After two years of relative marketing dormancy, Teledyne WaterPik is poised to return to the marketplace with a new product, backed by its most ambitious launch support.

The Toronto-based healthcare company also has a new ad agency to help in the effort.

It is Bates Canada, which won the account in a review that involved two other Toronto shops.

Teledyne President Peter Leaney says it was the ‘comfort factor’ he felt with Bates, as well as the full-service support the agency offered in professional services through its Healthcom division, that gave the edge to Bates.

Leaney also pointed to the agency’s creative director, Brad Riddoch, as a key factor in swaying Teledyne’s decision-makers.

Leaney and Riddoch worked closely together in the early 1980s when Riddoch was a copywriter with J. Walter Thompson.

The new toothbrush, scheduled for launch to the dental profession this spring and to consumers in the fall, is described by Leaney as a third-generation automatic toothbrush based on new sonic technology.

He says it will be the first of its kind in Canada.