What does it take to dominate the oral health care market in Kenya?

Colgate has, for a long time, defined the toothpaste category in Kenya. The Colgate- Palmolive Company owned brand is a dominant player in the Kenyan oral care- toothpaste market and currently controls over half (59%) of the usage share in the market according to the GeoPoll’s Brand health trackerwhich has been collecting daily usage data on oral care since 2014.

So what is the secret behind Colgate’s continued success and domination of a market that has such formidable players as Aquafresh, Close up and Sensodyne among others?

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The Colgate brand is supported by strong advertisement visibility.

According to the company’s 4^th Quarter and full year 2013 results, Colgate’s leading global market shares in toothpaste and manual toothbrushes remained strong at 44.9% and 32.8%.  It was noted in the report that there had been  a significant increase  in gross profit margin during the quarter, combined with a reduction in overhead costs funded an increase in advertising spending behind Colgate’s brands, both absolutely and as a percent to sales, driving market share performance worldwide. 

Since 2014 to date, there has been continued increase in advertising spend by the Colgate brand in Kenya. As noted in our daily usage survey data, we have focused on Oral care mainly toothpaste and ask the questions to determine advertisement recall, most often used brand, Brands, respondents would recommend and attitude towards the various brands in the category. 

The Colgate consumer advocacy is unmatched by its competitors. Close-Up and Aquafresh enjoy the second and third position of the market share at 12% and 11% respectively. 

The results above show that brand awareness attributed to increased advertisement has influence on usage which leads to likelihood in recommendation to friends and relatives by a consumer of a product.

Sensodyne though small in usage share, has seen its increased marketing activity across the three months bear fruit as its share and recommendation has grown considerably in the month of August compared to June and July.

About GeoPoll’s Brand Health Tracker
GeoPoll’s’ Brand health tracker check focuses on the following key categories: Bar Soap, Toothpaste, Washing Powder, Hair Treatments, Carbonated Soft Drinks (CSDs), Juice and Beer

This summary reports contain aggregated data from October 2014 to date. The survey covers product purchase, usage, recommendation, and attitude by target market. 

Study methodology and focus areas
GeoPoll leverages its user database of 8 million users in Kenya to carry out a quantitative (SMS-Survey) brand health check targeting the general public. The Survey is done on a daily basis targeting 100 randomly selected respondents across Kenya. All respondents to the survey are above the age 15 years old.