Positioning strategies of Colgate and Sensodyne
Oral hygiene is crucial for everyone to stay healthy, and attractive, and to be able to enjoy any type of food and drink. With time, people started giving more and more importance to oral hygiene. Throughout the years different products were made for this purpose such as toothpaste, toothbrushes, mouthwash, etc. Colgate and Sensodyne are among the most influential and popular names producing oral hygiene products. Both have a remarkably extensive range of products suitable for people with different needs and concerns. They are experienced and successful. Much of their success is dedicated to effective positioning strategies. So, let’s discuss these companies and find the reasons behind their positioning strategy choices.
Let’s start with Colgate and begin by identifying the target audience of the company.
To easily understand what target audience Colgate strives to attract, let’s watch and analyze the following commercial by the company.
This commercial is heart-warming, positive, and inspiring. Its plot is developing around three different characters. They are unique, and each of them has a story to tell. These people are calm, quiet, nice, and friendly. All of them have problems and difficulties in their lives. The video shows the bond and love that they have with their families.
At the same time, from their words, it becomes clear that they carry values and morals. All of them face difficulties with smiles and belief for the best. All the discussed details show that Colgate focuses on the Traditionalists segment.
Target Market: Traditionalists
Lifestyle and Values of the target audience
Traditionalists are usually married and middle-aged people who prioritize their family above everything. They do everything to ensure protection, a strong position, and stability for their families. Representatives of this segment give huge importance to the upbringing of children and are extremely caring and attentive to them.
Traditionalists work hard to ensure a good education for children. They consider it vital to pass on values and morals to the new generation and raise them with discipline.
People from this segment mainly lead to a stable, peaceful, well-arranged life. They directly connect this type of life with a career. Thus, Traditionalists stand out with their dedication, excellence, and honesty in the workplace. These people enjoy the quiet time spent with family at home. The adventurous and artistic life is not common for them.
Attitude to Shopping:
People belonging to the Traditionalists target segment have a quite practical taste when it comes to shopping. These people tend to give preference to comfort rather than style. Overall, they love shopping and enjoy the process of spending money. Traditionalists can very often splurge on expensive brands and items.
However, they are mainly bargain hunters. Representatives of this target segment give huge importance to the quality of the products they buy. They would choose to spend more, buy less, but be sure that quality is there. Traditionalists are not loyal to brands. They are easily attracted to new products and brands.
Marketing Strategy of Colgate
Effective marketing can be a game-changer for any type of company. Colgate is not an exception as the market for oral hygiene products is remarkably competitive. The brand uses marketing to stand out among others and create a strong brand image in the minds of customers. The marketing strategy of Colgate includes both conventional ways of marketing and unconventional ones. The company actively uses ads on TV, newspapers, magazines, radio, etc.
The TV ads of the company have always been popular and successful. Anyone can probably recall at least seeing such an advertisement by Colgate on TV. Besides the brand actively uses different interesting campaigns to market its products and ensure the successful entry of the new ones to the market.
At the same time, Colgate is quite active on its social media pages. The company uses such platforms to stay in touch with its customers, inform them about some news and updates about its products and the company in general. Colgate also uses internet ads to attract customers. Another interesting way to market its products is taking part in or collaborating with various popular events such as the Super Bowl.
For example, in 2016 and 2019 the ads of Colgate were translated during Super Bowl and over 100 million people watched them. Also, as a part of its marketing strategy, Colgate made its products available for many people by selling them in different types of stores located in various places around the world.
Problem Removal
Colgate is one of those names connected to oral hygiene, which is known for its extremely extensive product line. The main goal of Colgate is to make the process of finding and choosing suitable oral hygiene products easier for everyone. Thanks to a wide range of products, the brand allows finding different types of oral hygiene products, for different purposes and concerns in one place.
Any person can find something suitable for him/herself despite age, oral condition, goal, or smile. Colgate products are known for their quality, effectiveness, availability in different types of stores. The brand successfully managed to gather everything needed for caring about oral hygiene in one place, under one name.
Social Approval
Social acceptance is crucial for every company nowadays. Among all the strategies used by Colgate, sustainability management is among the most important ones. The company focuses not only on its benefits, but seeks to give back to society, protect the planet, and ensure sustainable performance.
Colgate participates in different initiatives and collaborates with various organizations to give back to communities that include partners and customers. Also, Colgate takes care of the environment and continuously works to ensure efficiency in using various resources. Besides, the company is committed to good corporate citizenship and tries to improve sustainability in its performance, production, etc.
It’s time to identify the message strategy of Colgate.
Let’s go through the following post from the Instagram page of the company.
The post is dedicated to National Coffee Day, which can be surprising. Many people enjoy drinking coffee but restrain themselves not to damage their teeth. This problem is remarkably common and can bother every person.
With this post, Colgate wants to show that it gives an opportunity to people who love coffee to enjoy it without bothering about the consequences. The brand will take care of its customers’ teeth and will ensure their oral hygiene.
The analysis of the post and its description show that Colgate has adopted the Everyman brand archetype. This archetype stands for belonging, equality, connection, and group identity. The motto of Everyman is “All men and women are created equal.” and the main idea of this archetype is commonality.
Now, let’s move on to the positioning tactics of Sensodyne and identify their target audience.
To understand the target market chosen by Sensodyne, let’s go through the following commercial by the company and analyze it.
The commercial is simple and clear. It depicts a young woman who is sharing her experience and concerns related to her oral hygiene and the sensitivity of her teeth. She seems positive, put together, and nice. This young woman doesn’t stand out and looks like an average person. She is dressed in simple, nit, and casual clothes.
The scenes of the commercial show that the character of the video likes spending time with close ones. She enjoys communicating and chatting with others. This young woman collectively represents people whom Sensodyne tries to attract and target, All the discussed details show that Sensodyne focuses on the Nesters segment.
Target Market: Nester
Lifestyle and Values:
Representatives of Nesters’ target market are positive, passive, and responsible people who usually choose to move with flow in life. These people are known for being remarkably oriented towards family and closed ones. Their family has a crucial role in their lives. Those belonging to this segment enjoy spending time with family at home. These people like chatting, talking, and communicating. They usually lead quite a well-organized daily routine.
Nesters always look for the good in people and give immense value to faith. People from this segment dress like average people and don’t use their clothing or appearance to stand out. When it comes to work and career, Nesters prefer positions that are stable rather than beneficial in financial terms. They prioritize their stability and don’t like taking risks.
Attitude to Shopping:
People belonging to the Nesters’ target market love planning everything before going shopping. These people usually write down what they need to buy and make shopping lists. Nesters very often base their purchase decisions on the opinion of others. They don’t usually follow trends in the market. Representatives belonging to this target segment mainly purchase brands and goods that are produced domestically and are popular by the majority. Nesters tend to shop from the same stores and don’t switch much.
Marketing Strategy of Sensodyne
Starting as a small brand, Sensodyne could earn fame and success thanks to its carefully chosen marketing strategies as well. The company uses different marketing strategies to promote and market its products. Both traditional and non-traditional methods of marketing are used by Sensodyne. With time, the company made sure that its products are available to big numbers of customers.
For this purpose, various distribution channels were used to bring Sensodyne products closer to the customers. Besides, the company is known for its advertisements on TV, printed media, etc. The television ads of the brand show outstanding results in terms of promoting the company and transferring information about its products. Besides, Sensodyne uses PR and promotional campaigns as well.
Sensodyne is quite active on digital channels as well. The company is staying in touch with its customers through its social media channels for example on Instagram, its webpage, and shares everything new about the company there. The brand also uses internet ads. Along with this, Sensodyne is cooperating with various dentists who recommend the products of the company to their patients. Many dentists become a crucial part of TV ads of the company and promote the product from their professional perspective to the customers.
Problem Removal
Despite the variety of oral hygiene products in the market, not many companies address the common needs and concerns of customers. One in three people is being affected by tooth sensitivity. Sensodyne comes to offer solutions and relief to this problem. From the very beginning, the brand entered the market focusing on and addressing extremely common tooth sensitivity.
All the range of the brand was created for people with this concern and showed that oral hygiene products with different attributes, benefits, and purposes could be easily used by people having tooth sensitivity. Sensodyne wants to make people’s lives better and allow them to enjoy life without bothering about tooth sensitivity.
Social Approval
Sensodyne is owned by GlaxoSmithKline plc (GSK) which gives big importance to obtaining social approval like any other knowledgeable company nowadays. All the companies owned by this giant follow the same strategy when it comes to social acceptance. Sustainability management is a crucial part of this way for GSK.
The company wants to make the world a better place for people to leave and improve their health. This giant is directly connected to the well-being of society. Also, it works on reducing its environmental impact in the upcoming years. The company plays its part in the resolution of different community problems such as hunger, inequality, etc.
Message Strategy
Continuing with the message strategy of Sensodyne, let’s identify it by discussing the following Instagram post of the company.
The post presents a new product by the company that comes to help people with sensitive teeth and gums to whiten their teeth. The post picture depicts a man and a woman who are related to each other. There is a sense of warmth, love, protection, and a close bond between them. They are laughing and having fun with each other.
All the discussed details indicate that Sensodyne has adopted the Caregiver brand archetype. This archetype stands for helping others, care, and protection. The motto of Caregivers is “Love your neighbor as yourself!” and the main idea of this archetype is carefulness.
Summing up, both Colgate and Sensodyne have remarkable experience, dedication, and passion for what they do and create. the analysis of Colgate and Sensodyne showed how crucial it can be for any company to choose positioning tactics effectively and carefully. In the case of these two, their positioning tactics displayed measurable and visible success. Check out the main page of our website for more posts like this.
