Why did ponds toothpaste fail?

Answer 1

This is again an excellent example of the failure to understand the core values of the brand and trying to extend into other categories. Pond's is always known for its feminine beauty and has its brand identity surrounded around the beauty. Pond's is associated with freshness, fragrance, and clean skin. So marketers have thought to extend with the attributes of freshness and cleanness into the toothpaste category.

One of the important things to note here is the way the products are used thought both are used for cleanness and freshness. We clean our tooth with toothpaste and we spit it out, whereas a Pond's cream is something which we believe will give us clear skin when it goes inside the skin. So, we apply the cream and leave it. The perception of cleanness and freshness is taken so differently in different products. Though the attributes are same, how they are achieved also plays a role in the perception.