Colgate: The Smile that Changed an Industry

Colgate, an oral hygiene brand, worked with an optimism guru to explore the real emotions behind people’s smiles to better connect with people and culture, stabilise value share decline and grow brand distinctiveness and love as a foundation of future growth.

Executive summary

At the core of this unprecedented change for Colgate, is a strategic shift from a product-first company to a people-first one. For three years, through dozens of campaigns, this creative renewal has been expressed in many shapes and forms to create a genuinely emotional brand equity and impact the business results.

Market background

Colgate was the category leader in most markets. But as such, it established the norms for communication, which were entirely focused on product innovations and functional RTBs. These were easy for other brands to mimic, to the point that most people were not paying attention...

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