Results and Effectiveness

Thanks to this strategy,Crest became a true beauty ally to our consumers: •The TV ROI reached 168 (60 points higher than planned) •Top Of Mind Awareness increased to 23% (v/s year ago) in a critical market, Shanghai. The KPI “this brand is relevant for me” saw a surge on 11% v/s year ago. •More than 5000 people participated in the dating show using the POCO app – an overwhelming response compared to unbranded participation. •The variant showcased saw an indexed increase in sales value 145. Crest’s date with young ladies was a hit and proved that smiles can be winning.

Creative Execution

Regular TV spots had proved unable to resonate with women, especially in more sophisticated cities like Shanghai. So we needed to get much more specific and created “Crest Shining Smile” a branded segment on China’s top dating show “One out of 100”. Three shots of the participating girls’ smiles were captured and shared as her ‘cover photo’. Prospective partners on the show would have to choose amongst the different girls based solely on their smiles. We integrated this initiative online via POCO (an instagram-type app) providing her with tools to beautify and share her photos (all branded with the Crest logo) on Weibo (China’s largest social network), further boosting her chances to find her Mr. Right. To close the loop, the girls who wanted to join the program could upload their own ‘smiling shots’ onto the channel site and get supporters to vote based on her smile.

Insights, Strategy and the Idea

Oralcare is growing in China and Crest wanted to build identity with women beyond a grocery-basket item to being a beauty-care asset, but faced some “cultural” barriers unique to China. Firstly, women believe that teeth get “used” to brands, augmenting the category’s inbuilt low-loyalty. More challenging, in a society where perfect-skin is an obsession and where culturally a great smile is not seen as a significant social/dating asset, Chinese women do not rank oralcare highly in beautycare priorities. However, in the competition to find the perfect Mr Right, women are increasingly prepared to try anything, hence the boom in online dating sites and gameshows designed with a wedding (and not just fun) as the end-result. By associating the power of a smile with dating success, we identified the perfect context for a new spin to beauty. From oral-care being a necessary hygiene habit to Crest becoming a vital beauty ritual.