Duracell

Duracell

Type	Batteries
Owner	Procter & Gamble
Introduced	1930
Previous owners	Mallory Battery Company
Website	http://duracell.com

Duracell is a brand of batteries manufactured by Procter & Gamble.

Additionally, Duracell owns the Procell professional-use brand.^[1]

Products

A Duracell AA battery

Duracell manufactures alkaline batteries in many common sizes, such as AAA, AA, C, D, and 9V. Lesser used sizes such as AAAA (primarily for pagers, penlights, and blood glucose meters) and J size batteries (for hospital devices) are also manufactured along with a range of "button" batteries using zinc-air, silver-oxide and lithium chemistries, used in calculators, watches, hearing aids, and other small (mostly medical related) devices. Duracell entered into a brand licensing agreement with flash memory manufacturer Dane-Elec in 2008 for a line of products including memory cards, hard drives and USB flash drives with the Duracell brand mark and in the brand's trademark "copper top" coloring.^[2]

Duracell also manufactures specialty batteries, including NiMH rechargeable batteries and batteries for cameras, watches, hearing aids, etc. Their two main battery brands are "Coppertop," marketed as longer-lasting, and "Ultra," directed mainly at users of digital devices and devices that need more power. Duracell also has a line of lithium chemistry batteries and products, now manufactured outside of the U.S.

A Duracell Procell AA box with the battery superimposed

A Duracell flashlight from the 1980s

In recent years, Duracell's innovations expanded to include new battery designs with their prismatic batteries, which are prismatic in shape rather than cylindrical. Prismatic cells were made available in both alkaline and lithium designs. In 2006, Duracell introduced "Power Pix^TM" batteries with NiOx technology, designed to supply longer life in digital cameras and other high drain devices by up to twice the number of photos typically achievable with alkaline batteries.

Duracell batteries are also bulk packaged for end users under the brand name Procell.

History

Duracell originated via the partnership of scientist Samuel Ruben and businessman Philip Rogers Mallory, who met during the 1920s. The P.R. Mallory Company produced mercury batteries for military equipment, trumping the carbon-zinc batteries used then in virtually all applications. During the 1950s, Kodak introduced cameras with a flash: the design required a new cell size, and size AAA was developed.

In 1964, the term "Duracell" was introduced as a brand. The name is a portmanteau for "durable cell."

The name came from a conversation with A-1 Durable Carpet & Fabric Specialist Inc. and an executive from Mallory Battery which were both from Waterbury CT. The executive called the cleaning company and asked if A-1 Durable Carpet & Fabric Specialist Inc. had a trademark on the name Durable. The executive spoke to the son of the cleaning company, Steven Nobrega. The executive explained how they were thinking of calling a new battery that had a copper cell "Durable Cell" and asked how the name suited the cleaning company. The owner's son explained that his father was the owner of a franchise originally called "Duraclean". His father had chosen the new cleaning company name for the cleaning company by dropping the clean in "Duraclean" and added able to Dura to keep the name similar. The two of them started playing with the name for the new battery and the executive and owners son instantly agreed that Duracell was a better name for the new battery.^{[citation needed]}

P.R. Mallory was acquired by Dart Industries in 1978, which in turn merged with Kraft in 1980. Kohlberg Kravis Roberts bought Duracell in 1988 and took the company public in 1989. It was acquired by Gillette in 1996.

Dynacharge was owned by Duracell.

In September 2011, Duracell and Powermat Ltd. have made a joint venture, called Duracell Powermat to make small wireless charger for mobile phone and small electronics. P&G will own 55 percent of the joint venture shares and the rest is for Powermat.^[3]

Advertising campaigns

Duracell's advertising campaigns in the United States have always outlined the reliability of Duracell batteries, and usually end with a three-note chime highlighting each syllable in the brand name (and previously highlighting the trademark "copper top" portion of the battery's overlay wrapping). These campaigns show people using the battery to power the devices they find most important: everything from a Defibrillator to a BrickHouse Child Locator.^[4]

Some of Duracell's most notable advertising campaigns include:

• Duracell "Trusted Everywhere" "Heart" Campaign^[5]
• Duracell "Trusted Everywhere" "BrickHouse Child Locator" Campaign^[6]
• Duracell "Trusted Everywhere" "Firefighters" Campaign^[7]

See also

• Duracell Bunny
• The Puttermans

Further reading

• Hintz, Eric S., “Portable Power: Inventor Samuel Ruben and the Birth of Duracell,” Technology and Culture, 50 (Jan. 2009), 24–57.

References

1. ^ "Products". Duracell corporate site (Procter & Gamble). http://www.duracell.com/procell/products/default.asp. Retrieved 2007-05-11. 
2. ^ Duracell Advances 'Trusted Everywhere' Brand Name To Flash Memory Products
3. ^ "Duracell, wireless power company Powermat team up". September 14, 2011. http://old.news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110914/ap_on_hi_te/us_duracell_powermat. 
4. ^ http://www.brickhousesecurity.com/child-locator.html
5. ^ http://www.duracell.com/advertising/heart_wm.asp
6. ^ http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=3C0C9B6B3DCC1A9C&search_query=brickhouse+security/
7. ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFiExKZqyoI

External links

• Official website
• Duracell flash memory website