2013 Winners & Shortlists

Results and Effectiveness

The results were as bright as the Crest SMILE. Crest brought a smile to thousands of moviegoers in a 6 week period. Their smiles lived on through photographs uploaded on the Crest Facebook page. Crest was successful in advocating teeth care with a +26% increase in sales* vs. +10% target. Moreover, our fan base doubled reaching 70,000+** fans in 6 weeks which was unprecedented in the Oral Care category given its overall medicinal image. Last but not least, moviegoers now have every reason to continue the tradition of popcorn popping, worry free!

Creative Execution

Overnight, ordinary popcorn boxes became “extraordinary” in Cinemacity, Beirut’s busiest movie theater. Not only were they a tool to advocate dental hygiene, but also a medium to promote and drive traffic to Crest’s Facebook page. This was just the beginning. To create the “desire” for moviegoers to take action and brush with Crest, we needed to let their teeth do the talking, literally. Enter Cinema. For the first time, “Black light” bulbs were introduced in Lebanese Cinemas, turning people’s teeth and our branded popcorn boxes into glowing Crest advertisements. The concept was simple: When you smile, the world smiles back. Leveraging this message on screen, in conjunction with “Black Light”, triggered a chain of white smiles that lit up the theater, creating the largest demo ever to take place on Crest in the Middle East.

Insights, Strategy and the Idea

‘Keeping smiles beautiful’ has always been the core of Crest’s promise to people. However, that promise was being shared by other competitive brands. Crest was struggling to stand out, connect with consumers and grow share. Given the political unrest, living in Lebanon had become tense and stressful. Crest decided to give consumers something to smile about. After all, laughter is the best medicine. Movie going is a favorite weekend pastime; and let’s face it, a movie is never complete without a big box of popcorn. Yet, as good as popcorn tastes, everyone knows it’s bad for your teeth. Crest saw an opportunity; use the tradition of popcorn popping to remind moviegoers how to keep a healthy smile. The idea: “Munch now, brush later, and spread the smile with Crest”. We transformed a potential tooth hazard carrier, the big popcorn box, into an ambient social marketing tool advocating teeth care.