By Princewill Ekwujuru

NIGERIA has over 32 toothpaste brands in the market, and oral hygiene has been their top priority overtime. The brands that flood the market today are the most effective in preventing oral disease and consumers can find pastes that do much more than just fight cavities. The toothpastes are many, as are their brand names. There are pastes that are natural, and there are others that are not. The following list are some brands that have been in the market over the years.

Pepsodent and Close Up from Unilever Nigeria Plc, Macleans by Glaxosmithkline Nigeria Plc, MyMy from Daraju, Colgate from Colgate Palmolive, Oral-B from Procter and Gamble and Dabur from African Consumer Care Limited, AFCC, to mention but a few. Each boasts of a strong war chest of operating brand assets (strong pedigree, good products, strong distribution network and heavy advertising and marketing support).

What singles each out is the level of marketing creativity deployed to outwit each other in the market place. Toothpastes are essentially the same thing, comparing ingredients in 15 toothpastes from brands such as Oral-B, Colgate, Macleans, Sensodyne etc. The 13 adult toothpastes looked at showed little difference in their active ingredients. Even though many products over time have since altered their formulations or names slightly, the same principles apply.

Regrettably, only 33 percent of Nigerians brush twice daily, 46 percent brush once, while 15 percent do not brush, and that was one of the unique campaign methods deployed by some of the brands to warm themselves into the heart of consumers.

In this guise, toothpaste manufacturers have been trapped in a rivalry that has seen them at each other’s throat, across Nigeria.

According to Philip Kotler, a marketing professor, the challenger should not challenge the leader, but the threat by Oral-B has shown in the last five years that the postulation by Kotler is no longer relevant, particularly where the challenger has the financial muscle, and required finesse to fight the leader. “Dogs now eat the bone hung on their necks.”

The new kid on the block, Oral-B, which barely launched into the Nigerian market in 2011 has been riding high in the market, while troubling its older and more established rivals. The brand is threatening dominance of the market with its just ended promotion that celebrated its fifth anniversary in Nigeria, a promo that saw the brand give out N70million cash and recharge cards to consumers.

In addition to the consumer promotion, the brand visited various communities in Nigeria to provide free dental checks to people through its Mobile Dental Clinic Programme, which currently reaches more than two million Nigerians annually.

Similar unique selling points

According to the Brand Marketing Director, P&G Nigeria, Tolulope Adedeji, “over the past five years the brand has sponsored and partnered with government and private institutions to support oral hygiene for the average Nigerian.” In addition, she said, the brand has also received awards and recognition for quality toothpaste in Nigeria.

Toothpaste brands have similar Unique Selling Points, USP, but what sets them apart is the important strategic and tactical activity they must constantly engage in. Vanguard investigations reveal that the gap between Oral-B and other toothpaste brands show a slim leadership margin, particularly for the leading brand.

Of the 254 respondents interviewed, 90 used Oral-B during and after the promo, Close-up had 97 respondents, while 67 respondents switched between other brands and Oral-B, depending on which was available for purchase at various points of sale. The survey also showed that within the space of four years, Oral–B has achieved what other brands have built on overtime, reason being that it has built up affinity with consumers.

The respondents, which included marketing researchers, believed that the other brand handlers need to dust up their advertising kits and introduce new campaigns to sustain top-of-the-mind awareness, just like Oral-B has pushed cavity fights forward to advance its cause.

According to them, P&G’s campaign to get consumers to increase their brushing frequency to twice a day gives the impression that the toothpaste market is saturated. Executive Director, Andre Marketing, Ozigwo Emmanuel, recommends that companies should do better to feature campaigns that would strengthen emotional bonds with consumers who despite their strong purchasing power lack emotional product attachments.