How do you get people thinking and talking about tooth sensitivity?

That was the challenge for Sensodyne with its new, global campaign, Life is too short for sensitivity, which moved away from conventional ‘pain’ messaging, and instead talking about missing out on the moments that matter.

We surveyed 6,000+ consumers across Sensodyne’s six target markets and found 4 in 10 avoid their favorite snacks due to sensitivity. And #1 on the avoided list was ice cream.

Going into summer in Europe, sensitivity-prone consumers would be missing out on their favorite treat.

This became our opportunity.

Our creative concept – ‘Coldish’ – would be the world’s first ice lolly for people with sensitive teeth. Lukewarm and pain free, it would allow consumers not just to hear our message but experience it viscerally, with every bite setting up our critical question: “Why miss out on ice cold ice cream and go through lengths coming up with something lukewarm, when simply switching toothpaste would cure your sensitivity?”

‘Warm ice cream’ had obvious, immediate headline appeal to media and influencers, and “Free ice cream!” signage would be an easy pull in.

Our target audience was 25-49 year olds, under-represented in Sensodyne’s customer base; Young people are typically less aware/less bothered that tooth discomfort is sensitivity.

Our plan: Tap into the hot vogue for handcrafted ice cream, and target our audience where they want it most – sunny summer events. Touring six markets (Nordic countries, Netherlands and Belgium), our ice cream trucks would arrive and hand out Coldish. While munching their lollies, they would be the perfect captive audience for a conversation about how they could enjoy real ice cream every day again, pain free, simply by switching toothpaste.

Our principal execution challenge was the product itself. We needed a molecular gastronomist, a chef, a laboratory, an expert partner (ice cream maker Köld) and 6 weeks (March-April 2021) to trial hundreds of foul-tasting attempts before we found the perfect recipe.

Finally, by June, 6,500 delicious lollies were delivered, with wrapper text about the initiative. We then set out on an ice-cream tour across the target markets, handing out free ice cream and talking about teeth sensitivity with thousands of people.

Our primary metric had been to start conversations with consumers. Our idea – using a fun novelty item as bait – worked brilliantly: 6.8 million people across the Nordics, Belgium and the Netherlands heard about Coldish and Sensodyne, and discussed the simplicity of alleviating sensitivity.

The conversation then progressed to behavioral nudges on social, as responses from Sensodyne users (e.g. “I’ve had sensitive teeth since being a kid but, thanks to Sensodyne, my life has changed”), prompted others to want to learn more (“I had to check again to make sure it was true! Wow!”).

So while we delivered only 6,500 ice creams, we managed to engage thousands and reach millions with Sensodyne’s message.