Listerine - The 'Incomplete' Branding!

Tracked by VARUN VASUDEVAN


Today morning, during our IT class, I asked my friend a question which caught him completely off-guard – “What is the first word which comes to your mind when I say Listerine?”

“What? Why suddenly?” he asked.

“Just tell na” I prodded him. “Hmm........Bad breath” he replied and got back to what he was doing.

“Interesting” I thought, considering the fact that many of the 8058 people who have ‘liked’ the Listerine India page on facebook think on similar lines. With ‘projective techniques’ being such an ‘in thing’ in the market research industry and the increasing importance given to consumer expressions on social networking forums, it is interesting to note the dichotomy between the aforementioned ‘facebook fact’ and Listerine India’s current positioning. So is there more to this Listerine branding than that meets the eye? 
Brandwagon explores and opines.

Here is the Listerine commercial which was doing the rounds in 2010 –

Like the quintessential marketers, we start with marketing 101 –

Segmentation – It seems apparent from the advertisement that Listerine India has mainly considered geographic (urban-rural maybe even further segmenting city-wise), demographic (the trio of income-education-occupation) and behavioural (lifestyle) factors to seek out its audience.

So who is the target segment? – Educated middle class and upper middle class people who live in the metros and tier-A cities, who lead a healthy lifestyle and are becoming more aware of products which could help them pursue such a lifestyle.

And which need of this target consumer does the product attempt to satisfy? The J&J marketing guys may have discovered that the number of visits to dentists in India has increased and that the target audience must have been ‘whispering’ about ‘brushing teeth’ not being enough. We all have our share of gum problems, plaque and bad breath, don’t we? 
And therein lies the positioning of Listerine India – purely based on the above functional benefits it offers – protection against plaque, gingivitis and bad breath (against germs left behind after brushing your teeth)

In India, Listerine is available in three flavours – original (since time immemorial), cool mint (the bestseller), and fresh burst (a 2011 introduction). And these flavours are available in three SKU’s – 80 ml, 250 ml and 500 ml priced at 40, 85 and 150 bucks respectively. Considering their target audience’s income level, the 40 rupee bottle has obviously been brought out to induce trial among those of ‘em who have had their latent ‘oral care’ want aroused by the promotions.

Is Listerine India trying to expand the mouthwash category? You bet! Here is the list of their promotional activities besides the above TV advertisement –

• They have been giving away free Listerine samples (register through facebook or their website). While this is a good start, they may need to select some other medium to ‘promote’ this promotion to increase awareness levels – Advertisements/Coupons in lifestyle magazines/Times of India or targeted facebook ads etc. Not all of their target audience will check out the Listerine page when they log onto facebook! 
• Reason to believe through continuing wall posts on facebook such as – ‘According to IDA, teeth are only 25% of our mouths. So brushing may not be enough to kill the hidden germs’. Plus, Listerine is IDA approved. So they have managed to address the safety parameter as well.

• Also, Listerine went for a massive ‘mouthwash’ usage exercise in a popular mall in Mumbai on World Oral Health day, 2010 where hundreds of volunteers, gargled Listerine for about 30 seconds.

Now all this seemed to bearing fruit for Listerine India which as of September, 2010 held a 70% share in the OTC mouthwash market*. So are the marketing guys at Listerine satisfied? How can they be? We had mentioned something about expanding the product category – getting more and more first time triers.

So Listerine India comes up with a commercial which incorporates an emotional benefit too – feeling complete (are you committed to a healthy lifestyle as much as your committed to other important things in your daily routine), trying to speak to the target consumer in a language he/she knows. The TV advertisement – 

Listerine seems to be betting big on this plank with a full-front page advertisement in the Times of India and a facebook dare with free blackberry phones thrown in.

They have also introduced a new flavour – Fresh Burst which seems to be in hot demand if you ask the shop-keepers. 


So where can you purchase Listerine from? The J&J distributors seem to have done a great job as Listerine bottles in all the aforementioned flavours and SKUs are available in all medicos and chemist stores (where I stay atleast).

Ain’t that a good story for Listerine? Then why all my fuss about projective techniques and Listerine’s branding at the beginning of this article? If you go to Listerine’s facebook page and read people’s opinions about the product, there are three words/expressions which are omnipresent – Refreshing, Cool and Confidence. This consumer opinion points to a major reason why a lot of people buy Listerine – the escape from bad breath and the feeling of confidence which emerges from the same. Go deeper and we can see the need for affiliation surface.

So, maybe Listerine needs to explore this emotional benefit a little more, retaining its ‘dynamite against germs’ branding. Yes, they have introduced ‘Fresh Burst’, but it would not hurt Listerine to ensure a more ‘visible’ point of parity (vis-à-vis Colgate Plax which uses the bad breath plank) along with its ‘Lister-in, germs out’ (courtesy facebook)

After all, Listerine created the legendary ‘Halitosis’ condition in the USA. And J&J (in 2009) was willing to bet on this ‘condition’ alone to be a sole crowd puller in India as well – 

Reference for facts and data: 


*http://www.financialexpress.com/news/j&j-to-promote-listerine-in-urban-markets/682094/