Interview With Oral-B Brand Director Aliza Leferink

32 year old, Aliza Leferink is the Brand Manager for Oral-B in Sub-Sahara African in charge of business in Kenya, South Africa, Nigeria etc. She relocated to Nigeria over a year ago, she likes the city of Lagos, the climate except the traffic.
You have been in Nigeria over a year, what culture have you noticed? 
From Business point of view My take is everybody is very straight and direct, ready to do business. The people are very positive and very helpful to address any issues.
What Oral-B as a brand doing to eradicate dental challenges?
Before relocating to Nigeria, I was the Brand Manager for Oral-B in Belgium in Europe. There is total difference in oral health between Europe and Nigeria. Common disease in Nigeria “Periodontitis”  90% are cavity problem. But the major problem is low awareness of oral health education. One of the things Oral-B want to do is to make sure people have more awareness of Oral health because Good oral health is super important when it comes to general health, for economic even for social interaction. For instance let us say you are not confident about yourself, you cannot perform ultimately on your job . Oral health is super important beyond  general health. The biggest challenge is that most people do not start with prevention I mean preventive and consistent measures I oral health issues. My experience in Nigeria and indeed quite a number of other countries, is that most people go to the dentist when they have real issues. But by then, most of the damage that could have been prevented is already done.

How do you take care of your oral health?
This is where oral-B of course comes in. In Belgium, oral health awareness is very high. People go to the dentist at least twice a year. The basic tips to have good oral care is at least people should brush twice a day morning and night .Use Fluoride paste(Oral-B),visit your dentist for check up twice a year, change your brush 4times a year, check your diet and  do not eat so much refined sugar, do- not have too much eat and drink moments . For oral care, prevention is the best option.
What are your plans to increase the awareness level?
In order to improve oral health in Nigeria ,One first  thing we need to do (Oral-B )and the governments is to increase the awareness of oral health and educate people on how to take good care of their oral health .Oral-B toothpaste brand  has been in the market for only four years in Nigeria ,it is relatively young. Since  we have been in the market we have started a consumer programme which is called ‘Mobile  Dental Clinic”, where we have  a team of international experts and trained dentists to educate people in the markets on how to take good care of their oral health and show them demos. Through this programme we have reached millions of Nigerians and educated them properly, as well as given them the right tools and knowledge to achieve great oral health. The  trained dentists are also available to attend to people, give free dental check-up, and  tell them what next to do.
What are the special benefits in using Oral-B twice a day?Very good question When you brush with Oral-B you have all-around protection. It is a product that contains stannous fluoride. Fluoride as I said is a basic ingredient that you need to prevent cavity. Stannous fluoride goes further because it has a high antibacterial ingredient ,Oral B is the only brand in Nigeria that provides this kind of anti-bacteria stannous fluoride. What it does is to delay Plaque building on the tooth and Plaque is the beginning of everything bad to the tooth. stannous fluoride also has other benefits. It has very high protection against enamel erosion, with 7 special benefits. These are: Fights Plaque Build-up on Teeth –  Provides Tartar Control –  Helps Prevents Cavities –   Helps Fight Gum problems – Freshens Breath – Protects from Sensitivity – Gently whitens Teeth. The claim we have is that after a week you will get notable healthier teeth. And you can go to the clinic to test and prove it .
How many varieties of Oral-B do you have?
Basically at the moment, we have three families- We have the all around protection family, we have family that focus specifically on growth and all come in different favour, sizes and we have six in total.
How has Oral-B preformed in Nigeria Market over 4 years in face of the competition?
We are enjoying great acceptance  in Nigeria, and people are seeing the superior performance.. Comparing Oral-B in Nigeria to other countries, is the same though  Oral-B is relatively young player in the Market. But competition is something healthy and the brand is measuring up.
Then what is your strategy used to penetrate the Market?
It is a very simple business model. We make sure we are available at the points of need and point of purchase. More importantly,  we provide superior quality ,superior value and people feel good to pay for it. We provide what consumers like and need. We are available at their convenience, we make sure they know and understand the brand.  Consumers have lot of options yet we keep winning consumers to our side because of what the brand promises and delivers.

Is Oral-B made for high-end consumers. Is this true? Can we look at the price?
Oral –B is made for everybody. The product prices are in line with the rest of the market price. If you want to provide good oral-care for Nigeria you need to come with a product that’s affordable and offer a lot of benefits for everybody. if you want to make a difference you cannot alone focus on high-end consumers. The products portfolio is designed for everyone who desire good oral health and healthier teeth. The consumers have seen the superiority of our product.
We do see branded Oral-B trucks around, what is it meant for?
The trucks are part of the Mobile Dental Clinic which we are already in teams in the market educating people about Good oral health. We reach a lot of people and they got to know more about Oral-B
As a brand Manger what are your personal experience and benefits you have from using Oral-B?
I am happy because I was using Oral-B even before I started working with P&G. I also use  their brushes. Personally I like Oral-B because of  the high anti-bacteria agent, I feel fresher and your teeth stays clean throughout the day. Although I focus the entire day working for the product, I am also am end-user consumer.I just want stronger and healthly teeth and that is why I use oral-B and that is what Oral- B gives.
In addition, you made mention of toothbrush, Can I use another brush for Oral –B or did the brush and toothpaste gohand in hand?
Oral-B toothpaste has specifics benefits that no other toothpaste has and the same applies to oral B brush. Oral-B  brushes are famous worldwide for effective cleaning with Brussels that  will not damage your gum. They have  brussel standing at 60% angles which is proven to remove more plaques so from this perspective I will say they definitely goes hand-in hand.
What are the plans for  2016 to further push Oral-B in the market?
For me Dec 25 or Jan 25 it doesn’t make a difference. We are working on growth for Oral-B and Improve Oral-Health. From this perspective basically we continue doing what we have been doing before. We continue to activate dental mobile clinics to educate and offer Good oral care. We continue to ensure more products in convenient locations for consumers to buy and more and more people know about the brand Oral-B.
My experience with Oral-B toothbrush is soft- For smokers -why don’t you have hard brush for this category?
No difference between hard and soft Brussels- This is the key feedback I hear from Nigerian consumers asking why don’t you have hard Brussels brush  because I need to have a good scrub. There is a little saga about what you need to know to clean your teeth. In the end, it is about removing plaques. To do this, it is not  just a matter of  either hard or soft Brussels ,it is the mechanical pressure and really going to the area needed to be touched. One thing is it is better to use soft brush than hard brush because soft brush will not damage because your gum is critical in putting the entire mouth in good condition. From that perspective, I will advice soft brush because in the end it  does not mean you will clean better with hard brush or soft brush it depends on your techniques and amount of time used that does the great job. That is part of what we do in oral care education with prevention because people might have thought they are doing real great job the way they brush. But when we educate consumers in the markets what is good oral health and how to take care of your oral health, they come out much better informed and empowered.
Let’s talk about this dental Clinic? Everything they offer is free right?
The knowledge is free but the products are not. The education and the information is absolutely free. what we offer in the market is Brand Education on Oral healthcare and we are in the market to explain to consumers how to take good care of their oral health. The education is free. But the products are not. People get on the spot, the  opportunity to see qualify dentists and buy the products that they may desire.
Why don’t you step up even if it is a period of a year to offer to specific number of Nigerians or hospitals full dental check-up and treatment for free? is there any plan like that soon?
I like your recommendation very much , but what we do at the moment with our dental mobile clinic in the market we have qualify dentists who perform the examination for free. Let me say in term of treatment in the market . we give the patients full dental check-up including  recommendation of what patient should do after the examination…. And this is what we have been doing for more than four years since the brand was  launched and something we are committed to continue do it.
In the end Oral-B is committed to prevention. What we are focusing on now is educating people on good oral health and prevention.
In educating do you reach out to schools?
Our focus is also on dental schools and to support dental students. We have  a very good relationship with the Dental Association of Nigeria. We were also in partnership with Federal Government on the just concluded National oral health in Abuja. We participated in Abuja where we reached out to secondary schools and offered free oral check-up to one thousand students. When opportunities come we are open to partnership with the ministry of health.