Colgate Dental Cream : ye hai hamari suraksha chakra

Brand : Colgate Dental Cream

Agency : Rediffusion DYR



Colgate has been ruling the Rs 2200 crore oral care segment for long with a market share of over 50%.

The flagship brand of this multinational giant is The Colgare Dental cream which alone has a market share of 35%.
The toothpaste segment can be divided in to three segments : white, Gel and herbal based on the product characteristic.

Colgate had enjoyed higher market share all through the years despite stiff competition from the likes of HLL and a host of regional brands. But the gaint shed its lethargy and stood up, fought the war and won.

When Colgate was enjoying its leadership position in the market, HLL successfully entered the market with a googly. It created a new segment with Close- up gel. While using Pepsodent to fight the Colgate Dental Cream (CDC), it created a market for itself with the gel that came in funky colours and excellent advertising.
Every marketer has then signed Colgate off saying that it cannot fight with the marketing giant HLL.
But colgate struck back with the launch of Colgate fresh energy gel and the famous campaign " TALK TO ME" starring the charming VJ Purab that stole the gel category from HLL .

Close up never recovered from that blow.

Then the multinational faced the onslaught of regional brands like Ajanta , babool that gave these guys a run for their money by selling toothpaste for ridiculously low price .These regional brands quickly gained market share from these MNC,s and a lot was written about the rise of regional brands.

Colgate and HLL responded to this threat by coming out with low priced flanking brands. Colgate launched low priced Cibaca to counter the regional brand while HLL had Aim to counter it.
The current figures show that the regional brands are finding it difficult to sustain the market share.

Colgate' s flagship brand CDC had consistantly positioned itself in the germ fighting platform. It had the famous " suraksha chakra " platform from where it had built its brand to this level.

All marketers know that it takes lot of smart thinking to keep the brand alive in a market. So Colgate launched many variants to ward off threats from the niche players and adapt to the changing tastesof the market. For example, it launched the herbal toothpaste when every one talked about the efficacy of herbs. The came the advanced whitening formula to fight the threat from Pepsodent whitening variant

The latest addition is the Colgate with power of active salt. The brand is developed after a careful study on the customers: the company says. Colgate undertook a study of a "day in the life of a customer" that gave lot of inputs about the customer's trigger and touch points.

As of now it is great going for the brand

Brand Update : Colgate Moves to Higher Brand Values

In an interesting move, Colgate has moved from its traditional positioning of Strong Teeth to a much higher brand value of inner strength. The campaign started with Deepika Padukone and is currently taken forward with an endorsement from M.S.Dhoni and his wife Sakshi.

Colgate which rules the Indian market was very consistent with the brand's positioning. The imagery of the dentist and the demo using shell has remained the main theme of most of Colgate Dental Cream's advertising.

The new Colgate campaign talks about inner strength and tries to link the brand to the message. The tagline - Ander Se Strong which means: Be Strong from Inside. The new positioning is strengthened by the endorsement from Deepika Padukone and Dhoni. In a testimonial kind of ad, the brand uses the celebrities' personal experience to drive the new positioning. 

It is not that Colgate has completely moved to higher-order brand values. In a follow-up ad, the brand is also reminding the consumers about the original positioning based on calcium and strong teeth. As a market leader, Colgate has to constantly be ahead of the game in this highly competitive market. The Indian toothpaste industry is witnessing changes prompted by the initiatives by brands like Patanjali Dant Kanthi. The new campaign definitely helps Colgate stay ahead of the competitors for a while. 

Close Up : Kya Ap CloseUp Karthe hain?

Brand : Close Up
Company: HLL
Agency:O&M

CloseUp is the original youth brand in Indian toothpastes. Launched in 1975, this brand is the first gel toothpaste aiming at the youth segment. HLL through CloseUp have created and owned a segment for itself.
The 2200 crore toothpaste market that was dominated by Colgate Dental Cream needed some competition and Hll used CloseUp effectively to fight the market leader.CloseUp was a disruptive brand that changed the structure of toothpaste market in India. With the red colour and smart advertising , it forced the market leader to change its strategy and launch a gel variant.
The customer insight was that people are conscious about their breath and want to get close with each other with confidence. Based on this insight the brand was positioned on the Fresh Breath platform . The campaign was executed showing "Happy couples having fun together". Even film Theatres had corners called as "Close Up Corners". The brand had the aspirational persona in it. Close Up have used films and filmi songs to appeal to the Indian youth. Close Up was the first brand to introduce the " Self Check" of breath. The famous " HA HA" was the idea of Close Up introduced in year 1987.

In 2004 Close Up again was relaunched. During that period, the fight between Pepsodent and Colgate was hotting up. Both of these brands were owning the oral care platform and CloseUp 's share was coming down. Close Up found that its mono-attribute focus is losing the sheen .Hll relaunched CloseUp With Vitamin and Flouride . Thus CloseUp offered more than Fresh Breath it also offered Oral Care.

Close Up launched lot of variants that bombed in the market. The variants like Oxy fresh and Eucalyptus Blue failed in the market. HLL decided that only the Lemon variant will continue. The reason behind the failure of variant is because Close Up is a Sensorial brand. And in such kind of brands, variants will not work. In categories which are more rational, variants will work.

Colgate have given a run for money for Close Up with their gel variant. The "Talk To Me" campaign was a run away success. Colgate failed to capitalise on that campaign- that is another issue. But the gel variant took the breath out of Close Up.

Close Up had to reinvent to keep the category that it created. The account was shifted from JWT to O&M. Now the mother brand is focusing on three attributes : Fresh breath, White Teeth and Strong Teeth.

O&M have brought out a campaign " Kya aap Close Up Karthe Hain" which was perceived as "cool" among the market.

The recent campaign which aims at positioning on the "Smile " factor is a damp squib, the campaign is poorly executed and treats the target market as a bunch of adolescents who will do any thing to attract the opposite sex. Indians never was bothered about the way they look, let alone how their teeth look like. That is why 33% of urban market is not using tooth pastes and 67% of rural still use the traditional way of brushing teeth like neem sticks. So when the ad shows that a young person being conscious about their teeth, it does not click.( my opinion). I guess the agency have run out of ideas.

This is a brand that have created a category for itself. It will be sad if it cannot dominate that category. But that is what marketing is all about " survival of the smartest".