Brand Failures

84 Brand failures
only did it launch its own tartar-control toothpaste, but it also started work
on a toothpaste which would cover all of the perceived tooth care needs.
Whereas Crest kept on offering new variations on the same theme, thereby
confusing the toothpaste-buying public, Colgate launched Colgate Total.
This came with fluoride, tartar control and gum protection. In other words
it provided everything within one product. Soon after its triumphant launch,
Colgate was back on top of the market and eating into Crest’s sales.
So what happened Why wasn’t Crest able to offer a Crest Total or Crest
Complete before its rival’s product
There are a number of possible reasons, and one relates to Procter &
Gamble’s method of branding. Procter & Gamble’s brand strategy in the
1980s seemed to be: why launch one product, when 50 will do Indeed, at
one point there were 52 versions of Crest on the market. The belief was: the
higher number of sub-brands the higher number of sales. So why risk
threatening this scenario by telling consumers there is now one Crest
toothpaste which caters for all their dental requirements
However, increased choice equalled increased confusion. As a result, Crest
lost market share. Indeed, true to the law of diminishing returns the more
products Crest had on offer, the lower its overall share of the market. When
Crest had one product, its share soared above 50 per cent. By the time Crest
had 38 products it was down to 36 per cent of the market. As soon as there
were 50 Crest toothpastes, its market share dipped to 25 per cent and fell
behind Colgate.
These problems were not unique to the Crest brand. For instance, Procter
& Gamble had seen the same thing happen with its Head & Shoulders brand.
Did consumers really need 31 varieties of anti-dandruff shampoo
When the marketing strategy firm Ries & Ries went to work for Crest, they
identified this problem. In The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding Al and Laura
Ries recount the experience:
When we worked for Crest, the marketing manager asked us, ‘Crest has
thirty-eight stock-keeping units. Do you think that’s too many or too
few’
‘How many teeth do you have in your mouth’ we asked.
‘Thirty-two.’