On the toothpaste front, meanwhile, Pro-Crest is rolling out a new campaign that also touts the medical benefits of its product after years of marketing that featured playful ads boasting of new
flavors and beauty benefits. New TV spots--part of a $100 million marketing campaign that includes the Web and print--feature a somber spokesman in a lab coat who points to a list of product benefits
in the areas Crest says dentists check for the most: gingivitis, plaque, cavities, tartar, sensitivity, stains, and breath. The spots include a shot of the caduceus, the physicians' staff-and-snake
insignia. Crest Pro-Health is P&G's answer to Colgate Total, which since its introduction in 1997 has dominated toothpaste sales with the promise of treating multiple oral-care concerns. Before, "the
consumer always had to give up something else if they wanted the gold standard of a particular treatment," says Matt Doyle, P&G's director of global oral-care research and product development. "Now
they no longer have to make that choice."
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