The objective given to our team, was to help Sensodyne grow at twice the market rate,

bringing 165 million new users to the brand.

We developed 2 overarching objectives to achieve this:

1 – Broaden the relevance of tooth sensitivity. 2/3 of people with the condition just don’t care about it. They deal with it through coping behaviours - whether using a straw with cold drinks, leaving a hot coffee for a few minutes before taking a sip, or avoiding certain foods altogether. These consumers are far ‘less bothered’ about their sensitivity than Sensodyne’s traditional consumer.

2 – Enhance the emotional appeal of the brand, by moving away from being the white-coat-wearing dentist talking about tooth sensitivity. These comms have been effective, but they don’t talk to the vast majority of the ‘less bothered’ consumers with tooth sensitivity; a condition that affects 1-in-3 people.

Let’s face it – people don’t really get that excited about toothpaste – but they do care about cold beer, hot coffee and delicious ice cream.

So our radical, category changing idea - was to switch out the white coats and science MOAs and speak honestly about the glorious pleasure of food, free from sensitivity. Attracting those ‘less bothered’ sufferers to our brand.

Why? Because LIFE’S TOO SHORT FOR SENSITIVITY, especially when it can be kicked to the kerb by the efficacy of the world’s number one sensitivity brand - Sensodyne.

We decided to hold a mirror up to the coping behaviours that our ‘less bothered’ audience do (often subconsciously) to deal with their tooth sensitivity; which is to miss out on the things they love. There aren’t any white coats. There aren’t even any teeth in our new comms. It’s all about the promise of a return to those delicious food moments we all love. Moments on our own or with those we love - the food and drinks we enjoy in those moments, and the fact that we deserve to enjoy them to the fullest. Not be sharply removed from the pleasure, by a painful twinge in our teeth.

So, we came up with an empowering, single-minded rallying cry.

In the language of a friend, recognising the simple fact …Life’s Too Short For Sensitivity.

Rolling out in Jan 2021, our campaign integrated all types of global media, from the pack itself, through social, TV and VOD, and into store. Wrapping the consumer in the food they love, at the time they yearned for it most. A rich, world delivered seamlessly through a powerful, flexible design methodology working with a bespoke asset bank of over 500 ‘trigger’ foodstuffs.

We adopted a modular & programmatic approach leveraging high emotional value, driving contextual relevancy moments along the year. Covering ‘Launch’ ‘Everyday Pleasures’ ‘Seasonal’ ‘Festivities‘ and ‘Cultural Occasions’ and geo-location.

With bold brand building in broadcast and social creating a food pleasure universe - building strong association between Sensodyne and moments of food joy.

Delivering tailored messaging to audience segments - Families(Teens) / Couples / Independents / Young Families – showing the most relevant communication at the right moments. Comprising 70% of the total Non-Treater universe.

In extensive global testing, ‘Life’s too Short’ gave GSK it’s highest ever scores for involvement, enjoyment and Short Term Sales Likelihood. Since beginning our global roll-out (to 100+ markets) at the beginning of 2021, we managed to reach 36 million people in Great Britain, Ireland and the Nordics, in the first 2 months.

We also achieved 289 million global impressions within 3 months, just from our first markets to go live.

With early data we can see more people are watching our skippable videos on digital channels than they have for other commercially highly successful Sensodyne campaigns in the past.