CINCINNATI--(BUSINESS WIRE)--From a highly-competitive pool of applicants, Tide Dry Cleaners® has been selected as a Gold Winner in the 2012 Edison Awards competition, receiving the top honor in the “New Retail Frontiers” category. The Edison Awards is a highly-prestigious and sought-after recognition and achievement, which this year celebrated 25 years of honoring the best in innovation and excellence in the development of new products and services
Tide Dry Cleaners® is an innovative expansion to the iconic Tide brand, leveraging the brand’s 65-year heritage in cleaning to delight consumers with a greater level of service and performance in dry cleaning. Tide Dry Cleaners currently operates in eight retail locations in Kansas, Ohio, Nevada, and Arizona, with many additional outlets currently under development across the United States through a network of individual franchisees and entrepreneurs.
Tide Dry Cleaners supports Procter & Gamble’s strategy of focusing on and growing its core brands and enables the Company to touch more consumers’ lives, more completely, with a solution that consumers are looking for. Tide Dry Cleaners is being led by Agile Pursuits Franchising Inc. (APFI), a wholly-owned subsidiary of P&G.
“We are both honored and humbled to be awarded a 2012 Gold Edison Award,” says Jeffrey Wampler, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Agile Pursuits Franchising, Inc. (APFI). “We feel very strongly about this business and the impact we can deliver for our customers, and are thrilled to see such positive recognition from The Edison Awards staff, its highly-distinguished and experienced panel of judges, and the broader innovation community.”
Being recognized with an Edison Award has become one of the highest accolades a company can receive in the name of innovation and business. The awards are named after Thomas Alva Edison (1847-1931) whose inventions, new product development methods and innovative achievements literally changed the world, garnered him 1,093 U.S. patents, and made him a household name around the world.
“As the pace of innovation quickens and the “race to next” becomes ever more competitive, it’s increasingly important to take a moment out of our hectic lives to recognize excellence in innovation and greatness in the teams of innovators who make our future. We are honored to present Tide Dry Cleaners with a Gold Edison Award as one of the leading innovators of today and tomorrow,” says Thomas Stat, 2012 Edison Awards Steering Committee Chairman.
The ballot of nominees for the Edison Awards™ was judged by a panel of more than 3,000 leading business executives including past award winners, members of the Marketing Executives Networking Group (MENG), academics and leaders in the fields of product development, design, engineering, science and medical.
The Tide Dry Cleaners business model is a natural extension to the Tide brand, following extensive P&G research and interaction with dry cleaning customers that confirmed that they were not satisfied with their current dry cleaning experience, often citing poor customer service, inconsistent cleaning performance and unsatisfactory clothing appearance as outages.
Tide Dry Cleaners has responded to this consumer feedback by setting a new standard in dry cleaning. Each location offers the impeccable cleaning and pressing to perfection that consumers have come to know and expect from Tide. Tide Dry Cleaners also brings industry-leading innovation and breakthrough cleaning technology to its customers. Through its partnership with GreenEarth®, and utilization of other P&G fabric care cleaning solutions for wet and dry cleaning, Tide Dry Cleaners is able to deliver amazing cleaning for a wide range of garments and textiles. Tide Dry Cleaners also offers convenient, 24-hour access, a clear pricing structure, and many locations can also include drive-thru valet service.
“Our close relationship with consumers and our focus on consumer-driven innovation has allowed us to better-understand the needs of the dry cleaning customer,” says Wampler. “We’re proud to offer a whole new experience for our customers, and we look forward to bringing the Tide Dry Cleaners Difference to more people throughout the country as we look to Change Dry Cleaning for Good.”
Tide Dry Cleaners Cleaning Benefits:
- Tide Back-to-Black™: Helps get even more life and wear from all-black cotton garments with an infusion of color.
- Tide ColorGuard™: Helps keep colors where they belong - in your clothes.
- Tide SpotLift™: Stain removal technology for a deep down fiber clean.
- Tide FreshScent™: Finally, dry cleaning with a crisp and clean scent.
- Tide Restore™ for Colors: Helps bring faded colors back to life.
- Tide Restore™ for Whites: Helps whites stay bright.
Rising Tide®
Tide Dry Cleaners is actively seeking passionate entrepreneurs for franchising opportunities across the United States. For more information on these opportunities, or to learn more about the innovative Tide Dry Cleaners business, please visit http://www.tidedrycleaners.com.
About Tide Dry Cleaners®
For 65 years, Tide laundry detergent has been caring for the clothes of American families and helping to provide the everyday miracle of clean clothing. Tide Dry Cleaners is an innovative extension to the Tide brand, allowing us to provide a superior service that consumers both want and need. We are now growing and expanding this business across the United States through individual entrepreneurs and franchisees. For more information on the Tide Dry Cleaners business, or to learn more about exciting franchising opportunities, please visit: http://www.tidedrycleaners.com.
About Procter & Gamble
P&G serves approximately 4.4 billion people around the world with its brands. The Company has one of the strongest portfolios of trusted, quality, leadership brands, including Pampers®, Tide®, Ariel®, Always®, Whisper®, Pantene®, Mach3®, Bounty®, Dawn®, Fairy®, Gain®, Pringles®, Charmin®, Downy®, Lenor®, Iams®, Crest®, Oral-B®, Duracell®, Olay®, Head & Shoulders®, Wella®, Gillette®, Braun®, Fusion®, Ace®, Febreze®, Ambi Pur®, SK-II®, and Vicks®. The P&G community includes operations 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 GreenEarth® Cleaning
GreenEarth® was founded in 1999 by three industry-renowned dry cleaners, Jim Barry, Ron Benjamin, and Jim Douglas. GreenEarth technology is licensed by more than 1,300 dry cleaners worldwide. For more information, visit www.greenearthcleaning.com.
About the Edison Awards
The Edison Awards represent the spirit of innovation personified by Thomas Edison, inspiring America’s drive to remain in the forefront of creativity and ingenuity in the global economy. Sponsors of the 2012 Edison Awards include: Nielsen, USA TODAY, Discovery Communications, SCIENCE, CSRware, applepeak and ViridiSTOR. For more information about the Edison Awards and a full list of winners, visit www.edisonawards.com.