On Colgate's "Smile and get started"
How Colgate-Palmolive India is transforming its advertising with the ongoing marketing initiative
For a moment imagine you are 17, made an international debut and have represented India in front of the entire world. In the next two years, you achieve everything and you become an overnight success. And just when you are about to leave for the World Cup, everything is snatched from you in a flash of a second. An accidental gunshot and you are left paralysed waist down for a year. Forget your dreams and representing the country you are battling for your life.
How brutal is that?
This is a true story of Sandeep Singh aka Flicker Singh(he was the best drag-flicker in the world) - an Indian professional field hockey player from Haryana and an ex-captain of the Indian national team.
Doctors said that he won't be able to stand again, forget playing for the nation. In the next one year, Sandeep not only stood on his feet but brought new glories for the Indian hockey team. In 2010 Sandeep was awarded the Arjuna Award from the President of India. Sandeep’s journey from the wheelchair to leading the Indian national team is nothing short of an inspiration that came with its cost, pain, never-ending support from brother and glory.
Did I know this legend? Not until I watched Soorma - a movie based on his life.
In the below video Sandeep talks about his journey from a gunshot survivor to becoming the captain of the Indian hockey team. And how he is passing his inspirational journey to the younger generation.
Divyanshu Ganatra was a born nature’s boy. His life revolved around cycling, climbing, and trekking but at the age of 19, he lost his vision leaving him confined between four walls of a room. The journey from here on for Divyanshu was full of anger and frustration. However, he was determined to not live a life based on people’s sympathy. It took time to take control of his life and in 2014 he became India’s first solo paraglider.
For me, he is an inspiration but Divyanshu isn’t very fond of such accolades.
“There is nothing 'inspiring' about what I have done. Paragliding or mountain climbing or any adventure sport can be done by any individual; what's so special about me doing it? You won't call an able person doing the same (thing as me) as 'inspiration', then why for a disabled.”
His philosophy for life is very simple - “When you smile it is a problem solved. I never lost my ability to imagine, my ability to smile.” In the below video, Divyanshu shares his journey with a big smile and the story ends with Colgate’s brand message “Smile karo aur shuru ho jao.”
Both the above inspirational stories and few more are a part of oral care company Colgate Palmolive India’s ongoing marketing initiative “Smile karo aur shuru ho jao” (smile, and get started).
According to the brand the campaign builds on real-life stories of everyday people to inspire hope and start afresh. “The story exemplifies Colgate’s message of overcoming adversity and life’s challenges with the positive power of a smile. Such important stories of real people help us spread the message of conquering fears and our inhibitions with a smile,” said Arvind Chintamani, vice president, marketing, Colgate.
Colgate’s transformed advertising
The power of optimism for the brand started in the second quarter of 2019. It rolled out two new television spots in association with advertising agency RedFuse Communications and produced by Equinox Films. Both the ads focused on women, one of them is about a daughter who is taking over the mantel of CEO from her father and the other one is about a female who is going to transform herself into a mother as she is adopting a child. Both films focus on the messaging of wearing a confident smile and facing the world with optimism.
Colgate has been associating smiles with confidence and responsibilities for a while now. Early last year it went and signed up Indian cricketing legend Mahendra Singh Dhoni aka Captain Cool and his wife. The association was smart but I can't say much about the ad.
Anyways we have rarely seen Mahi angry and frustrated on the cricket field. India still believes (at least I do) if Mahi is there then anything is possible and he will win matches for us. So when he says what he means by being strong from inside comes across as a believable statement.
Real-life stories and the brand fit
Advertising was good when it started as a premise of telling stories to consumers and focusing on the value. However, somewhere in the mid, we lost the essence and all we did was sell. Brands forgot the consumer and focused on the 4P’s.
Digital happened and the consumer once again became powerful. So the brands had no choice but to once again adopt old school thinking of advertising. This brought back storytelling and elements like real-life stories.
In the last few years, almost every brand has associated with real-life stories to gain the consumer conference. In fact, some experts used Bollywood celebs for TV and the other lesser-known real-life stories for digital. Because the notion was that the youth are on social media and they love such stories. All this medium madness plays in the minds of marketers, the consumer is really not bothered. She is interested in how do you solve a problem for me.
Additionally, real-life stories have been misused to great lengths where the brand has forced real-life stories for its communication just because everyone was doing it. In Colgate’s case, the real-life thought is nothing new but it is not a complete force fit. Being sad and frustrated is a human emotion and Sandeep or any other achiever has witnessed the same.
Life gives you an opportunity when you start believing and work hard. Obviously you will have to accept the present, smile and move ahead.
Besides, what is the first thing that pops out when you have a smile on your beautiful face? Your teeth. How would that smile look if you don’t have strong bright teeth? Obviously it won’t be a pleasing one.
One can say that this whole exercise is a force fit but I would say there are some cracks but that is negligible. The larger piece is that a power of smile helps to conquer our problems, at least it is the first positive move.
Life loves the liver of it - Maya Angelou
Keep India Smiling Foundational scholarship
Keep India Smiling is a boring portal (can be better) that the brand has launched for the initiative. Get Inspired is the collection of all the real-life stories the brand has rolled out so far. Get Started is another section where the brand is trying to make an impact on the ground. It is providing scholarships to individuals who are deserving and meritorious but may lack resources to pursue their dreams.
There is a panel which has the job to select the deserving candidates. For the implementation it has tied up with Buddy4Study and the NGO partner is Shikshadaan foundation.
On the face, the brand has crafted a smart campaign that stands on real-life storytelling and finally tying with impact on the ground. However, the brand could have supported the work the real-life heroes are already doing.
Colgate and oral care market in India
Colgate Palmolive continues to be the largest selling toothpaste and is also one of the top three most trusted brands. However, the Indian consumer is no more buying sparkling white teeth communication. With health, factors like oral hygiene have become an important factor in grooming and buying decisions. Hence one of the reasons why the brand has got stiff competition from local Ayurvedic giant Patanjali.
Even though the brand has tried to get into the segment it has failed to take off. Colgate’s overall share fell 210 basis points to 49.4% in year-to-March after key brands — Colgate Dental Cream, Active Salt and Cibaca — lost share, according to industry executives.
With a fourth of India’s toothpaste market being herbal now, Colgate has been aggressively betting on Vedshakti - Ayurvedic toothpaste. Mid last year Colgate’s global chief executive Ian Cook said during an investor call,
“We focused back on driving distribution and advertising support and we are back to growth, and India is now posting healthy organic sales growth, driven by innovation - Vedshakti, which is building distribution and continuing to build market share.”
To stay at the top of the consumer mind the brand has so far invested in products and advertising. With this ongoing campaign, brand communication has also transformed. It is hardly talking about the products or itself, instead, it is doing the job of an enabler and pushing the real-life stories.
Whether these stories and effort push the consumer to make the switch or increase sales is something to be seen. For now, let's smile and try to solve our problems.