The other day I was thinking about toothpaste. Specifically my parents toothpaste. Don’t pretend like you haven’t.
The thing is, my parents are completely loyal to Colgate toothpaste (and toothbrushes too, but not to the same extent. Odd). I remember asking them about this when I was young, “Mum, why do we always buy Colgate?” I think at the time the question came about because I had stayed at one of my friends houses whose parents bought Macleans toothpaste, and I thought it tasted good. However, I am still fascinated.
I don’t remember the exact answer, but don’t think I am paraphrasing too much saying that it was something along the lines of “because we have always bought Colgate.”
I would guess this is probably one of Macleans biggest challenges as the second largest brand in the category. People are afraid to step outside their comfort zone and buy something they don’t know. It is not that people aren’t aware of Macleans, it is just that they are unwilling to give it a go. I guess this is something like the old ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ adage.
The other thing that has been bothering me lately has been that hotels don’t seem to ever provide toothpaste. They provide a tiny shampoo, tiny soap, even tiny conditioner. Some of them even give you a little sewing kit, shower cap, and a couple of cotton buds! But never any toothpaste. This is a problem for me, because if there is one thing I always forget, it is toothpaste. If a hotel was to provide toothpaste it would almost certainly be enough to convince me to stay there over the otherwise identical alternatives. I don’t understand this random personal hygiene product discrimination.
Bringing these two threads together I suddenly realised that this represented an oppourtunity for both Macleans and Ibis. Macleans should be dying to get sample packs of their toothpaste in hotels, what a great way to get consumers to trial their product. The Ibis should be dying to get toothpaste in their rooms, because I bet I am not the only one who forgets their toothpaste.
Why hasn’t this happened yet?
Toothpaste pic © alles-schlumpf
