Now, teeth whitening opens a new frontier for oral care majors

Colgate has just launched a specialised whitening toothpaste which it claims if used regularly for a week can make teeth a shade whiter, rivals might follow

A third frontier has emerged in the battle for niche oral care with Mumbai-based Colgate-Palmolive Co taking the lead in launching a specialised whitening toothpaste, Visible White, which it claims can make teeth a shade whiter in a week.

Like sensitivity and gum care, whitening is a new emerging area in oral care in India. Every second Indian is believed to be plagued with the problem of discolouration of teeth (commonly called yellow teeth), which Colgate will now address with a product that has been priced above its regular toothpaste, but below its variant that targets sensitive teeth.

So, Visible White will be available for Rs 79 for a 100g pack, twice the price of a Colgate Dental Cream, a regular white toothpaste by the company, which is available for Rs 37 for the same pack size. Colgate Sensitive and the advanced Colgate Sensitive Pro-Relief, both products for sensitive teeth, are priced at Rs 85 and Rs 130 for an 80g respectively.

Prabha Parameswaran, managing director, Colgate-Palmolive India, says this is the first product by the company in the beauty oral care segment. "There is nothing much that is available in this segment in India. By stepping into this space, we hope to make teeth whitening an essential part of the beauty regimen of consumers."

Colgate has lined up a 360-degree marketing campaign for Visible White with actor Sonam Kapoor as the brand ambassador. The campaign kicks off next month, also the time when the product will be available on shop shelves.

Globally, teeth whitening is the largest toothpaste category with all players, including Unilever and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) Consumer Healthcare, investing significantly behind it. While Unilever's Indian unit--Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL), launched its Pepsodent Expert Protection Range in November last year targeting both sensitivity and teeth whitening, analysts expect the company to launch a dedicated product targeting teeth whitening in response to Colgate's move. GSK, too, is expected to hit back with a teeth whitening toothpaste in the near-term.

Abneesh Roy, associate director (research), Edelweiss, says: "Both GSK and HUL will respond to Colgate's launch in some way. But GSK could be faster since they have a whitening variant under Sensodyne globally. GSK in India has also been expanding Sensodyne's franchise in the last few months. A whitening variant is something they could pull off fast."

It was only last week that GSK came out with a premium variant of Sensodyne called Repair & Protect that aimed quite simply to repair teeth enamel damaged due to sensitivity, a oral health problem, where sufferers are unable to have anything hot or cold due to a sharp and shooting pain in their teeth. This product was positioned above Sensodyne Original and Sensodyne Rapid Relief, the two other variants in GSK's sensitivity portfolio, priced at Rs 80 for a 40g pack and Rs 150 for a 80g pack. Sensodyne Original, on the other hand, is available for Rs 50 (40g) and Rs 90 (80g), while Rapid Relief comes for Rs 60 (40g) and Rs 120 (80g), respectively.

REKINDLING TOOTHPASTE WARS

* Colgate-Palmolive has triggered a new battle in niche oral care with the launch of a whitening toothpaste called Visible White

* Globally whitening is the largest category in the toothpaste segment. In India, it is an emerging segment like sensitivity and gum care

* Colgate has priced the product above its regular toothpaste, but below its sensitive range. A 100-gram-pack, for instance, is available for Rs  79

* The product will be available next month on shop shelves with the ad campaign featuring actor Sonam Kapoor also to be on air at that time

* HUL and GSK are likely to hit back since both have made significant investments internationally in whitening