From the NYTimes on-line today --->>
August 7, 2001
P.& G. Joins With Wrigley
in Gum Deal
By JULIAN E. BARNES
The corny joke around headquarters at
Procter & Gamble (news/quote) is that
the slogan for the latest product line ought to
be "tastes great, less fillings."
Procter and the William W. Wrigley Jr.
Company will announce a partnership today
to develop a new line of Crest chewing
gums, under the premise that people want to
clean their teeth while they blow a bubble.
In recent months Procter has been pushing
to add the Crest name to a variety of new product lines, to expand the power of the brand and to
close the gap with Colgate Palmolive (news/quote), the nation's leading toothpaste maker. And
Wrigley has been experimenting with ways to add health and nutritional benefits to its gum,
beyond the traditional claims of fresh breath, in order to stimulate flat gum sales.
The partnership is essentially a licensing agreement. Wrigley will manufacture the gum using
oral health care technology developed by Procter's scientists. Wrigley will deliver the gum to
check out aisles and convenience stores; Procter will put it in drugstore toothpaste aisles.
Executives would not reveal terms of the agreement, but two people close to the deal said they
estimated it could be worth more than $100 million for the two companies annually.
Wrigley and Procter are working on prototypes of the gum and hope to have their first product on
the market next year. Michael Kehoe, Procter's vice president for global oral care, said the
companies were considering gums that whiten teeth, freshen breath and remove plaque.
"We know consumers are interested in being unchained from the
sink," Mr. Kehoe said. He would not say what ingredients Procter
would put in the gum. But he said it would be safe to swallow, not
that you would want to.
Claiming dental benefits for a chewing gum is not new. Procter itself
experimented in Germany and Austria with a plaque-reducing gum
called Blend-A-Gum in 1996, but sales were disappointing and the
product was discontinued. Last year, SmithKline Beecham
introduced Aquafresh Dental Gum and Church & Dwight has sold
Arm & Hammer Dental Care Gum for three years. In addition, Pfizer
(news/quote) says its Trident Advantage line, which has been
widely available for a year and half, strengthens teeth.
During the last 12 months, those three brands have sold $22 million
to $24 million of gum, according to Information Resources Inc.
(news/quote) But by pairing the world's biggest gum maker and the nation's second-biggest
toothpaste maker, Procter and Wrigley officials believe they can raise the profile of the market
and increase sales — doing to toothpaste what the drive-through did for food.
Daniel M. Meyer, who directs the scientific programs of the American Dental Association, said
the organization has been evaluating dental gum technology. So far no gums have won the
association's seal of approval. The association requires that companies show clinical, not just
laboratory, benefits to fighting or preventing cavities or gum disease.
"Until the product has been evaluated and demonstrated its worth the consumer has every right
to question the value of some of these products," he said.
Convincing consumers to try a gum with the name of a toothpaste could be as hard as
convincing the dentists to endorse it.
"Taste is in your head, it's what you expect," said Jack Trout, a branding expert in Greenwich,
Conn. "You tend to taste the label. And therein lies the problem."
For Wrigley the move into oral health care is another attempt to broaden its product line. It has
long relied on just three major products — Doublemint, Spearmint and Juicy Fruit. But this year
Wrigley will spend $40 million to introduce Surpass, an antacid chewing gum. The company is
also marketing Alpine, a cold-relief gum that is supposed to relieve sore throats, nasal
congestion and coughs.
Although Wrigley officials declined to comment on the deal yesterday, by introducing a Crest
product, the company may also be tryingto strengthen its domestic lineup. Despite strong sales
of sugarless gum, the chewing gum category in the United States has been flat the last few
years.
Crest lost its position as America's No. 1 toothpaste in 1998 after sales of Colgate Total, an
antigingivitis toothpaste, began growing. Procter officials have pegged revitalizing the Crest
name on the idea of using new products to transform what people think of the brand.
In December, Procter announced it would buy the SpinBrush line of battery powered
toothbrushes. Now sold under the Crest name, SpinBrush is outselling Colgate's battery
powered Actibrush.
Procter is also rolling out nationally its Crest Whitestrips, plastic strips that when worn for 30
minutes a day whiten teeth. Procter has been aggressively working to associate the Crest name
not just with oral health but also with cosmetic benefits.
That strategy may be working. The introduction of Crest Multicare Advanced and Dual Action
Whitening, a toothpaste that whitens as well as fight cavities, had driven up Procter's toothpaste
share to 29.6 percent in mid-June, behind Colgate's share of 31.8 percent, according to
Information Resources Inc.
The new gum will introduce to the Crest name the idea of portability and convenience, Procter
officials said.
"I don't know if you can say revolution, but certainly there is an important evolution in how
consumers look at oral care," Mr. Kehoe said. |
