For over 100 years, Colgate has been marketing toothpastes to mothers. This year, we decided to expand our customer base by talking to a whole new audience: tweens. According to recent studies, this particular segment has considerable influence in household purchases.

Most people brush their teeth twice a day. Most people also forget to brush their teeth at night. To reach and remind our young people to brush their teeth, we knew we had to surprise them. We contacted Teens Magazine. Despite its name, the majority of their readers are tweens who aspire to be teens. Then we asked a local celebrity if he would like to be a role model to young people. Teens Magazine gave him the centrefold, and he gave us his best smile.

After tweens put up the poster, something unexpected happened at night. Those who didn't brush their teeth promptly did so. Then they went and told their friends. Their friends went out, bought the magazine, and told more people. Before long, the work started appearing on FB, Multiply, tumblr and other social media sites. Their parents thought it was a great idea and told other parents who bought the magazine (and Colgate toothpastes) for their children. And while all this was happening, sales have quietly gone up by a modest 0.7%.