Created by Jasjit Singh, during a marketing internship by Prof. Sameer Mathur

1. HARVARD BUSINESS CASE STUDY

2. Colgate Palmolive
• They are an American worldwide consumer
products company
• They are focused on the production,
distribution and provision of household,
health care and personal products

3. Colgate Palmolive Stats
• Colgate Palmolive offered two lines of
toothbrushes in ‘91- Colgate Classic and Colgate
Plus
• They have 16% of the world toothbrush market
• CP’s U.S. toothbrush sales in 1991 reached $77
million, with operating profits of $9.8 million
• CP held the number one position in the U.S. retail
toothbrush market with a 23.3% volume share

4. Product Segments
Colgate Palmolive has three segments of the
toothbrush category-
1. Professional
2. Value
3. Super Premium

5. Current Scenario
• Colgate Palmolive was poised to launch a new
toothbrush in the US in August 1992, named
Colgate Precision
• Susan Steinberg, Precision product manager,
had managed the entire new product
development process
• Now his task to recommend positioning,
branding, and communication strategies to
division general manager Nigel Burton

6. SWOT Analysis

7. Strengths
• Colgate-Palmolive has a large number of stock
keeping units for their toothbrush line
• Colgate-Palmolive’s strong commitment to
innovation through investment in R&D is a
prominent strength

8. Weaknesses
• Colgate Palmolive’s new toothbrush, Precision,
may affect sales of its existing toothbrush lines
• Their media layout is very small as compared
to their rivals

9. Opportunities
• The emergence of the niche “super-premium”
category presents a golden opportunity for
Colgate-Palmolive to increase market share
• Baby boomers and younger generations
becoming more concerned with the health of
their gums, so they be more willing to buy the
product

10. Threats
• The super premium toothbrush market is
highly competitive, hosting many brands and
private label toothbrushes
• There is a constant threat of buyers’ growing
bargaining power
• There is also a threat of suppliers’ growing
bargaining power

11. Competitors
1. Oral –B
2. Johnson & Johnson
3. Procter & Gamble
4. Smithkline Beecham

12. Consumer Behaviour
• Consumers differed in the intensity of their
involvement in oral hygiene. Most consumers agreed
that toothbrushes were as important as toothpaste to
effective oral hygiene and that the primary role of a
toothbrush was to remove food particles; plaque
removal and gum stimulation were considered
secondary.
• Colgate Palmolive’s consumer research indicated that
consumers were becoming more concerned about the
health of their gums as opposed to cavity prevention
and were willing to pay a premium for new products
addressing this issue.

13. Positioning Strategies
a) Mainstream marketing
- mass production, distribution and
promotion of a single product to all
potential buyers
b) Niche marketing
- targeting specifically defined groups of
consumers with a need that isn’t
currently well served

14. Mainstream marketing
• Advantages
a) Product made accessible to a larger market
b) Enables Colgate Palmolive to construct more
simple and direct campaign that would
address the common concerns of all
toothbrush buyers
c) Use of television and radio would be more
cost effective as it would reach a larger
audience

15. Mainstream marketing
• Disadvantages
a) Higher price makes a product less attractive
to the average consumer
b) It would be distributed through the same
channels as an existing Colgate Palmolive
toothbrush called Colgate Plus
c) This strategy could result in a loss of market
share in the value or high end segments

16. Why Niche marketing?
• The objective of the research and development
group working on the product was to “develop a
superior, technical, plaque-removing device”
• Produced to be “the best toothbrush possible”
and become the “top-of the-range, super-
premium product”
• Developed to be the best toothbrush possible
and placed in the super-premium category, this
toothbrush is inherently a niche product.

17. Advantages of Niche Marketing
• It allows for a concentrated, specific
advertising campaign, targeted to a specific
demographic, psychographic, behavioural or
geographic segment through whichever
medium is most effective at reaching the
specific population
• efficient use of advertising budgets

18. Promotion Strategies
• 5.oz tube of Colgate toothpaste with purchase
of Precision brush
• 50% off offer on any size of Colgate
toothpaste with 50 cent off on the brush
• Dentists endorsing the brush
• Affordable pricing attractive to rural areas

19. Conclusion
• Precision was more than a niche product or
simple line extension and that the proven
benefits to consumers represented a
technological breakthrough.
• Precision’s unique design could remove more
plaque from teeth than the other leading
toothbrushes in the market.

20. Disclaimer
Created by Jasjit Singh, S.G.T.B. Khalsa College,
Delhi University during a marketing internship
by Prof. Sameer Mathur, IIM Lucknow.