Close-up Vs Oral-B: Oral B threatens Close-up’s dominance

Brand Contest

Oral-B, from the stables of Procter & Gamble (P&G) is threatening Unilever’s Close-up’s dominance of the toothpaste market in Nigeria..

Both Unilever and P& G have been trapped in an age-long rivalry that has seen the two competitors at each other’s throats across five continents. Each boasts a strong war chest of operating brand assets (strong pedigree, good products, strong distribution network and heavy advertising/marketing support).

However, for Close-up which was first introduced into the Nigerian market forty years ago(1975), the advantage of being first mover had secured for it an almost unimpeachable presence in the market, combined with fairly sticky consumer loyalty. The new kid on the block, Oral-B, launched into the Nigerian market in 2011has been riding the challenge of rampant counterfeiting which has also troubled its older and more established rival, Close-up, few years.

Most consumers who prefer Close-up are die-hard loyalists who have been with the brand for generations and appreciate its refreshinglyminty taste. Collins Okpara, a commercial bus driver said that he has been using the product from childhood. “I started using it from a very young age. I have not used another brand since.” Another consumer, a housewife, Bimbo Ishola, shared a similar sentiment: “I just like Close-up. I have been using it since my youth.” “It is old and it is still the best,” insisted another consumer, NelsonOgbodo.

Although, Close-up enjoys strong consumer favour,sustaining its commanding position has come at a huge cost, as the brand was slow to innovate. KemiOgunride, an erstwhile Close-up consumer made a switch to Dabur toothpaste five years ago. Her reason:“I used to buy Close-up but I changed to Dabur. I like it because it is herbal. It is medicinal.” When Dabur threw its hat into the ring in 2004 with its herbal offering-the first in the market and snatched part of its market share, an agitated Close-up countered the attack with Close-up Naija Herbal only ten long years after, in 2014. This was too long a gap for a company to respond to a competitor’s strategic move. Unilever made the same mistake with Omo when So Klin entered the market with white detergent and has since been left behind to play catch-up. Close-up has Dabur’s marketer,African Consumer Care Limited (AFCC)’s lack of resilience and improvement to thank for still being the country’s leading toothpaste brand. But the earlier Unilever realizes that the dynamics of the game has changed in the toothpaste market, the better for Close-up.

With P&G as rival,local marketing experts believe that Unilever has got to wake up from slumber or lose more of its piece of the market pie to an aggressive and super-sensitive Oral-B.A recent market survey by Hallmarknewspaper reveals a yawning gap between Close-up and Oral-B., 55 percent of consumers surveyed use Close-up toothpaste, 15 percent have opted for Oral-B while another 20 percent flirt between Close-up and Oral-B, depending on which of the two is available for purchase at the various points of sale. Another 10 percent of consumers surveyed plumbed for the Dabur brand of mouth paste.From the foregoing, it is clear that in a span of four years, Oral–B has achieved what Dabur could not in a space of ten years.

Hallmark survey respondents which included marketing researchers believe that the Close-up brand handlers need to dust up their advertising kits and introduce new campaigns to sustain top-of-the-mind awareness. Unilever’s ongoing campaign to get consumers to increase the frequency brushing their teeth to twice a day gives the false impression that the toothpaste market is saturated .But is it?  Analysts believe the company would do better to feature campaigns that would strengthen emotional bond with members of the club of ‘any-tooth-paste-would- serve’consumers who despite their strong purchasing power lack emotional product attachments. The company also needs to support more youth-related activities to woo younger potential users of the product. Close-up’s recent rebranding of three of its variants in new packs and the adoption of the young artiste, Davido, as brand ambassador  would add vibrancy to the brand and give the fortyish brand a youthful flavour, no doubt.

Efforts to get reactions from the two brands owners proved abortive. When contacted, Foluke Femi-Sanda of the Sales/Department of Unilever said that only officials in the Brand-Building Department are in position to respond to media enquiry.