Gunjit Jain, executive vice president of marketing at Colgate-Palmolive India breaks down Colgate's strategy to change this behavior through The Sweet Truth campaign
Gunjit Jain says that toothpaste penetration in India has reached 100 percent. Almost 100 percent of India’s households have a toothpaste at home.
Oral category in India stands at 2 billion US dollars. The majority chunk of that is toothpaste. Yet, 80 percent of urban Indians brush just once a day and 55 percent of their rural counterparts do not even brush daily; they brush occasionally. If instead of just brushing in the morning, we also brush at night, the chances of developing cavities drop by a whopping 50 percent. Using this insight, Colgate has come up with The Sweet Truth campaign.
Gunjit Jain, executive vice president of marketing at Colgate-Palmolive India breaks down Colgate’s strategy to change customer behavior and habits in regards to oral hygiene through The Sweet Truth campaign. Edited excerpts:
Q. Can you explain the need of the Sweet Truth campaign? How did Colgate conceptualize the ad?
Did you know that 9 out of 10 Indians suffer from cavities at any point in time whereas only 1 out of 10 realise that they do? 9 out of 10 is a very high number; that’s because of the kind of foods that we consume as Indians, whether it is sugar, processed food, sodas. All of these foods come in contact with our teeth, the teeth lose calcium and minerals thus exposing themselves to cavities. Only 1 out of 10 people realise that they have cavities’ because people don’t visit dentists often enough. These issues go undetected; therefore they reach painful outcomes such as tooth pain, root canal or extraction.
But, cavities can be prevented. For instance, if instead of just brushing in the morning, we also brush at night, the chances of developing cavities drop by a whopping 50 percent. Colgate has embarked on this mission to make people realise that they can avoid cavities by just brushing tonight.