Introduction Colgate Max Fresh (CMF) was launched in the USA market by Colgate-Palmolive as a premium brand of toothpaste. CMF was introduced to enable Colgate-Palmolive to compete effectively with its rivals such as Proctor & Gamble. CMF was very successful because it managed to increase Colgate-Palmolive’s share of the US market to 34.8% in 2004 as shown in figure 1 in the appendix. This report presents a critical analysis of the factors that led to the success of CMF in the United States of America. The factors that will be discussed include positioning, advertising, and marketing support. The report will also analyze the adaptation strategies that were used to launch CMF in China and Mexico. Based on these analyses, a marketing plan for launching CMF as a global brand will be presented. Positioning The elements of CMF’s positioning strategy include the following. First, CMF was positioned as a premium brand. In particular, potential users of the product were promised benefits such as freshness of breath and guaranteed whitening of their teeth. The strength of this strategy is that the promises were based on market research findings. Concisely, consumer research had indicated that customers were interested in oral care products that had the ability to improve breath freshness. Additionally, whitening of teeth was becoming an important benefit to customers. Thus, customers were likely to buy CMF because it promised to deliver these benefits. Nonetheless, the product was at the risk of losing its brand integrity if it did not have the qualities or attributes that were associated with it. Second, CMF was launched in two different forms namely, liquid bottles and gel tubes as shown in picture 1 in the appendix. Similarly, it was launched in two different flavors namely, blue cool mint and green clean mint. These differentiation strategies were important because they reinforced the brand personality of the product. Concisely, the different flavors were meant to provide customers with immediate benefits so that they could feel the superior qualities of the product. Nonetheless, introducing more flavors could have improved the success of the product in the US market. This is because not every consumer was likely to be interested in the two flavors. Thus, extending the product line by including additional flavors could have enabled Colgate-Palmolive to satisfy the tastes and preferences of more customers in the US market. Third, CMF was introduced at a price that was comparable to that of CWE, which was its main rival in the market. The benefit of setting comparable prices is that it averts the threat of substitution. Concisely, customers who are responsive to prices often buy low cost brands that promise high quality. In this regard, CMF could not have penetrated the market easily if its price was higher than that of CWE. Finally, the attractive bottle package that was used to market the product improved its appeal to customers in retail stores. Strong visual impacts usually enable customers to connect with the product by recognizing it easily. Ease of recognition facilitates repeat purchase because customers are likely to buy a brand if they can recall its attributes. The elements discussed in the foregoing paragraphs improved the process of positioning CMF by emphasizing its unique