P&G's Outlast Aims to Outfox Private Label

Can an innovation that promises longer-lasting fresh breath give the oral care category a second wind?Procter & Gamble seems to think so. This week the company is launching a new product benefit called “Outlast,” which purports to deliver five times longer fresh breath across its Scope, Crest and Oral-B lines. The move is an attempt to reinvigorate the segment, which has seen sales slow due to private label and a lack of new product innovation.Outlast works by “binding tightly to select receptors in the mouth.” The result is a “cool, refreshening sensation” that continues long after flossing, brushing or rinsing, the company said. P&G says it’s the biggest innovation for Scope mouthwash in 40 years. Outlast-enhanced versions of Scope, Crest and Oral-B won’t command a higher price point, and the packaging for the latter two products will look much the same. Scope Outlast, however, will be sold in a genie bottle to distinguish it from the original lineup and to draw users’ attention to the product, said Jocelyn Wong, associate marketing director on Crest Toothpaste and Crest/Scope Rinse.P&G is introducing the products via a TV, print and digital campaign breaking this and next month. Ryan Seacrest, spokesperson for Scope, stars in a commercial for both the paste and rinse, which shows him using both products as part of his “getting ready” routine. Hours into a Hollywood party, the American Idol host is still the attraction of every woman around him, with the secret ingredient, of course, being his fresh breath.Agencies involved in the campaign include Publicis Groupe units Publicis, Digitas, Starcom Mediavest Group, Arc Worldwide and Burrell Communications, which handles multicultural marketing, as well as Interpublic Group’s DeVries.The effort comes as U.S. oral care sales remain relatively flat; sales increased from $3.1 billion in 2003 to just $3.3 billion last year, per Mintel. The Chicago-based research firm forecasts a sales decline of 1.1 and 0.1 percent this and next year. Adding to the decrease are cheaper-priced store alternatives, a shortage of significant innovation in the category and consumer cutback in a recession. P&G, the market leader in oral care, bets it can reverse some of that by emphasizing a regimen-based dental hygiene approach to consumers. The move is similar to that used in skin or hair care. (Shampoo or conditioner bottles, for instance, often tout the label “for best results, use with” when trying to sell consumers a corresponding product.)Like previous ads starring Ryan Seacrest and Scope, the Outlast campaign is really intended to convey that confidence factor, Wong said, adding that the ideal consumer for these products is someone who is “young at heart, a glass half-full kind of person,” she said. “We’re trying to elevate it to confidence in a bottle because that’s what she really wants,” Wong said of the target customer.Tom Vierhile, a research director who tracks new products at Datamonitor, said Outlast could do for oral care what P&G’s CoverGirl Outlast did for the makeup category. The latter was hailed as “being so long lasting [at the time], that it required makeover remover to take off,” Vierhile said, citing it as an example of innovation that really stuck around. And, with the number of new products carrying breath freshening claims going down, there could be opportunity in this niche.In 2008, for instance, there were 48 such new products that carried this benefit versus 97 in 2002 when breath freshening mints simply took off, Vierhile said. Moreover, a Datamonitor survey last year found that only 25 percent of consumers weren’t concerned about fresh breath, implying that the majority are. P&G spent $191 million and $51 million in measured media for its Crest and Oral-B brands last year. Scope got $2 million in U.S. advertising, excluding online channels, per Nielsen.An Oral Care TimelineA look at the top or breakthrough launches in the segment from the introduction of toothpaste to today.1873: Colgate begins selling toothpaste in jars.1896: Colgate intros toothpaste in “collapsible tubes.” 1955: P&G launches Crest, the first fluoride toothpaste. 1962: Crest becomes the best-selling toothpaste in the U.S. 1968: Colgate adds MFP cavity-reducing fluoride to its pastes. 1981: Crest introduces Advanced Formula with improved, Fluoristat cavity-fighting benefits; product earns the American Dental Association’s seal. 1983: Colgate Plus toothbrush debuts. (The company sells nearly 2 billion toothbrushes each year. “If you lined them up end to end, they would circle the globe 16 times,” Colgate says.) 1994: Crest Gum Care is yanked off shelves for giving users a bad taste and teeth discoloration. 1997: Colgate Total toothpaste launches in the U.S. Offering 12-hour protection, the brand quickly becomes the market leader. 2001: P&G marries fresh breath with teeth whitening with the launch of Crest Whitening Plus Scope. 2005: Natural products maker Tom’s of Maine launches Whole Care Toothpaste, with anti-cavity, tartar control and whitening benefits. 2006: Colgate-Palmolive purchases an 84 percent stake in Tom’s of Maine. 2005 and 2006: P&G introduces consumers to a regimen-based dental hygiene approach with Crest Pro-Health Rinse and later, Crest Pro-Health Toothpaste. The latter touts anti-cavity, gingivitis, plaque and fresh breath benefits. Sept. 2008: P&G’s Crest Weekly Clean targets consumers looking for that “squeaky clean” feeling in between dentist visits. Aug. 2009: Tom’s of Maine introduces the first all-natural fluoride sensitive toothpaste.

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P&G's Outlast Aims to Outfox Private Label

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