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Beauty is more than skin deep, as evidenced by the continued escalation in the oral care category. While Colgate remains the top-selling toothpaste brand, Crest has narrowed the gap by quickly introducing new toothpaste varieties, in some cases leaving Colgate to follow with me-too items.
Consider Crest Whitening Expressions: With seemingly nothing left to do to jazz up toothpaste, Procter & Gamble launched the colorful line, which consists of Cinnamon Rush, Citrus Burst and Extreme Herbal Mint. The items are meant to appeal to ethnic and younger consumers-or, as one P&G marketing director put it, "experiential-seeking consumers."
To play up the point, Crest has been using pitchman Emeril Lagasse, the Food Network chef known for his spicy New Orleans-style cooking and peppy shtick. In TV ads via Saatchi & Saatchi, New York, he is seen brushing his teeth while employing his trademark phrases, "Bam!" and "Kick it up a notch."
In response, Colgate recently launched its own extensions, Colgate Sparkling White toothpaste in Cinnamon Spice Gel with Mint Zing Baking Soda and Peroxide. Such efforts to use highly flavored products to lure, for example, Hispanic consumers, is not unlike those of marketers within the household products category (see page S56), where manufacturers have been offering a growing number of highly scented detergents and fabric softeners.
Crest's efforts are working. Based on the top 15 items in the toothpaste category, per Information Resources Inc., Colgate sold only $36 million more last year than Crest ($368 million in 2003, versus Crest's $332 million), as compared with the $56 million sales difference in 2002, when Colgate' sales were $397 million versus Crest's $341 million.
Unilever, meanwhile, sold its four oral care brands last fall to Church &...