Case Study: Toothpaste, from Oral-Care to Beauty Care
Toothpaste is considered a "low-interest" category item. That is, you don't worry about the brand you're buying as long as it fulfills your primary objective of keeping your teeth clean. But I beg to differ. Most people, in my opinion, make an educated pre-purchase decision on what they want their toothpaste brand to offer. While clean and whitened teeth are typical expectations, my research shows that the majority base their purchases on three types of value offerings: freshness, cavity protection, and sensitivity expertise.
Market Trends
So far, the global toothpaste industry has grown at a CAGR of 3.4 percent, with a market size of USD 18.35 billion in 2020. Toothpaste brands that specialize in cavity protection and sensitivity are the most common, especially in South Asia, where these categories are growing at a CAGR of 4%. However, somewhere along the way, brands positioning freshness lost touch with their customers, making these brands more susceptible to impulse purchases or price-sensitive choices. Since then, demand for brands in the freshness category has declined.
Specialty Toothpaste brands are on the rise!
Let's be honest for a minute. Most of us do not brush our teeth twice a day as we should. It is very likely that we forget about it or do not feel like it's that necessary to do so. However, this is not the case for the users of specialty toothpaste brands. Apart from offering a unique solution to specific problems, these brands habituate their customers to brush twice a day. Often, their presence can be so strong that other customers will turn to these categories even though they do not have sensitive teeth or cavities. Specialty brands quickly proved to be an unstoppable force, & the peoples' unwavering loyalty to these brands became an immovable object for the freshness brands to counter. Hence, the freshness brands introduced their unstoppable force!
Repositioning from Oral-Care to Beauty-Care
Some marketers address this strategy as one of the most innovative marketing ploys, in the Oral-Care market, since the "brushing twice a day with a toothpaste" routine. Here's why?
1) Brushing is now the New Beauty Routine.
More than any other generation, Generation Y and Generation Z are obsessed with appearance. You won't find a baby boomer who cares about the stains on the incumbent's teeth. But Generation Y and Generation Z do! Sadly, freshness is not a good enough claim to make these generations care. Hence to appeal to these generations now & in the long term, the typical brushing routine is rebranded as a beauty routine, reinforcing brushing twice daily. Furthermore, these brands remain no longer unknown to these generations, instilling relatability and shaping their potential purchasing habits.
2) Different, yet Relevant.
Freshness brands moved away from the "Feel-Good" loop to promote "Self-Improvement." Teeth are essentially the same as skin to these brands, and they want their target audience to feel the same way. So, in the product development phase, beauty ingredients, like charcoal, were incorporated into the product & the packaging was inspired to resemble a beauty brand. Later these products were tested out in similar beauty line distribution channels on the same beauty brand consumers. Promotions and partnerships with social media influencers created offline and online WOM, which is ironic given that dentists were once the key influencers in this category. Overall, freshness brands differentiated themselves from the brands in the sensitivity & cavity protection categories, creating more brand relevancy with its customers.
Once toothpaste brands were the preachers of oral hygiene, but now they thrive off people's insecurities. "Your smile leaves a first impression on someone. Make sure it's a good one. Be smile sensitive!"
Nonetheless, this has been one of the significant turnarounds in consumer marketing & with the recent restrictions on promoting consumer goods by medical experts & professionals, do you think such rebranding might work for Bangladeshi toothpaste brands? Let me know your thoughts.
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