All sports fans like stats and more stats. Here's one to chew on: the average American wastes four gallons of water a day when he or she brushes her teeth. That eye-popping number was enough to convince Colgate to spend millions of dollars to create and run a 30 second spot during Super Bowl L. The company will use its time on the national stage to tell viewers to turn off the faucet when they brush their teeth. The “Save Water” ad originally appeared in Latin America, and it ran on TV in the US in the first quarter of the year, though it didn’t get much attention. It marks the oral care division's debut as a Super Bowl advertiser. Colgate-Palmolive advertised during the Super Bowl in 2013 with a commercial for the Speed Stick deodorant brand.
“It’s an unusual type of messaging, it’s not really about a product or new news on a product,” said Scott Campbell, general manager for integrated marketing communications, North America at Colgate-Palmolive.
“It’s a message about our consumers and the use of our product that we think is interesting and different,” he told The Wall Street Journal.
It’s also not a new message from Colgate. A 60-second version of the creative for “Save Water” was originally developed for the brand’s Latin America division last year.
The spot was created by Y&R Peru. It shows a man brushing his teeth. As he leaves the tap running, hands reach under the faucet to fill up a cup, wash a dirty fruit and grab a drink of water to signify how valuable the water running is. Colgate will run a shorter version of the creative during the Super Bowl that will include a new campaign hashtag #EveryDropCounts.