Target Market (11)

It's time for those tired old Q-Tips to scoot over and make some room for a local rival. Mentor's Sentinel Consumer Products Inc. is celebrating its 100th birthday this year by unleashing a colorful new line of cotton swabs with names such as Blue Ribbon, Green Leaf, Juicy Melon and Tickled Pink. Though such monikers may seem more suited to crayons or bubble gum, Sentinel pioneered the use of color in beauty-care products and already produces swabs called Real Teal, Purple Heart, Lipstick Red and Solid Gold. For the past 30 years, the company's colorful approach to traditionally white products has allowed it to do battle with big-name rivals such as Johnson & Johnson. "The fact is, people gravitate toward color," says Sentinel Consumer Products president Mike Klein. "We're just approaching our consumers in our category like they are approached in other categories."