…. maybe in life, but definitely not while your are positioning your brand or offering a promise. Brevity is the soul of wit and brand positioning.
Lux is glamour.
Dettol is protection.
Axe is sexual attraction.
Close Up is fresh breath.
What is Colgate? Yup, protection.
And what is Pepsodent? Protection, again?
How can two brands in the same category have the same positioning and still survive to tell the tale? They both did, didn’t they? Colgate has around 40% market share and Pepsodent has around 20% or so.
Pepsodent was younger; has far more modern imageries and is probably more kiddish than Colgate, which is older, serious and motherly. And Pepsodent has a strong ‘reason to believe’ – Germi-check formula (whatever that meant!).
And then something happened. The marketing whiz kids at Levers relaunched Pepsodent aka giving the brand a face-lift.
‘Dus nahi toh bas nahi’ – Pepsodent now fights 10!
The more the merrier!
Why just fight germs. Now let your toothpaste fight ……wait a minute. What are the 10 things that Pepsodent fights with?
Do you remember…..at least one of them? That’s the point. And that’s Pepsodent’s problem today.
Give the human mind one thing to remember and chances are high it would. Give it more than one, and it remembers none. Give it ten, and recalling them is anything but fun!
Germi-check was easy to remember. ‘Dus nahi toh bas nahi’ is easy to remember too but what’s difficult to remember is what those 10 things are. Consumers can’t recall. And when consumers can’t recall they don’t realize why they should buy the brand. And when they don’t realize that, they don’t actually buy the brand. Period.
It is already being evident. A recent press report quotes industry figures and states Pepsodent grew only 2% last year. The industry, though, grew by 14%.
A new growing brand like Pepsodent has stopped growing and is almost stagnating.
Surprised? I am. Not that it is stagnating but that it actually managed to grow in spite of the confused revamp.
By the way, Colgate grew, thank you. They have just one thing to establish – protection. And they are doing it well and doing fine in the market too.
More, in the context of brand positioning or promise, is no merry. Just a cause for worry!
6 comments:
But I am not quite sure if that's what they wanted to emphasize in the advertisement. Because if my memory's right, only towards the end I think they actually mentioned those ten things in white pointed arrows..in such a haste that blink and you'll miss it! So Iam thinking what they wanted to emphasize was that Pepsodent fought five more things than a normal toothpaste did rather than the ten things themselves. Because there's a difference....All I can think of was that Peopsodent wanted to go the kids way....I use a Pepsodent myself but don't ask me why I use it!!!
What u have mentioned may be right, as we cant remember more than one things at a time, as we are humans!! but i read a news,which says, our indian brand dabur have made a over all growth bith in volume and value ,higher than the colgate and HLL.
"Dabur’s oral care brands recorded combined year-on-year value growth of 23.7%, ahead of Colgate (16.7%) and Hindustan Lever Ltd (11.2%). The overall Rs 3,040 crore oral care category (toothpaste and toothpowder put together) grew 15.3% during the year. "
and when u see, Daburs brands like babool, Promise and Meswak
for which we didnt even know whats their postioning is..????y is it so?? atlest in this case we remember pepsodent, but Dabur's brands are also growing in good pace in a market, where u have big brands against u..?? how come this is happening??
These Dabur brands have clear positionings: 'Meswak' is ayurvedic toothpaste with anti-bacterial properties, 'Promise' has clove oil and Babool has ayurvedic and medicinal properties. Maybe you and me haven't heard much about these brands because they are probably more popular among semi-urban and rural towns. But these brands offer single-mind strong promise and have a believable 'reason to believe' as well. Hence they are growing!
We have studied about most innovative companies and the importance of "innovation". this years most innovative companies list has been released and 3M,, the most discused company in our classes, has lost 4 places, when compared to last year and now its in 7th place. i am enclsoing the link for ur reference. has 3M's speed of inovation is reduced or other companies started to feel the importance of that factor??
http://bwnt.businessweek.com/interactive_reports/most_innovative/index.asp?chan=innovation_special+report+--+2007+most+innovative+companies_2007+most+innovative+companies
P.S: can i have ur mail Id. mine is ramz.iipm@gmail.com
Daburs brands are priced at half that of Pepsodent and CDC. No wonder they sell more in the rural market.
However, the point about the Pepsodent relaunch being less than ideal is well made , and the guys at HUL need to lift their game if they are to push growth numbers back to original levels.
Took me time to read the whole article, the article is great but the comments bring more brainstorm ideas, thanks.
- Johnson
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