Parodontax : For people who see blood when they brush After the success of Sensodyne, GSK has launched another specialist toothpaste in the

Rs 6000 crore Indian toothpaste market. While Sensodyne was a specialist for sensitive

teeth, the new launch is in the gum-care category. GSK launched its global niche brand

Parodontax recently in the Indian market.

The emergence of the niche products like sensitive , gum-care shows the new phase of

the evolution of  Indian toothpaste market. According to ET, Sensodyne which was

launched two years back is already a Rs 100 crore brand in India. The niche segments

are growing at a faster pace than the core segment and marketers are rushing to cash

in on this evolution.

Parodontax is a gum-care specialist. The brand is targeting those who are already

suffering from bleeding gums. According to newspaper reports, the incidents of gum-

related issues is as high as 33% which itself is a huge market waiting to be tapped.

The brand is now promoting awareness about the gum-related issues and advising

customers to take bleeding gums seriously. The brand is now running its standard

global TVC in the Indian market.

Not to be left behind , the market leader- Colgate has already launched its Pro-gum

variant -Colgate Total Pro-gum health . The leader was quick to spot the threat of this

GSK to its stronghold in the Indian market. Sensodyn has infact created a dent in the

market position of Colgate. Pepsodent also has Pepsodent Sensitive and Pepsodent -G

for the sensitive and gum-care segment respectively. Bu the share of noise of

Pepsodent is abysmally low in these segments and I feel that Pepsodent has lost out in

the race atleast for now.

Alries and Jack Trout had argued that line-extensions tend to be less effective when

fighting specialist brands. Here the market leaders are fighting the specialist brands

using variants. It remains to be seen how effective these defense would be .