Closeup is a freshness toothpaste brand that goes against the category, championing closeness and intimacy and delivering “superior fresh breath to get you close”.

Closeup believes that people don’t choose who they’re attracted to, and that people should follow their hearts and move closer without fear of reprisal.

In developing Asia, Valentine’s Day is seen as the day for love, but there are multiple instances of society not being accepting of young couples going on dates, couples from different backgrounds getting together, or same sex couples being seen together.

Most brands that advertise during Valentine’s Day reinforce this stereotype, playing to the existing paradigm.

As a long established market leader and advocate of closeness, we wanted to challenge this, and give the 18-24 “Tinder-Generation” a voice, in markets where even using things like Tinder might be looked down upon.

In doing so, we aimed to become their brand of choice.

We launched our campaign by releasing a hero video featuring, for the first time in some markets, a myriad of couples getting closer finally culminating in a kiss. The video also featured mixed-race and same-sex couples, a bold statement from the brand, and a first for our markets.

We drove mass viewership by upweighting paid media in the first 3 weeks - key to driving maximum sharing and visibility for online video across platforms (Source: Unruly Networks Science of Sharing)

We then asked viewers to share 6 word stories of how they got close to people they were attracted to, which could be shared on social networks and on our campaign website.

We roped in popular YouTubers in our markets to help drive further traction for our message of closeness, thereby tapping into a large audience of youth consumers looking for inspiration, and also permission, to make their moves.