Pepsodent - A Successful Advertising Campaign

Successful Advertising Campaign

Brand: Pepsodent
Agency: Lowe

The Dishoom Dishoom success story

Pepsodent's home run upto 1998

Pepsodent's credentials of 'long lasting protection from germs for hours after brushing', enabled the brand to grow and differentiate itself powerfully vis a vis the market leader- Colgate Dental Cream.

From Process to End Benefit

1999-2000 Between 1999 and 2000, Pepsodent decided on a logical extension of the 'process' benefit of germ fighting to end benefits.This was an attempt to take on Colgate Dental Cream in its own territory, with a new formulation and new communication.

The Result

Weakening of all associations with the brand leading to dilution in Pepsodent's distinctiveness as a Germ Fighter.

The Challenge

2001 It was time to win back the distinctive edge- by appropriating once again the proposition of 'Long lasting Germ Protection' in consumers' minds. And Pepsodent had to also contend with a rejuvenated Colgate Dental Cream at the same time.

Creative Strategy followed by pepsodent

To heighten concern about germs and thereby leverage Pepsodent's core proposition in this context. Research helped identify several situations wherein a mother tends to show anxiety about her child's teeth .This helped us home in on the most relevant and provocative insight.

Insight :

Mothers worry about their childrens' eating habits, more so when they are out of her sight. They don't want to fight with them over this. But, if they don't do anything, they feel they are being irresponsible .

Advertising Idea:

Don't fight with your children over their 'out of control' eating . Let Pepsodent fight the germs for you.

Sweet food was used as a torture test to depict Pepsodent's efficacy at germ fighting. The sound mnemonic of Dishoom Dishoom was used to depict the conflict between the mother and child, and also, the action of Pepsodent on germs.

Results of the campaign (pepsodent campaign)

The Pepsodent mother became aspirational. Mothers using CDC were forced to sit up and pay attention to Pepsodent- a brand that understood them and addressed situations that they encountered in their day to day life. And Pepsodent gained back its edge of 'long lasting germ protection'.

Quantitative evidence of success

This was reflected in improvements in its market shares- an increase of 2.85 percent points between March 2001 and December 2001 (from 10.96% to 13.81%).Share increases were steady and consistent, with increasing GRP spend.