Company Name: – Oral B
Owner: – Procter & Gamble.
How It All Started
Oral-B journey started back late in 1930 at California, America. Inventor of the brand Henry Sargol invented a soft nylon bristled toothbrush first of its kind with the name Oral-B in the year of 1938. But it was not until 13 January 1950 that Oral-B really became a reality.
Dr. Robert W. Hutson the more recognised founder of Oral-B, periodontist, filed designs for the “Huston Toothbrush” with the US Patent office. Later, on October 24th 1950, the patent was granted with patent number 160604. Again he filled a new design and in August 1958 he was granted a new patent (number 2845649) for a “mouthbrush” that had a similar design to the earlier model but with numerous, fine, soft, flat-ended nylon bristles.
During the process of filling Huston claimed that this brush was better for massaging the gums, less abrasive to tooth enamel and more effective at picking up tooth powder than other brushes available at the time. In 1969, Oral-B brushes made their way to the Apollo 11 mission to the moon.
Launching
Oral-B is associated with FMCG industry as it deals with oral hygiene products. It is a subsidiary of its parent company Procter & Gamble since the year 2006 and was earlier owned by the Gillette Company.
Oral-B as acquired by Gillette group in 1984, giving $188.5 million in cash which was at the time thought to be fifteen times the net earnings of the business and its assets. The huge amount was paid giving pace to grow the brand and the innovations.
Within the Gillette group of companies, there is a brand Braun who began using the Oral-B name for electric toothbrushes, the first electric brushes to be made by the company, although it is believed in 1978 there was a ‘D1’ model. In 1991, the company won an Edison Award for the indicator bristles design that is now common on toothbrush heads. In 2003 the Oral-B Stages line introduced the first time children’s toothbrushes which are designed for the four different stages of a child’s development. Since, 2006 Oral-B has been part of the Procter and Gamble Company after Gillette collaborated with them.
Today, Oral-B brand is used for more than just toothbrushes, toothpastes, flosses, oral irrigators and interdental products to name just a few and is one of the leading brands within the dental care industry.
Marketing strategy and Interesting Facts behind its Success.
- Place
Oral-B started its journey from a place in the United States and with time has spread its product presence to include most parts of the world. It is easily available in most countries in several outlets like the hypermarket, supermarket, grocery store, shopping centres, local (kirana) stores, malls, dentist’s clinic and medication shops. Oral B also went digital to make a sale customer can also buy it from online source.
Oral-B has a strong distribution channel that provides easy and quick distribution to all its outlets. Oral-B also conducts sales through direct representatives and indirectly through distributors.
It also has tie-ups with sales personnel from other companies to market its products in the consumer market. Distributor plays a prime role in the distribution channel of Oral-B. Distributors are the agent who actually carries out the transactions and Oral-B receives order processing, market intelligence, market coverage, sales contact and from him directly.
- Price
Oral-B has targeted the middle and upper class section of society as its customer, as they are the ones looking for qualitative and innovative products. Oral-B has placed itself as a global leader in toothbrush market and is also the first choice for most of the dentists.
Oral-B has set a pricing policy for its products. It has invented some very particular product items which does not have many competitors. The company at times books a profit by selling its innovative and newly launched products at a faster rate by adopting premium prices. Later when other brands launch similar sounding products it adopts a competitive pricing strategy to tackle its competitors. It drops its prices by way of offers, discounts, and incentives to maintain its position and customer retention.
Campaigns
- Oral-B brings up its innovative electric toothbrush
Oral-B has launched a range of electric rechargeable toothbrushes, which is highly priced at Rs 3,800 onwards as it looks for expansion in niche segment. The toothbrush comes with a provision which has visible alert sensor that monitors pressure that lights up to users when they are brushing too hard and an on-handle timer that buzzes every 30 seconds to inform when it’s time to focus on brushing the next quadrant of the mouth. It has two modes – daily clean and massage mode for gentle stimulation of gums.
- Oral-B ‘Neem Extract’ Toothbrush
Oral-B has positioned itself differently by extending its toothbrush brand portfolio and launched ‘Neem Extract’ toothbrush in India. The toothbrush bristles are made with Neem extract. As Neem is considered a strong Ayurveda element which takes cares of teeth and gum, Oral-B brush is trying to give a substitute by giving the touch and feel of Neem stick. Since 3 years, after Patanjali has aggressively forayed into the market, the whole oral care market has already been shifted into the Ayurveda & herbal form.
Conclusion
Oral-B is one of our most longstanding brands with more than 50 years of presence. Oral-B always comes with innovative ideas and quality product. It gives an assurance of quality product with best benefits and use. To maintain in competitive market, innovation is a core element for any industry across the competitor market. Consumers today are much faster with market update and make themselves upgrade accordingly.
Oral B has done a deep study of continuous transition behaviour of consumer. It has accordingly made many changes and innovation to meet demand of all categories of people. Oral B is committed to prevention and work really hard to raise awareness of the links between oral health and general health. Oral-B toothbrushes are ‘approved’ under Oral health foundation and have been clinically tested to make sure they maintain the highest standards so that, everyone can achieve good oral health, when used correctly.
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