In this article, I’ll talk about Signal’s strategy on the toothpaste
market.
Until recently, Signal, which belongs to Unilever, was the
undisputed leader of the French oral care market. But since last year, Signal
has to fight against Oral-B and the financial strength of Procter and Gamble. To
conquer the growing oral care market Oral-B strategy was simple, a lot of
different reference (22 exactly in 2013) supported by a huge marketing budget
of 30 million euros. Because of Oral-B,
Signal had to increase its advertising budget by 50% to reach 37 million euros.
You have probably seen the Oral-B ad, with the famous Mac
Lesggy. It represents the importance for the brands to have a scientific
guarantee. Oral-B representative visits to dental office were multiplied by
three last year, and they give more than 12 million free samples. Signal prefers sending free sample on request
and is also present at school; they give, each year, oral care kits to school
teachers. To give a glamorous aspect to toothpaste, Oral-B has hired Shakira,
an extremely popular singer, to represent whitening toothpaste. Oral-B is aware
of the fact that toothpaste is now almost a beauty product and no more a
hygiene one.
Both brands communicate on their “miraculous” remedy. For
signal, it’s micro-granules, while for Oral-B it’s tin ion. The brands can
offer toothpaste with ten different actions, and it obviously affects the price
–in a good way for the company, but in a bad way for us, customers-.
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