The Challenge

A leading provider of oral care products faced increased market segmentation, competition and slowing sales in several key product categories. A decades-old and well-known maker of toothpaste, gels, mouthwash, dental floss and other products, the company had not experienced such challenges in many years. Seeking to address the challenge in a systematic way, the company partnered with Applied Marketing Science to bring consumer insights into the product development process.

What We Did

Our approach included the combination of traditional and emerging research techniques. It delivered a comprehensive understanding of consumer insights across all product lines, and it did so faster and at a much lower cost than would have been possible only a few short years ago.

We began with a comprehensive evaluation of consumer information available in digital and social media, including review sites and blogs. We combined this with a small number of qualitative ethnographic research events in each product category, visiting the homes of consumers, assessing their rituals and watching them use the product. In addition, we supplemented this exercise with mobile ethnographies, where consumers conducted their oral care rituals on video and sent us the results for evaluation.

We identified more than 150 key insights across the multiple categories included in the research and integrated these insights into a short, mobile-enabled quantitative survey.

The Outcome

The results identified the top-priority areas for our client to focus on in future product development. The findings established three-to-five key areas across each product line as target areas for improvement. Since the survey included a segmentation analysis, the results informed not only product development, but also consumer messaging to key target segments.