Created by Shanthi Bhushan s, NIT Trichy during marketing management internship under Prof. Sameer Mathur, IIM Lucknow.

2. Colgate-Palmolive Company:
The Precision Toothbrush

4. $ 2.76 billion
$ 6.06 billion

5. $ 428 million

6. In 1991 $243
Million was
spend to
UPGRADE 25
of CP’s 91
Manufacturing
Plants

7. Reuben Mark, CP’s C.E.O since
1984 widely praised for his
leadership in transforming a
“sleepy and inefficient” company
into a lean and profitable one

9. PRODUCT SEGMENTATION
In the 1980’s, Industry executives divided the
Toothbrush category into two segments
• Value
• Professional
The late 1980’s saw the emergence of another
category called super premium brushes

12. Consumers replaced their brushes on average only once every 7.5 months, 45% of
consumers brushed before breakfast, 57% after breakfast, 28% after lunch, 24%
after dinner and 71% before bed.
ANALYZING CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR :

13. POSITIONING
• Precision was developed
with the objective of
creating best brush possible
and as such becoming a top
of the range product. Now
how do we position it?

15. NICHE POSITIONING STRATEGY :
• Target at consumers concerned about gum.
• It could command a 15% price premium over ORAL-B and would
be expected to capture 3% of the U.S toothbrush market by the
end of 1st year following its launch.
• If Precision is Mainstream brush, Precision would capture 10% of
the market share at the end of 1st year following its launch.

16. MAINSTREAM POSITIONING STRATEGY :
• Production capacity increases required 10 months lead-resulting in
inadequate supply of product.
• More appealing as it proclaimed larger market & volume share at the
end of 1 year after launch.
• Greater proportion of sales would occur through mass merchandisers
and club stores.

17. • “Precision By Colgate "would be more prominent as it would
reduce cannibalization of Colgate Plus-which is the bread and
butter of CP’s toothbrush line and secure its market position.
• Placing The Precision at the centre of the Brushes in the
storage shelves would ensure easy acceptance due to the
prevalence of the Brand at the same time- give it a unique stand.
BRANDING :

18. Investing a little more on Advertising and Promotion would not do much
harm as it shall give a head start to this potential product.
There must be several Consumer promotions to back the launch for the
mainstream positioning as this w attract a lot more potential buyers.
COMMUNICATION STRATEGY :

19. Since sampling would be critical to
Precision’s success, it would be
better to use Dentists to sample
consumers since professional
endorsements were more credible.
55% of test consumers found Precision to be very different from
their current toothbrushes.
77% claimed that Precision was much more effective than their
current toothbrush.

20. Pending 75% of all advertising dollars of CP’s category spending
for Precision was essential because it ensured Precision was able to
Reach its Potential consumers through extensive advertising. This
would not be a threat for CP’s Colgate plus a sit has its market
share secured by the Colgate’s Brand name, which is not the Case
with Precision.

21. Created by Shanthi Bhushan s, NIT Trichy
during a marketing internship
under Prof. Sameer Mathur, IIM Lucknow