Colgate is an American brand principally used for
oral hygiene products such as
toothpastes,
toothbrushes,
mouthwashes and
dental floss. Manufactured by
Colgate-Palmolive
Colgate-Palmolive Company is an American multinational consumer products company headquartered on Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The company specializes in the production, distribution, and provision of household, health car ...
, Colgate's oral hygiene products were first sold by the company in 1873, sixteen years after the death of the founder,
William Colgate
William Colgate (January 25, 1783 – March 25, 1857) was an English-American soap industrialist who founded in 1806 what became the Colgate-Palmolive company.
Early life
William Colgate was born in Hollingbourne, Kent, England, on January 25, ...
. The company originally sold soap.
Colgate toothpaste was sold in glass jars since 1873. Tubes, as pioneered by
Kalodont
Kalodont was a toothpaste brand produced by F. A. Sarg's Sohn & Co. from Vienna, first sold in Austria-Hungary in 1887. It later became widely distributed, in 34 other countries, and obtained a near-monopoly status that caused the word "kalodont" ...
,
Johnson & Johnson
Johnson & Johnson (J&J) is an American multinational corporation founded in 1886 that develops medical devices, pharmaceuticals, and consumer packaged goods. Its common stock is a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the company i ...
(Zonweiss) and
Sheffield, were introduced in 1896.
Colgate became popular in the 1950s, with the slogan "It Cleans Your Breath While It Cleans Your Teeth", written by copywriter Alicia Tobin.
In 2007, the Advertising Standards Authority in the UK told Colgate that it could no longer make the claim that four out of five dentists recommended Colgate. The investigation showed that the study had telephone surveyed dentists to list the toothpaste they recommended, and their competitors were recommended at similar rates. The claim was deemed deceptive.
As of 2015, oral care products (principally produced under the Colgate brand) were the Colgate-Palmolive company's largest source of income, making up around US$7.5 billion, or 47% of net sales globally (with personal care products such as shampoos making up 20%, home care products such as laundry detergents 19% and pet nutrition making up the remaining 14%). It also commanded approximately 70% of the oral care market in Brazil.
In 2018, Colgate licensed
Kolibree
Kolibree is a French company based in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France that is known for developing a smart toothbrush. ''Colibri'' means "hummingbird" in French; perhaps a reference to their signature product's light weight, about 64g.
Kickstarter
In ...
technology from Paris-based
Baracoda Daily Healthtech, launching the Colgate Smart Electric toothbrush. They currently offer connected toothbrushes for children and adults under the
Hum
Hum may refer to:
Science
* Hum (sound), a sound produced with closed lips, or by insects, or other periodic motion
* Mains hum, an electric or electromagnetic phenomenon
* The Hum, an acoustic phenomenon
* Venous hum, a physiological sensation
...
brand umbrella.
In January 2020, Colgate registered the label for toothpaste containing
hemp seed oil with the U.S. government.
In February 2020, Colgate's parent company announced an agreement to purchase Hello Products, a New Jersey company that had earlier in the month introduced toothpaste, mouthwashes, and lip balms containing
cannabidiol (CBD).
As of June 2022, Colgate Tooth Powder was still being manufactured and marketed, and could still be purchased.
Facts
According to a 2015 report by
market research company
Kantar Worldpanel
Kantar Worldpanel (formerly TNS Worldpanel) is an international company dealing in consumer knowledge and insights based on continuous consumer panels. Kantar Worldpanel is a part of the London headquartered market research company Kantar Group. , Colgate is the only brand in the world purchased by more than half of all households.
Colgate has a global
market penetration
Market penetration refers to the successful selling of a good or service in a specific market. It is measured by the amount of sales volume of an existing good or service compared to the total target market for that product or service. Market pe ...
of 67.7% and a global
market share
Market share is the percentage of the total revenue or sales in a market that a company's business makes up. For example, if there are 50,000 units sold per year in a given industry, a company whose sales were 5,000 of those units would have a ...
of 45%.
Despite this, it maintained the highest growth rate of all brands in the survey, with 40 million new households purchasing Colgate-branded products in 2014.
See also
*
List of toothpaste brands
*
Index of oral health and dental articles
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Colgate (Toothpaste)
1873 introductions
American brands
Brands of toothpaste
Colgate-Palmolive brands