Colgate believes in the strength of every smile and provides expert care to keep every kind of smile strong. So, when 1 in 4 adults suffer from depression and anxiety in Europe (WHO 2021) it was Colgate’s duty to encourage people to choose optimism and remind them of what their smile could do for them. Choosing to smile and being optimistic helps people overcome adversity, so our objective was simple: get people to smile more.

Kids have an extraordinary ability to find joy and laughter in the simple things in life. On average, they smile more than 300 times a day. On the other side, on average, adults smile less than 20 times a day. (Martin & Kuiper, 1999).

To improve the well-being of adults, we created a Smile Master Class series in which kids taught adults how to smile more.

Today's context makes it easy to forget that you can choose to smile. Yet it is a strength that we all have. Colgate believes this too, so it does all it can to ensure everyone has the strength to smile. But reminding people to smile is a delicate business, this was not a matter of ‘cheering people up’ but the serious business of re-educating them on the importance of smiling.

During the lockdowns, people coped by finding subjects to re-learn and acquire new skills through e-learning platforms. So, we found a way to hack the most popular digital learning platform to create fun, lighthearted content that reminded adults that you don’t need much to smile.

In September of 2021, we created an online learning platform where kids gave adults free smiling advice across a variety of subjects, such as: routine, ageing, conversation, current events, and more.

Link to platform: https://www.colgate.com/en-gb/smiles-master-class

Additionally, the series went live on Colgate’s social channels in the following markets:

UK, Germany, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Greece, Spain, Hungary, and Netherlands.

We also created a launch film promoting the Master Class series which showed adults and children’s opposite reactions to everyday life such as birthdays or being caught in the rain. This teaser video, as well as targeted Facebook and Instagram ads drove users to the series.

• 156% uplift in ROI

• 12 million people reached organically.

• 28% increase in Colgate's site traffic.

• 6-point increase in emotional bond over campaign period.