Colgate is almost a synonym for toothpaste in our country. It has such a great brand recall that today it is nothing less than a household name. It’s a brand that people resonate with, a brand that people trust and a brand that feels like family. Colgate enjoys global popularity and there is no doubt that it is one of the most loved brands in the world. Here are some interesting facts that you might have not known about the brand.
For around 10 years, Colgate made and sold perfumes before it finally started the toothpaste business.
Initial years saw Colgate selling its toothpaste in glass jars.
Twenty-three years after its launch in 1873, Colgate introduced collapsible tubes in 1908. To highlight this new change, they used a slogan, which was also embossed on the tubes, “We could not improve the product, so we improved the tube”
William Coalgate did not live long enough to see the success of the company he established. The popular toothpaste brand came into being only after 16 years of his death.
Colgate has subsidiary organizations in about 200 countries but its officially listed on the stock exchanges of only 2 countries, The US and India.
Although the official name Colgate-Palmolive came into being in the year 1953, the merger of these two companies happened in 1928 when Palmolive-Peet that manufactured soaps bought Colgate.
1968, Colgate reformulated itself with MFP Fluoride which is said to be the best compound to safeguard against tooth decay.
7 years after establishing its first factory in India, Colgate became the number one selling brand in the world, in 1999.
In Spanish, Coalgate means ‘go hang yourself’. Although it became a little challenging for Colgate to enter the market with this double meaning attached, this fact ended up triggering its success in the market.
In 2011, PETA certified Colgate for being a brand that conducts a test on animals only under government regulations.
In 2007, Colgate set a Guinness World Record where in school children in the Philippines participated in Super Mega Brushing event. The event saw 41,038 students brushing their teeth at the same time in 13 different locations spread all over the nation.
Also Read: Interesting Facts and Stories Behind Some World Famous Brands
According to a study conducted by the market research firm Kantar World Panel in 2015, Colgate is the only brand that is bought by more than fifty percent of the households across the world.
