graham Gordon Wulff, a chemist, developed a cream to help heal military burn victims by preventing their skin from becoming dehydrated. At the end of the war it occurred to Wulff that the burn treatment he had invented might make an acceptable beauty cream in the civilian market. He was friendly with Shaun Adams Lowe, a copy writer. Together, they tested the product on their wives and friends and soon became confident in its uniqueness and excellence. In 1949 they formed a company called Adams National Industries (ANI) and set out to market Wulff's product, Lowe being the marketing director and Woolfe the technical director.

First, of course, they needed a name, and after some thought came up with "Oil of Olay." The name �oil of Olay� was chosen for its exotic and mysterious sound.

Their product was unique in the early days because it was a pink fluid rather than a cream. The packaging was a clunky glass bottle. Nowhere did it say what the product actually did. Its marketing was also unique since it was never described as a moisturizer, or even as a beauty fluid. Print advertisements did not explain how the product worked, nor what its benefits were. A headline might say "Share the secret of a younger looking you" and talked about the �beauty secret� of oil of Olay. Print ads were written almost as personal messages from Margaret Merril to the reader. They were placed in Readers Digest and newspapers and often looked like editorials. They did not sell the product to the trade, but waited for pharmacies to ask for it based on consumer requests.
As the company began to market the product internationally, it was decided to modify the name of the product in each country so it would sound pleasing and realistic to consumers. This led to the introduction of �oil of Ulay� in the UK, �oil of Ulan� in Australia, and �oil of Olaz� in Holland. In 1970, ANI opened a test market in USA (Chicago), and was expanding sales into Northern Germany.

As more and more people bought the product they asked what �Ulay,� �Ulan,� or �Ulaz� was, Wulff and Lowe realized that the mystery of their product's name was one of its strongest selling points.

When the product was exported to the US they used the original name of �Oil of Olay� but in the UK, (and I believe in Canada too) it was still called "Oil of Ulay," though in most of Europe it was still sold under the name �Oil of Olaz.�

Incidentally, there were problems of marketing the beauty product in China and Asia because, as you know, yu lei means torpedo and it was felt that Chinese girls might not want to put torpedo oil on their face.

The company was eventually bought by Procter & Gamble but wasn�t until 2000 that P & G decided to simplify things by changing Ulay/Olay/Olaz to "Olay" worldwide.

P & G also dropped the "Oil of" a few years ago because many females did not like the idea of using oil on their face. Today, P & G produces a wide range of beauty products, all under the generic name of �Olay,� and you can buy these throughout China.

There are several web pages giving ths information, incidentally, but this is a summary.

[Lorikeet]

Thanks, Advoca.

[river1974]

"Olay" is a famous and low-price brand. I used its sun block during my last visit to Tailand.

[Blossom]

Thank you very much, advoca. Your explanation was very interesting.