The health and beauty category has slipped from first place in branded activity to a still healthy second place over the past year.

The front-running brand, Johnson & Johnson, hasn't had it all its own way, with myriad brands jostling with it for the top spot in terms of promotional featured space.

Indeed, three brands shared top place last weekend - Sensodyne, Colgate and Gillette - each accounting for 21% of activity in the category. L'Oréal and Nivea took the remaining two places in the top five with a 19% share each.

The battle for space continues to be hard fought with Sensodyne toothpaste, toothbrushes and mouthwash on offer in Asda and Tesco at the weekend. The brand used x-for-y for all promotions.

Colgate took featured promotional space in Asda, Sainsbury and Tesco for its range of dental care products, using both x-for-y and bogof.

The last of the top three was Gillette. Promotions included disposable as well as Gillette Fusion and Venus ranges. The brand used different mechanics for each of the brands including bogof, save, x-for-y and free gift.

Nivea's sun care products kept the brand in the top five. Offers were available in both Sainsbury and Morrisons and preferred mechanics were bogof and special purchase.

The L'Oréal range included Garnier and Nutrisummer, available in Asda using save and Sainsbury using bogof, with additional space including ladder racks as well as gondola ends.

However, Johnson & Johnson remains in the top spot as far as overall activity this year goes, accounting for 27% of space. Colgate moves into second place with 22%, above Dove with 21%. Radox stays fourth with 17% and Pampers is fifth with 13%.

Sensodyne is the most improved brand, moving from 56th place in 2006 to 24th in the 2007 year-to-date figures.

Focus on Health & Beauty p55

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