Crest Flavored (Not so White

Crest Flavored (Not so White Strips)

Imagine -- all of the natural whiteness power of Crest -- combined with an explosion of flavors not found in nature! You haven't even taken off your pajamas and already you have a whiter smile -- and the taste of excitement in your mouth! You're ready to start the day! The current success of Crest White Strips has shown that the young to middle aged adult professional crowd seeks a whiter smile without the hassle and high cost of frequent dental visits for professional tooth whitening. Furthermore, the highly pressured lifestyles of today's professionals demand that they look good, feel young, and drink coffee to stay up late, which really takes a toll on the teeth! More patients in 2003 (19.3%) asked their dentist about tooth whitening than any other dental topic. This was up from 11.0% in 2001. (Berry, 2004)

The 24-7 coffee drinking lifestyle, combined with image consciousness of the professional and personal lives of twenty and thirty something urban East Coast professionals, as well as the infrequency of dental coverage in beginning occupations makes this market segment ideal for building upon the current product loyalty of Crest White Strips. This group of individuals is also more willing to try new things, new flavors and new tastes, and to switch hygiene affiliations, as is evidenced by the expansion of toothpaste flavorings in recent years to incorporate everything from cinnamon to bubblegum.

The embrace of youth also characteristic of this age group, often resulting in the Generation X and Y segment being called permanent adolescents by parents and marketing directors alike, means that creative white strip flavors are the next logical introduction to Crest's product line. If one can't indulge with a pina colada at work, or after hours because of the calories, why not whiten your smile with the flavor? Why not taste the yum of bubble gum, even if you can't crack your gum in the middle of a meeting? And if you don't like mint, why not have a strawberry fresh smile?

Like the advertising campaign introducing flavored Crest Whiting Strips, to introduce flavored strips, a new basic media strategy can be deployed utilizing print, billboard, radio, and televised advertisements, "Have a party -- before breakfast? Use Pina Colada Crest Flavored strips." "Chewing gum can be good for your teeth -- when you use bubblegum flavored Crest White strips." Print is ideal to get the message across in a word-based fashion -- print can make clear that the product provides an explosion of flavor in the form of a tooth whitening product, as well as promote coupons and even dispense samples of the flavor in magazine inserts.

Billboards can encourage people to buy into the youthful, fun image of the product by disseminating the brand logo. Instead of the conventional smile of the original product, the new logo can feature a series of images of the different flavors incorporated into the current Crest masthead. Radio ads can get across the ear-catching facts; such as the fact the flavored strips do not have a minty and potentially unpleasant taste. "What flavor of Crest are you -- now there is no excuse for not giving the strips a try?" Television ads define the consumer through dialogue about how a smile can improve one's dating prospects and atone for the dental sins of last night in the form of coffee, wine, etc.

Direct marketing is another important area of product launching and research. Currently, the Crest White strips website asks individuals if they would like to participate in a survey regarding the project, upon entry, when accessing the part of the website known as "Ask Dr. Jeff." (Ask Dr. Jeff, Official Website, 2004) A new area of the site could be redefined -- instead of the clinical picture of the globe that adorns the site, clickable icons of the different flavors could add color to the 'other side' of the whitening white strips. Think outside the mint strip!

Other forms of direct response advertising could be generated by offering coupons to those who fill out surveys about their response to the product's advertising, giving out a website address to those who buy the product to fill out a survey, in exchange for a chance at winning prizes -- such as a free year of dental coverage, perhaps, and even contacting dentists, colleges, and popular venues and businesses in the area to offer promotions, such as free flavored strips in the restrooms of coffee shops and employee watering holes.

At present, this launch has the advantage of being supported by a large company that of Crest, with an already recognizable name and product line. Currently, there is a budget of $500, 000. Other potential sources of promotion and capital, however, could come from some unusual sources -- why not contact Donald Trump (he is, after all, in the East Coast area) and ask about launching the new campaign as a part of one of his next "Apprentice" episodes. More prosaically, additional sources of funding might come from local dental organizations, or the ADA, so that in exchange for dental education Crest might be able to promote its new line of products.