Things that go bump in the night in your mouth. (Or, the battle to coin new cavity-based categories.)

Toothpaste is the most diverged product on earth. It's true.

We've grew so damn flustered in the toothpaste aisle choosing between whiter teeth, fresher breath, better gum health, stronger gums, sensitive gums, no coffee stains, no cigarette stains, gels, pastes, rinses and tri-color gels, that we became all-too happy to catapult the converged toothpaste of Colgate 'Total' to leader of the pack.

Why?

Because damn't, it took care of all the problems--including the problem of choosing between so many benefits.

And now Crest wants its market share back. As its days in the lead are long gone.

In fact, days are all but taken. So now it wants to own the night. (which is smart, if a good bit silly)

Yep, Crest has come out with an at-risk strategy assailing us while we're in the safest place on earth, happily sleeping in our happy beds. As if I don't have enough to worry about when I'm awake.

I'm calling it Crest's "bump-in-the-night category" play. To be sure, I'm only saying it here because I can't pay much more mind to toothpaste after this post.

Yup, this toothpaste has hung its platform on giving you peace of mind when you're deep in your subconscious mind. It even asks "Is your mouth vulnerable at night?"and features a groovy doc that tells us how at night--vs. the day--germs in your mouth multiply by the millions.

Which begs the burning question: are germs nocturnal, or are they just scared of sunlight?

The TV spots (not available, sorry) depict these cartoon germs floating around your mouth...which, to me, oddly resemble those massive worms from Dune. In true marketing fashion, you need both the toothpaste and the rinse to really protect your mouth from the little critters.

The big benefit they're touting? Now you'll wake up with a cleaner mouth.

So, to those of you who use Crest Pro-Health, please do tell me if when you wake up your mouth is that much cleaner than without it. My bet?

You likely race to brush your teeth in the morning just like in previous years.

In fact I guarantee it.

While I think it will do well, it's mainly because Crest has come back to a "health" positioning--after all, I believe they coined the "4 out of 5 dentists agree" line back in the 70s or 80s.

Sorry, those wormy germs just make me giggle. Almost as much as promising your mouth will be fresher in the morning. Silly marketers.

Comments

[Tangerine Toad]

I wonder if they will be able to create this category, if we've moved past that time where you could create "halitosis" and sell millions of bottles of Listerine.

[Yianni (Social Media Guy)]

Toothpaste is a wonderful thing. It is the best product to describe the evolution of the American consumer. I go to the supermarket and have dozens of brands to choose from, all of which pretty much do the same thing (night germs vs. day germs...give me a break). The 21st century buyer needs to make an emotional connection with their toothpaste, and every other product. And how do we make Crest and Colgate brands that people can connect with? I personally use Colgate because Crest (P&G) tests on animals. No big deal but I figured if they do the same thing why not choose the one that loves puppies. I like animals. Colgate likes animals. I use Colgate. So going back to creating that emotional connection...It's all about aligning the brand with people's core believes. Cause-branding, social media, transparency, community building, productive dialogue and brand design are the ticket to success.

[David Reich]

Toothpaste aside -- no matter which brand -- there's another issue with dental hygiene. Dentists are seeing a significant increase in the number of cavities people are getting. They're attributing it to all the bottled water that people are drinking, which doesn't have cavity-fighting fluoride that's in most tap water today.

So, many people are paying big bucks for designer water, and they're getting less benefit, other than the ego-massage of drinking "in" water.

The wonders of marketing.

(I wrote on bottled water a while ago. http://reichcomm.typepad.com/my_weblog/environment/index.html )

[Tangerine Toad]

@David: This is a huge issue for people with young children.

We live in a town that has good-tasting tap water, so we've given up on the bottled stuff.

There's also a whole category of flouride-enhanced bottled water for kids, which we definitely partake of.

Funny how these things work.

[CK]

David & Toad, Please stay on topic on this blog. We are talking toothpaste not water in this thread.

Just kidding ;-)

As Yianni stated above (thanks for chiming in Yianni!), toothpaste categories and brands do reflect our evolution as consumers...as does the many, many brands of an otherwise 'free' product (in water).

And as Yianni also hit upon with aligning purchase choice with cause/values...I had to struggle not to include in the above post how we have so much choice over stinkin' toothpaste while underdeveloped countries don't even get potable water. 'Fiji' brand bottled water goes for big bucks and the citizens of Fiji can't even get clean water. Which makes me wonder why the Fiji brand doesn't leverage the goodwill opp and give a % to that effort (maybe they do? I don't think so).

[CK]

then again...if Fiji brand did give to that effort, they'd be revealing that they were raping the region of good water to sell to us greedy Americans (who have clean water from our taps; water that I believe includes flouride).

Stinkin' marketers.

[jbf]

Watch out for the Crest pro-health rinse. It stains many users' teeth brown. Go check out the reviews on Amazon or do a google search.

[Dentist Fairfield]

It's true that there are many different kinds of toothpaste in the market. It has various aim, like fresher breath, whiter teeth and other things you might think of. But are they very effective? Is the question you always have to answer.