We have the burger wars Big mac versus Whopper, the cola wars Pepsi versus Coke and then there is the ultimate of all battles the toothpaste war. The cola and burger wars may be competitive, but neither can compare to the intensity and passion of the battle of the two leading toothpaste brands. The battle actually evolved into a couple of filed lawsuits in 2001 and 2003 over brands which one thought were to close to their brand in both name and ingredients. Spending as much as 90 million dollars in advertising a year both companies continue in an intense battle for market share and introduction of so called better products on a yearly basis. The brands Crest trademark and product of Proctor and Gamble Company and Colgate product of competitor Colgate Palmolive have continued to diversify their product line year by year in hopes that one of the new toothpastes will propel them into the market share leader the position both want and adore. With Colgate you get Colgate Total an extremely popular brand since it’s introduction, then there is Colgate Fresh Confidence, Colgate Actibrush, Colgate Simply White, Colgate Sensitive, Colgate 2 and 1, and even one called Colgate Motion. Crest counters with Crest in several flavors and formulas, Crest Rejuvenation, Crest Blend-a-med, Crest Whitestrips which is not a paste but an overnight stickon for whitening, and Crest Whitening expressions. All these products keep coming out trying to give one company any advantage over the other in sales. Of course it all began decades ago and here is how it got to where we are today.
In the beginning it was not much of a battle as Crest was America’s favorite toothpaste for thirty years. They had the cute kid and teenager commercials where the teethe were shining white and everyone wanted to use Crest and have teeth just like they had in the commercials. Colgate very popular on a world wide basis, had never been able to match Crest here in the USA until 1988 when suddenly it happened Colgate took first place in the USA. The introduction of Colgate Total which not only had flouride the ultimate tooth protector, but also something that was supposed to prevent or at least control gingivitis and prevent plaque on teeth up to twelve hours. This evidently sounded great to the average American and Colgate Total became number one and is in effect still in that position today. The first toothpaste both ADA accepted and also FDA approved to fight gingivitis. The Crest answer is a toothpaste called Crest Pro-Health and Crest multi care. The introduction of both has helped close the gap with market share estimated at 37 to 34 percent and the battle goes on.
It really all began in 1955 for Crest when the first Crest toothpaste was introduced. For three years the company had tested the product on 1400 children and 400 adults with a good average showing some level of reduction in tooth decay. Having only 10 percent of the market in 1956 the product took off in 1960 and up until 1988 had been the most popular brand. Colgate on the other hand had introduced toothpaste in 1896 and had been the most popular brand in the world even when Crest became number one in America in 1960. In 1988 they became America’s favorite also with the introduction of Total. The early toothpaste formulas used hydrogen peroxide and baking soda as major ingredients and it was in 1914 when flouride was introduced in 1914, but was criticized by the American Dental Association in 1937. It was not until the 1950’s that the ADA gave it’s approval for flouride and today the concentration is enormous. So much so that eating a tube of toothpaste could be life threatening because of the amount of flouride that would be injested. As a result, however the introduction of large amounts of flouride along with other ingredients has put tooth decay prevention onto another level of performance in this decade.
Today both companies continue to develop and introduce betters formulas for tooth decay prevention. Both companies have moved strongly into teeth whitening products and with great success. No one knows what will come next in the toothpaste wars, but be assured Colgate and Crest will continue to do battle and develop great products much to the delight of consumers everywhere.
