Colgate is an umbrella brand principally used to sell oral hygiene products such as toothpastes, toothbrushes, mouthwashes and dental floss. Manufactured by American consumer-goods conglomerate Colgate-Palmolive, Colgate oral hygiene products were first sold by the company in 1873, sixteen years after the death of the founder, William Colgate.
According to a 2015 report by market research company Kantar Worldpanel, Colgate is the only brand in the world purchased by more than half of households globally.[1] Colgate has a global market penetration of 67.7% and a global market share of 45%[2] - despite this, it maintained the highest growth rate of all brands in the survey, with 40 million new households purchasing Colgate-branded products in 2014.[3] Its global market penetration is nearly 50% higher than the second-placed brand in the study, Coca-Cola (43.3% penetration).