Why Did Corporate America Break Up With Design?

Every company wanted to be Apple. Then reality set in.

- By Suzanne Labarre

In 2005, the future of American business was reflected in the spotless tile behind a toilet bowl. Procter & Gamble had released the Mr. Clean Magic Reach, a sleek tool with a detachable head for scrubbing the darkest recesses of a bathroom. Developed in just 18 months, it represented a strategic move to elevate design throughout P&G, an effort that then CEO A.G. Lafley had spearheaded with an almost religious fervor. "Remember that one of the disciples had to put his hand in the bloody wounds to believe," he told a reporter at the time, comparing the design skeptics within various divisions of the company to an incredulous apostle. "We have some businesses that are doubting Thomases." His conviction paid off. P&G's sales doubled and profits quadrupled between 2000 and 2009, aided by the steady release of new, design-forward products.

P&G wasn't alone. Throughout the 2000s and 2010s, stalwarts (Coca-Cola, McDonald's, Ford) and startups (Jawbone, Casper) alike were converting to the church of design. IBM, for instance, spent more than $100 million to open 10 design labs and hire 1,000 new designers. For these companies, design wasn't just a tool for prettying up a product line; it was an identity, a differentiator, the ultimate competitive advantage. It's what led Coca-Cola to unveil a soda fountain inspired by a Ferrari and McDonald's to sink $2.4 billion into modernizing its restaurants. Fast Company captured the emerging sentiment in a 2004 issue that showcased 20 designers and design advocates: "Design shapes a company's reason for being; it has become an undeniably transformative force in business and society."