Tide is an American brand oflaundry detergent manufactured and marketed byProcter & Gamble. Introduced in 1946, it is the highest-selling detergent brand in the world, with an estimated 14.3 percent of the global market.^[2]

Tide

Product type	Laundry detergent
Owner	Procter & Gamble
Country	U.S.
Introduced	1946; 79 years ago (1946)[1]
Related brands	Tide Pods Ace (Morocco, Puerto Rico and Latin America except Ecuador and Panama) Alo (Turkey) Vizir (Poland) Daz (UK)
Markets	Worldwide
Website	www.tide.com

The household chore of doing the laundry began to change with the introduction of washing powders in the 1880s. These new laundry products were pulverized soap. New cleaning-product marketing successes, such as the 1890s introduction of theN. K. Fairbank Company'sGold Dust washing powder (which used a breakthroughhydrogenation process in its formulation),^[3] andHudson's heavily advertised product,Rinso,^[4] proved that there was a ready market for bettercleaning agents.Henkel & Cie's "self-activating" (or self bleaching) cleaner,Persil; (introduced in 1907);^[5] the earlysynthetic detergent,BASF's Fewa (introduced in 1932); andProcter & Gamble's 1933 totally synthetic creation,Dreft (marketed for use on infant-wear)^[6] —all indicated significant advances in the laundry cleaning product market.

The detergent business was further revolutionized with the discovery of thealkylbenzene sulfonates, which, when combined with the use of chemical "builders", mademachine washing withhard water possible.^[6] This presented Procter and Gamble with the opportunity to create a product such as Tide.

Tide Pod Dry Cleaning is the name of a 24/7 dry cleaning and laundry service with hundreds of locations across Chicago, Philadelphia, Denver, Washington D.C., Boston, Cincinnati, Dallas, Nashville and Charlotte.^[7]

The original Tide laundry detergent was a synthetic designed specifically for heavy-duty, machine cleaning (an advance over the milder cleaning capabilities ofFewa andDreft detergent brands).

Tide was first introduced in U.S. test markets in 1946 as the world's first heavy-duty detergent, with nationwide distribution accomplished in 1949. Tide claimed it was "America's Washday Favorite". Authority was quickly gained in the U.S. detergent market, dwarfing the sales ofIvory Snow; and accelerating the demise of two of its main competing products, Rinso and Gold Dust Washing Powder, both thenLever Brothers brands. These other brands came in the more familiar soap-powder and soap-flake forms. Tide, however, came shaped like a white powdered bead. The line was expanded to include an orange-tinted clear liquid form in 1984. Today, most formulations of liquid Tide, both concentrated and regular, are dark blue, with the exception of "Tide Free", which is clear.

In 2006, the development of Tide was designated an ACSNational Historic Chemical Landmark in recognition of its significance as the first heavy-duty synthetic detergent.^[8]

As of January 2013^[update], Tide has more than 30% of the liquid-detergent market, with more than twice as much in sales as the second-most-popular brandGain, although it costs about 50% more than the average liquid detergent.^[9]

For the company's national and international experience in sustainable development, and eco-friendly products, the Environment Possibility Award conferred the "Environmental Heroes of the Year" to Tide in 2020.^[10]

In some areas, Tide has become such a hot commodity item, that criminals steal it from stores to resell. Police call the detergent "liquid gold" on theblack market and it has been known to be traded or sold for illegal drugs.^[11]

In a 2009 survey, consumers ranked Tide among the three brands they would least likely give up during theGreat Recession.^[11] The Tidetrademark is an easily recognized, distinctive orange-and-yellow bulls-eye. This original logo was designed byDonald Deskey, an architect and famous industrial designer. The logo was slightly modified for the product's fiftieth anniversary in 1996, and remains in use today.

Tide was the first product to be nationally packaged usingDay-Glo colors—strikingly eye-catching when first introduced in 1959.^[12]

The Tide brand is on at least six powders and liquid detergents in the United States.

Tide is marketed under various sub-brands, such as 2× Ultra Tide.^[13] In the late 1960s and early 1970s, it was branded as Tide XK (forXtraKleaning),^[14] but it was rebranded simply as Tide later.

An addition to the Tide family, Tide Coldwater was formulated to remove stains while saving energy because it does not require hot or even warm water.^[13] Tide Free is marketed as being free from dyes or perfumes.^[15] Tide-To-Go is a product packaged in a pen-like format and intended to remove small stains on the spot, without further laundering.^[13]

InPuerto Rico,^[16] the Tide formula is marketed under the name Ace.

Since 2012, Tide has soldTide Pods, a line oflaundry detergent pod, making an estimated 15% of sales.^[17][18] In late 2017, an Internet meme was popularized around the concept ofeating Tide Pods^[19] and, as a result, people attempted the extremely dangerous "Tide Pods Challenge".^[20]

Tide has sponsored severalNASCAR stock cars, notably the Chevrolet "Tide Ride" driven byDarrell Waltrip as #17 forHendrick Motorsports. The relationship lasted from 1987 to 1990 and won the1989 Daytona 500.^[21][22] Waltrip left the team to form his own team.

Tide then sponsoredRicky Rudd in the #5 car afterLevi Garrett left Hendrick. Rudd drove for Hendrick until 1993, when he left the racing team, also to form his own team and taking the Tide sponsorship. Rudd Performance Motorsports ran from 1994 to 1999 and won the 4th Brickyard 400 in 1997. After Rudd became winless in his first time in 17 seasons, Tide left Rudd after being lured by Calvin Well's new teamPPI Motorsports. The new team's number was 32, which the sum of 17, 5, and 10.Scott Pruett was the first driver but after DNQing 6 times and no Top 10s,Ricky Craven took over in 2001 and responded with a win atMartinsville Speedway. He went winless in 2002, but one year later, he won the closest race in NASCAR history atDarlington in theCarolina Dodge Dealers 400, rubbing withKurt Busch for laps and with a margin-of-victory of 0.002 seconds.^[23] After no Top 10s halfway through the 2004 season, Craven left PPI and was replaced byBobby Hamilton Jr. for 2004 and 2005.Travis Kvapil ran for PPI in 2006 but with four DNQs.^[24]

Tide left the sport before it was going to sponsor one of Well's proposed Toyota teams in 2007. Tide was onKevin Harvick's truck a few times, butKroger was also promoting the car. Tide made its Cup series return in September 2016, when it sponsoredMatt Kenseth's No. 20 car for a Darlington tribute scheme.^[25] Tide extended their sponsorship toJoe Gibbs Racing to three races in 2017.^[26]

• Leu, Chelsea (May 27, 2016)."Here's What's Inside Those Magical Stain-Erasing Pens".Wired. RetrievedJanuary 18, 2018.
• Davis, Davis; Dalzell, Frederick; Olegario, Rowena (2004).Rising Tide: Lessons from 165 Years of Brand Building at Procter & Gamble. Harvard Business Publishing.ISBN 978-1-59139-147-0.

• Official website