How Marketing created a Billion Dollar brand: The Sensodyne case study
This is the story of how a change in marketing strategy completely transformed the fortunes of Sensodyne.
Formerly a small player in a niche category, Sensodyne is now a $1bn brand, in a category it has built into a significant 20% slice of all toothpaste. This stellar success was achieved by discovering a simple but important consumer insight.
28% of people suffer from sensitive teeth, but in 2000 Sensodyne had a penetration of only 5%. Most sensitivity sufferers weren’t doing anything about it, and their need was unmet. The question was why?
Prior to its acquisition by GSK, Sensodyne’s communications had made an assumption, which was stifling the opportunity. The assumption was that selling the benefit of Sensodyne would build the business.
GSK made a discovery: many people suffering sensitivity pain didn’t know what it was, and certainly didn’t associate its treatment with a toothpaste. The key to unlocking the opportunity was to let people know that their pain was a treatable condition, with a name, and then that Sensodyne was the answer.
By also ensuring that only Sensodyne owned the values of this newly built category, Sendoyne — not competitors — disproportionately benefitted from that improved consumer understanding.
Sensodyne is now the jewel in GSK’s consumer healthcare crown, with double digit growth year on year. It commands a strong price premium, and is no:1 recommended brand by Dentists. It is evidence of the power of marketing to unlock huge potential.
