For the 2009 fiscal year, which ended on June 30, Olay accounted for an estimated $2.8 billion of P&G's revenue.

It was unique in the early days because it was a pink fluid rather than a cream, packaged in a heavy glass bottle.

Wulff and his marketing partner, Jack Lowe, a former copywriter, had tested the product on their wives and friends and were confident in its uniqueness and quality.

Other advertisements were written as personal messages to the reader from a fictitious advice columnist named Margaret Merril.

[citation needed] Wulff and Lowe, who ran the company under the banner of Adams National Industries (ANI), did not sell the product to the trade.

In 1970, the ANI opened a test market in the United States (Chicago) and was expanding into northern Germany.

The company extended the product range to include items such as Night of Ulay and Beauty Cleanser and expanded into more countries (Spain, France, and Germany).

[citation needed] In 2024, the company introduced a new cosmetics science course with the online learning platform Coursera.