Introduction
Colgate, like any other major company specializing in a multitude of dental care products, utilizes a cohesive integrated marketing communications strategy in order to promote its brand to the Canadian market. The objectives of its strategy are to leave a striking image in the customer’s mind as well as create a lasting connection between the Colgate brand and professional dental care (“EMC”).
Analysis
The company utilizes bright, noticeable colors in order to distinguish itself from other companies and brands. While it utilizes red for the majority of its toothpaste, when it comes to mouthwashes, Colgate uses other colors, such as bright blue or green, depending on the nature of the mouthwash. The color blue is associated with hard mint and freshness as well as with whitening properties, while green has a softer taste and contains herbal essences aimed to take care of gums (Ciotti).
For advertising, Colgate utilizes all available avenues of information, including visual advertisements, radio, TV, and the Internet (Bhasin). The company possesses an interactive website where customers can find all relevant information about product lines as well as various articles related to dental healthcare. Newspapers frequently feature coupons that readers can collect in order to receive a discount on Colgate products (Bhasin). In addition, Colgate has its own groups on all major social media outlets, such as Twitter and Facebook, in order to keep its customer base informed about the latest products and any contests and discounts used to promote new products (Bhasin). In order to promote its brand in Canada, Colgate made deals with Google and other affiliated information companies in order to deliver personalized advertisements to customers, based on their latest searches. In addition, Colgate is engaged in a rigorous campaign to promote its mouthwash and other products by deploying mobile dental care stations, where Canadians can get a dental check free of charge and receive small sample tubes of mouthwash and toothpaste (“Mobile Dental Van”). Lastly, Colgate is engaged in various humanitarian campaigns in an effort to improve its relationship with customers (Bhasin).
Colgate’s main competitors in the Mouthwash market are Listerine and Crest. Being large and powerful companies in their own right, they too utilize roughly the same methods as Colgate, including the full spectrum of visual, audial, and internet advertisements. However, they possess a promotional tool that Colgate does not, which keeps their products dominant in comparison to Colgate’s in the eyes of the customer. In the dental care industry, the most powerful promotional tool is the recommendation of a dental care specialist (Steenkamp 74). Dentists tend to form long-term bonds with their customers, who perceive their word as law. If they recommend one brand over the other, the customers are most likely to follow their recommendation. According to the Canadian dental association, the only mouthwash products that have been validated by the CDA are Crest and Listerine products (“Products”).
Crest has four brands in that list, while Listerine offers over a dozen different products. Colgate mouthwashes are not validated by the CDA, meaning that the dental community of Canada cannot recommend them to their patients. This factor alone is a major thorn in Colgate’s promotional strategy, as the company represents itself as a company that delivers professional dental care products. At the same time, Colgate toothpaste dominates the list offered by the CDA, which suggests that the company simply did not submit the mouthwashes to the CDA for inspection yet. Doing so and getting included in the list of verified products would significantly improve Colgate’s chances of reaching out to Canadian customers.
Works Cited
Bhasin, Hitesh. “Marketing Mix of Colgate.”Marketing91, 2018. Web.
Ciotti, Gregory. “The Psychology of Color Marketing and Branding.” Entrepreneur, 2013. Web.
“EMC – Colgate Sensitive Pro-Relief.” Ravi Vaidya, 2017. Web.
“Mobile Dental Van.”Colgate, 2018. Web.
“Products.”Canadian Dental Association, Web.
Steenkamp, Jan-Benedict. Global Brand Strategy: World-Wise Marketing in the Age of Branding. Palgrave, 2017.