Lady Speed Stick, Teen Spirit And Speed Stick Ultimate Introduce New Fragrances, Formulas And Packaging NEW YORK (Sept. 29, 2000) - Colgate-Palmolive is targeting younger consumers by introducing new fragrances, formulas and packaging for its Mennen lines of Lady Speed Stick, Teen Spirit and Speed Stick Ultimate Anti-Perspirant/Deodorants.

Teens and young women will now find a variety of new products from Colgate on their store shelves, including a new collection from Lady Speed Stick® with fun and exciting new fragrances, and a new and improved Teen Spirit® Stick Invisible Dry® featuring an advanced no-white residue formula, a new fragrance and updated packaging.

Young men will find that Speed Stick Ultimate® Anti-Perspirants and Deodorants have a whole new look as well as enhanced high performance formulas, new premium packaging and more contemporary scent names.

Lady Speed Stick®

Teens and young women are heavily impacting the marketplace. Not only is this the time in their lives when brand preferences are formed, but they are also heavy users of Anti-Perspirant/Deodorants, often reapplying during the day⁽¹⁾.

With this in mind, Colgate-Palmolive has introduced a new collection of Lady Speed Stick® with fun and exciting new fragrances. These products combine the 24-hour, no-white residue protection of Lady Speed Stick® Invisible Dry® (the first no-white residue stick) with contemporary new fragrances at a popular price. The collection includes Orchard Blossom, Wild Freesia and Caribbean Cool scents.

Fragrance is a key category driver for young women and fun, contemporary fragrances attract younger users at point of entry. The specialty outlets are capitalizing on this, offering fragrance driven anti-perspirant/deodorants under their own labels⁽²⁾. The implication is that new contemporary fragrances on shelf will drive UAP sales at food, drug and mass retailers.

Form plays an important role in product selection as well. While sticks make up more than half of the female anti-perspirant/deodorant category⁽³⁾, no-white residue sticks are fueling female category growth - with no-white residue stick sales up $35 million⁽⁴⁾.

"Fragrance is important but efficacy is a must," says Sheila Hopkins, Vice President & General Manager, U.S. Personal Care, Colgate-Palmolive. "Many women don't want to take a risk on their Anti-Perspirant/Deodorant and are seeking the reassurance of a national brand⁽⁵⁾. We are delivering the contemporary fragrances they want with the performance reassurance of the Lady Speed Stick brand."

These new fragrances of Lady Speed Stick started shipping to drug, grocery and mass merchandisers nationwide on July 1, 2000. The products are line-priced to the base business and available only in a larger 2.3 oz. size because large sizes are driving category growth. With strong support planned, consumers will learn about these new products through new print advertising, national newspaper inserts and a sampling program. Dynamic displays will create a boutique within the store.

Teen Spirit® Stick Invisible Dry®

While the new fragrances of Lady Speed Stick are designed to appeal to teens and young women, research shows that girls start using anti-perspirant/deodorants as young as eight years old, and by age 12, virtually all girls are using them⁽⁶⁾.

For a decade, pre-teen girls have turned to Colgate-Palmolive's Teen Spirit®. It was the first anti-perspirant/deodorant especially developed for pre-teen girls. More than half of teen girls age nine to 11 are aware of Teen Spirit and more than one-third of girls ages 12 to 13 claimed to use it most often⁽⁷⁾.

Now Colgate-Palmolive is introducing new and improved Teen Spirit® Stick Invisible Dry®. The new line of Anti-Perspirant/ Deodorants boasts an advanced no-white residue formula, a new fragrance and updated packaging. All three variants of Teen Spirit Stick Invisible Dry have bold, unique fun fragrance graphics and are available in 1.4 oz. and 2.3 oz. sizes. Fragrances include: Berry Blossom, Caribbean Cool and new Shower Fresh. New Teen Spirit® Stick Invisible Dry began bleed-in shipments to drug, food and mass merchandisers nationwide in July 2000.

Speed Stick Ultimate Anti-Perspirants and Deodorants

For the men, Speed Stick Ultimate Anti-Perspirants and Deodorants have a whole new look with enhanced high performance formulas, new premium packaging and more contemporary scent names to appeal to younger active males. Both Speed Stick Ultimate Anti-Perspirant and Speed Stick Ultimate Deodorant formulas have been improved to offer young men "Ultimate™ 24 hour protection." These products deliver advanced odor and wetness* protection as well as the no-white residue benefit that male consumers seek. Capitalizing on the importance of fragrance in the male category, this new generation of Speed Stick Ultimate also offers many scent choices, long-lasting fragrance delivery and additional odor fighters.

Speed Stick Ultimate also will be premium-priced to grow category dollars. "We believe these young male consumers will trade-up to a premium/no-white residue product," says Hopkins. "Speed Stick Ultimate is capitalizing on the category trend toward premium-priced products. A premium price communicates the value-added benefits of Speed Stick Ultimate to consumers and differentiates the product from base Speed Stick. It also has a higher dollar ring and higher penny profit per unit."

Speed Stick continues to be #1 in volume share⁽⁸⁾. The brand's growth is ahead of the category with 7.1-percent dollar growth⁽⁹⁾. New products launched since 1995 are now 54 percent of Colgate sales⁽¹⁰⁾.

New and improved Speed Stick Ultimate began shipping to drug, grocery and mass merchandisers on July 1, 2000. Speed Stick Ultimate Anti-Perspirant is available in 1.8 oz. and 2.7 oz. sizes in Alpine Fresh, Glacier, Power Zone and Sport scents. Speed Stick Ultimate Deodorant is available in 2.0 oz. and 3.0 oz. sizes in scents including Alpine Fresh, Glacier and Power Zone. A strong support plan using new television and print advertising kicks off in early 2001, along with high impact displays, high value coupons, extreme sports sponsorships, sampling and event tie-ins.

Colgate-Palmolive is a leading global consumer products company tightly focused on Oral Care, Personal Care, Household Surface Care, Fabric Care and Pet Nutrition. In the U.S., Colgate sells its quality products under such nationally recognized brand names as Colgate, Palmolive, Mennen, Ajax, Irish Spring, Softsoap, Murphy Oil Soap, Ultra Brite and Fab, as well as Hill's Science Diet and Hill's Prescription Diet pet foods.

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Footnotes

⁽¹⁾ Consumer Research on file at Colgate-Palmolive, 1998 & 1999.

⁽²⁾ Consumer Research on file at Colgate-Palmolive, 1998, 1999 & 2000.

⁽³⁾ A.C. Nielsen Co., 3-outlet, Dollar Share and Dollar Growth, Full Year 1999.

⁽⁴⁾ A.C. Nielsen Co., 3-outlet, Dollar Change Full Year 1999 vs. 1998.

⁽⁵⁾ Consumer Research on file at Colgate-Palmolive 1999 & 2000.

⁽⁶⁾ A.C. Nielsen Company Data, 1998 Teenage Research Panel (Peterson Publishing Company).

⁽⁷⁾ A.C. Nielsen Company Data, 1998 Teenage Research Panel (Peterson Publishing Company).

* wetness protection in Anti-Perspirant only.

⁽⁸⁾ A.C. Nielsen Co., 3-Outlet, EQ Volume Share.

⁽⁹⁾ A.C. Nielsen Co., 3-Outlet, Dollar Sales Growth, Full Year 1999 vs. 1998.

⁽¹⁰⁾ A.C. Nielsen Co., 3-Outlet Dollar Share 1995-1998 and December 1999.