NAPLES, FL: Colgate-Palmolive, the FMCG manufacturer, is enhancing its ability to engage with consumers in a more real-time manner – presenting a variety of marketing opportunities on both a large and small scale.

Mindel Klein Lepore, Colgate-Palmolive's Worldwide Director/Global Digital Marketing, discussed this topic at the Association of National Advertisers' (ANA) 2016 Masters of Measurement Conference.

And she referenced a major Super Bowl activation that saw the brand respond, "in real time, to how consumers were reacting to the ads" during the NFL season closer.

"We activated around the Super Bowl so that we could see – in real time – both structured and unstructured data, and be able to react to what was happening," she explained. (For more, including further strategic details, read Warc's exclusive report: How Colgate-Palmolive builds consumer-engagement tools.)

"We used a marketing model that brought together a core team in what we call a 'planning-for-agility' session. We actually [considered] ads that would air before and during the game."

If the Super Bowl is an unrivalled marketing occasion, another example cited by Lepore was evidence that its rapid responsiveness works on a day-to-day level, too.

More specifically, she reported that William Shatner, the actor, had praised a Colgate-Palmolive brand online – an unsolicited endorsement giving the company an unexpected marketing opportunity.

"We still are beginners at this model, but we still were able to take advantage of real-time celebrity engagement and organic engagement. Who doesn't love William Shatner?" Lepore said. "It was real-time response and amplification."

The speed of its response represented one key proof point of success. "In the past, any sort of … response would have [taken] probably six weeks – not necessarily very agile," said Lepore.

Additionally, the firm had the capabilities in place to monitor the consumer reaction. "We actually had very positive consumer sentiment that we were able to measure," she added.

Data sourced from Warc