To create a viral smile, you need to have real, living people smiling. This single act of warmth then becomes infectious. So our ‘Smile Ambassadors’ were waiting to cheer up Stockholm’s commuters. They smiled at passers-by, reminded them that they had forgotten to smile and that a perfect smile needs beautiful white teeth. They gave away Pepsodent samples in return for a smile. To further spread the warmth, dedicated ‘Helping Hands’ held open doors, helped the elderly across the street, and so on. Soon, others saw the happiness it created, and joined in. We reminded commuters why smiling was so important while on the train using advertorials in Metro, the biggest free daily newspaper. This was complemented using mobile location-based service to find your closest Smile Ambassador to claim your free sample, advertorials that explained the health benefits of smiling and encouraged readers to send smiles to friends by Instagram.

More than 100,000 commuters smiled during ‘Smile Week’ and brought home a Pepsodent Ultra Complete sample. And with 238,938 companies in the area, that meant that 41.85% of them had a co-worker smiling in the office. Although hard to calculate the benefits of smiling on Stockholm’s health and well-being, the evidence for an emotional connection we built between them and the brand is clear. During Q1, we saw all toothpaste brands lose market share to the new entrant through its aggressive new product launch. Pepsodent stood strong.