6. Pond’s Toothpaste
CASE STUDY :
Pond’s is always known for its feminine beauty and has its
brand identity surrounded around the beauty. In 1990’s,
HLL had its presence in almost all the verticals i.e personal
care, beverages and cosmetics . One important thing is the
way the products are used both for cleanness and
freshness. HLL’s portfolio included brands such as Lux,
Lifebuoy, Liril, Surf, Pond’s, Vaseline etc.
Later in the early 2000’s HLL struggled to generate growth
and thus extension was the only option for them.
7. They tried to increase its market share in oral care
products by introducing a toothpaste under the pond’s
brand. The brand had previously been successful at
moving from skin cream to soap products and the jump to
toothpaste seem like a logical next step.
However the weird thing was
there was nothing wrong in
the product but a study found
that participants could not
tell the difference between
Colgate and pond’s
toothpaste in a blind test.
8. The problem with pond’s toothpaste was the brand.
Soap and skin creams are usually associated with the
sense of smell, while toothpaste is associated with
taste. Moreover pond’s products generally have
topical uses, whereas toothpaste is used to brush the
inside of one’s mouth. For these reasons the
company could not transfer pond’s brand attributes to
its toothpaste successfully.
9. Questions
Do you think it was a wise decision of Pond’s to
jump to toothpaste extension ? Justify your answer.
What was the reason of its failure ?
What promotional strategy would you suggest for
the toothpaste extension ?
10. s Suggest a possible extension for Pond’s which you
think would benefit them? Why?
Was there a need of introducing a toothpaste
product even after knowing the market share of
Colgate and Pepsodent?
Pond’s toothpaste was a failure. Do you think that
they should have had relaunched their product with
some other brand name or the decision of pulling off
their product was correct?
11. Why it failed?
Mismatch between the attribute of toothpaste and
soap
Consumer refused to accept when Ponds label was
attached to the toothpaste
Wrong perception and lack of market study
