• Situation

Gen Z, 26% of U.S. pop, is a substantial future market segment for the toothpaste category. Falling short on fair share, Colgate holds 3.5% of HHP among Gen Z 18+. A generation known for having different needs from brands, Colgate knew traditional strategies would not breakthrough or build a meaningful connection with this growth audience.

• Brief

Authentically connect with Gen Z leveraging Colgate’s ‘The Beauty of Gaps’ music video addressing the cultural tension around ‘perfect’ smiles.

• Objectives

Business: Make more people feel connected to Colgate and its’ purpose

Communications: Build brand love and relevance among Gen Z by creating attention for the Colgate brand

Media: Build a meaningful experience for Gen Z to interact with and feel connected to Colgate’s music video

• Share the media insight that led to this work

A safe haven for many Gen Z, Twitch creators have a relationship

idea/insights (30% of vote) *

Insight: Gen Z find freedom of expression in music, gaming, and culture. Their most meaningful connections are those they can be an active participant in.

Idea:

Colgate and Twitch brought together two Twitch musicians for a 2-hour live stream. A platform first, during the event the musicians created an original song together on the spot inspired by Colgate’s ‘The Beauty of Gaps’ music video.

During the stream the creators invited viewers to participate in writing song lyrics in real time via the chat. Conveying Colgate’s key message, ‘the most beautiful smile is the one that you own’ the musicians shared their smile stories inspiring viewers to share back their own.

The stream closed with a final performance of the song, during which the #SmileSuperpower served as an

• Target audience (consumer demographic / individuals / organisations)

Connect Colgate to Gen Z in their preferred formats and environments to convey the brand message effectively and meaningfully.

• Media planning

Give 'The Beauty of Gaps’ music video deeper, personal meaning to Gen Z by creating a content experience they want to engage with and lean into, in a preferred environment they already feel deeply connected to.

• Approach

The live event enabled Colgate to have an authentic introduction and conversation with the Twitch community. Gen Z were able to feel personally connected to 'The Beauty of Gaps' music video, and Colgate’s brand purpose. Because ‘The Beauty of Gaps’ was crafted as a music video, not an ad, an experience unlike any other was necessary to ensure the video had an opportunity to run in-full on the platform. During the live stream, the musicians played the music video 3x.

Through location scouting with National Experiential, we selected a large format wall on E. Houston & Bowery in Manhattan’s Lower East Side. The space was contracted from 8pm – 2am each night for seven nights.

We built out a creative template where our campaign branding served as a photo frame, with a QR code encouraging consumers on the street to scan.

Once users scanned the projection QR code, a landing page opened on their device providing the opportunity to opt in to utilize the device camera and project their selfie onto the wall. Selfies were then uploaded into a rotation within the creative frame, showcasing smile selfies throughout the night on our wall.

Knowing that brand safety is paramount in any community engagement activation, a team was on the ground reviewing all uploaded selfies before allowing them to fall into rotation.

Across the seven nights, the projection received 903 total QR code scans. While this is a first to market activation, a benchmark of 200 QR code scans was provided based on a 2024 projection campaign leveraging QR codes within creative.

While the quantity of uploads surpassed expectations, we also found that consumers were scanning from vehicles as well as the street. With the projection at a high traffic intersection, consumers could scan from within vehicles. Although we had set out to engage our audience on the ground, our reach expanded when we considered the vehicular traffic in the area.

Given that this is not a permanent OOH location, foot traffic is not tracked against the projection, however, to determine a proxy we looked at MTA subway circulation. Utilizing the two nearby stations (Broadway & Lafayette and 2nd Ave & E. Houston), an estimated 500K+ consumers were exposed to the projection.