Henkel North American Consumer Goods

Henkel Corporation, doing business as Henkel North American Consumer Goods and formerly The Dial Corporation, is an American company based in Stamford, Connecticut.[2][3][4] It is a manufacturer of personal care and household cleaning products and is a subsidiary of multinational company Henkel AG & Co. KGaA (Henkel Consumer Goods Inc.).[5]

Dial began as a brand of deodorant soap manufactured by Armour and Company, a Chicago, Illinois, meatpacking firm, and through a series of mergers, acquisitions, and divestitures, emerged by the 2000s as a stand-alone personal-care and household-cleaning products company. Henkel acquired The Dial Corporation in 2004.[6] Dial soap

History

Dial was the first antibacterial soap introduced in the United States. It was developed by chemists from Armour and Company and introduced in the Chicago market in 1948. Armour had been producing soap since 1888, first as "Armour Family Soap."[7] Armour's soap was made from tallow, a by-product of the meat production process. The name Dial was chosen because the soap advertised "'round-the-clock" protection against the odor caused by perspiration. Demand for this new soap exceeded expectations due to its deodorant effectiveness, its non-medicinal clover-like smell and bright golden yellow color. The brand was rolled out nationally in 1949, and in time became the leading deodorant soap brand in the United States.

Armour-Dial, Inc. (1967–1985)

Because of the popularity and strong sales of Dial soap, fueled by magazine, radio, and television advertising, Armour's consumer products business was incorporated as Armour-Dial, Inc. in 1967. In 1970, The Greyhound Corporation purchased Armour and Company (including Armour-Dial, Inc.) for $400 million as part of a diversification strategy and relocated its headquarters to Phoenix, Arizona, the following year.

James F. Phillips (November 20, 1930 – October 3, 2001) was an American environmental activist known in the Chicago area during the 1960s for his environmental direct action under the pseudonym The Fox. Phillips discovered Armour-Dial had been polluting Mill Creek which emptied into the Fox River, which violated a 1962 law that limited the amount of chemicals companies could dump into the surrounding water. Phillips created stickers issuing warnings that read "Armour Dial Kills our Water" or "Armour Dial Pollutes our air". He organized a group to travel to supermarkets around the United States and put these stickers on bars of Dial soap. Mike Royko, a Pulitzer Prize winning Chicago newspaper columnist, called Phillips's attack "the most ambitious anti pollution prank of his colorful career." The prank was so successful, it started an independent boycott of all Armour-Dial products. Phillips's seven-year battle with Armour Dial led to the state of Illinois suing Armour Dial's Montgomery plant for violating Illinois pollution standards.[8]

The Dial Corporation (1985–1995)

In 1985, Greyhound acquired the consumer products business of Purex Industries, Inc.,[9] which was combined with Armour-Dial to form The Dial Corporation.

In 1988, Greyhound acquired the Boraxo, Borateem and 20 Mule Team Borax brands from U.S. Borax.[10]

To reflect the parent company's new focus after the sale of Greyhound Lines, Greyhound was renamed Greyhound Dial Corporation in 1990[11] and renamed again, to The Dial Corp[12] the following year. After the parent company was renamed The Dial Corp, the Dial consumer business was known as The Dial Corp Consumer Products Group.

The new Dial Corporation (1996–2017)

In late 1995, parent company The Dial Corp announced its intention to split the company and spin off the Dial consumer products business. After the spin off, Dial's now former parent company was renamed Viad Corp, consisting of the service businesses. The Dial consumer business was reborn as the new Dial Corporation, relocating its corporate offices to Scottsdale, Arizona, adjacent to its long-time research and development facility. Under new CEO, Malcolm Jozoff, a former P&G executive,[15] the new Dial Corporation underwent major layoffs in the fall of 1996 and a series of financially disastrous acquisitions the following four years.[16][17][18]

In 1997, Dial sold the Brillo business to Church & Dwight.[19]

Henkel Corporation (2018–present)

In June 2021, Henkel sold the Right Guard and Dry Idea deodorant brands to Thriving Brands LLC.[33]

trade name	Henkel North American Consumer Goods
former names	Armour-Dial Inc. (1967–1985) The Dial Corporation (1985–2017)
type	Subsidiary
traded as	(until 2004)
industry	Consumer brands, beauty products, and laundry care
foundation	December 1967
location	Stamford, Connecticut, United States
products	Persil, Dial, Purex, Renuzit, Soft Scrub, Snuggle, Sun Products and Schwarzkopf Professional.
parent	Henkel AG & Co. KGaA
num employees	9,000‡R1R‡
homepage	http://www.henkel-northamerica.com

Henkel North American Consumer Goods

History

Armour-Dial, Inc. (1967–1985)

The Dial Corporation (1985–1995)

The new Dial Corporation (1996–2017)

Henkel Corporation (2018–present)

Brands

External links

References