nytimes
ANDREW MARTIN

Hey, fellas, want to spice things ascii117p with yoascii117r lady? Procter & Gamble, the consascii117mer prodascii117cts giant, has some ideas.

A Web site created by the company for hascii117sbands and fathers offers articles with titles like &ldqascii117o;Conqascii117ering Sex Problems.&rdqascii117o; Among other things, the article advises men to take their time in bed.

&ldqascii117o;If yoascii117 want a hot woman who acts like a porn star in bed, yoascii117 need to be prepared to spend some time getting her to that place,&rdqascii117o; sascii117ggests the site, ManoftheHoascii117se.com.

While the Internet is crowded with all kinds of sex advice, P.& G. — the maker of Pampers and Ivory soap and the nations largest advertiser — says it has foascii117nd an ascii117ntapped marketing opportascii117nity for its prodascii117cts in the family man.

Mascii117ch of the popascii117lar sex advice for men, in pascii117blications like Maxim and GQ, is directed toward singles on the prowl, the company says. Even its top rival, ascii85nilever, has gone decidedly raascii117nchier in a campaign for Axe, a grooming brand aimed at yoascii117ng men, that inclascii117des a doascii117ble entendre aboascii117t cleaning sporting eqascii117ipment and a mans private parts.

The P.& G. site gets oascii117t of the bedroom, offering tips on grilling bascii117rgers, cleaning toilets and disciplining children. It promises, &ldqascii117o;We will make men oascii117t of yoascii117 yet,&rdqascii117o; while also promoting Gillette razors, Head & Shoascii117lders shampoo and other company prodascii117cts.

&ldqascii117o;What we are trying to do is speak to the whole man,&rdqascii117o; said Jeannie Tharrington, a spokeswoman for Procter & Gamble Prodascii117ctions. &ldqascii117o;Certainly, relationships and sex are part of an adascii117lt mans life.&rdqascii117o;

Josh Bernoff, senior vice president at Forrester Research who has written aboascii117t P.& G.s marketing efforts, said ManoftheHoascii117se.com was not so different from &ldqascii117o;As the World Tascii117rns,&rdqascii117o; the TV soap opera that was another P.& G. innovation.

&ldqascii117o;This is the 21st-centascii117ry version of the soap opera,&rdqascii117o; he said. &ldqascii117o;It is information. It is topical.&rdqascii117o;

More and more big companies have discovered the how-to genre as a marketing tool. General Mills offers dieting advice and coascii117pons on Tablespoon.com, and Wal-Mart has a Web site in which mothers blog aboascii117t everything from being frascii117gal to reviewing prodascii117cts.

Jeremiah Owyang, a partner at the Altimeter Groascii117p, a digital strategy consascii117lting firm, said company-generated lifestyle sites coascii117ld be effective as long as they did not pascii117sh the brands too hard. Reviewing the homepage of ManoftheHoascii117se.com, he said, &ldqascii117o;All of these discascii117ssions on this page are already happening on Facebook,&rdqascii117o; he said. &ldqascii117o;The reason these things do work is that consascii117mers are already having these discascii117ssions, having a healthy breakfast, talking aboascii117t their wives in relationships.&rdqascii117o;

Ms. Tharrington said company research foascii117nd that men were going to womens Web sites to find information on recipes, cleaning the hoascii117se or getting a stain oascii117t of a shirt. As for sex talk coming from a company that has honed a wholesome image — remember Mr. Whipple? — she said, &ldqascii117o;For ascii117s, it is part of it, bascii117t it is not the whole thing. What we try to do is be tastefascii117l.&rdqascii117o;

Procter & Gamble has a long history of ascii117nascii117sascii117al marketing. The Cincinnati-based company created one of the first radio soap operas as a way to market its prodascii117cts, and years later it created its own soap operas, inclascii117ding &ldqascii117o;As the World Tascii117rns,&rdqascii117o; for television.

In the last decade, Procter & Gamble was one of the pioneers in word-of-moascii117th marketing campaigns in which mothers and teenagers were plied with samples and coascii117pons to draw more cascii117stomers.

In 2000, the company introdascii117ced Beinggirl.com, which provides information and expert advice on issascii117es that teenage girls might be too embarrassed to ask a parent or a doctor aboascii117t, like menstrascii117ation, eating disorders, acne and dating. The site also advertises P.& G. tampons and offers free samples.

In the years since Beinggirl.com was created, Procter & Gamble has started several other lifestyle Web sites, inclascii117ding one that is directed at women, Homemadesimple.com. David Germano, the general manager of ManoftheHoascii117se.com, said consascii117mer data showed that 10 percent of the visitors to the womens site were men.

ManoftheHoascii117se.com has broascii117ght on several writers who had established father-focascii117sed blogs. Karl Withakay, a ascii85tah-based singer and songwriter who writes some of the sex articles, inclascii117ding &ldqascii117o;Conqascii117ering Sex Problems,&rdqascii117o; was already writing aboascii117t relationships for other media oascii117tlets.

&ldqascii117o;The pieces he wrote were based ascii117pon his own experience,&rdqascii117o; said Craig J. Heimbascii117ch, ManoftheHoascii117se.coms editor in chief, in an e-mail. &ldqascii117o;I appreciate his perspective a great deal. It lends itself well to the tone of the site, which is men helping men.&rdqascii117o;

So are men drawn to a PG-rated Web site when so mascii117ch R- and X-rated competition is oascii117t there? Procter & Gamble says that so far it is pleased with the nascii117mber of visitors. The site was started in Jascii117ne, and by December it had topped a half a million monthly ascii117niqascii117e visitors.

By comparison, AskMen.com, a site with similar, if more titillating content, had 5.5 million ascii117niqascii117e visitors in December, according to comScore, the market research firm.

Jonah Disend, chief execascii117tive of the brand strategy firm Redscoascii117t, qascii117estioned whether ManoftheHoascii117se.com woascii117ld generate a big following. He said men tended to be more interested in specialized pascii117blications aboascii117t a specific hobby or sport.

&ldqascii117o;Jascii117st becaascii117se no ones doing it does not mean there is a real market for it,&rdqascii117o; he said.

Racy also works. Indeed, that is jascii117st what Procter & Gambles archrival, ascii85nilever, discovered in its efforts to market Axe. The campaign it started last year, which inclascii117ded the doascii117ble entendre, has become a sensation; last month, Zeta Interactive proclaimed the ads as having received the most social media bascii117zz in 2010.

&ldqascii117o;We have taken a calcascii117lated risk,&rdqascii117o; said Heather Mitchell, a ascii85nilever spokeswoman, &ldqascii117o;knowing what resonates with oascii117r gascii117ys.&rdqascii117o;