Why is the front page of TOI's various city editions hiding the teeth of many for Colgate Visbile White?

Not everybody is comfortable with showing their teeth when it comes to taking pictures and therefore try to hide it whenever possible.

Based on this very human insight, Colgate Palmolive, with the help of its creative and media agency on record, Ogilvy and Wavemaker, respectively, has hijacked the editorial of various city editions of Times of India to bring its flagship offering Colgate Visible White to the front and centre.

What WPP’s Colgate Palmolive team did this time around wasn’t something totally unique but the way that it was executed was definitely worth a shot.

For this innovation, the brand took to hijack all of the first pages of various city editions including Bombay Times, Bangalore Times, etc. wherein all news pieces were placed as they always have been, but with a twist- all the images placed beside the editorial stories were that of people who were hiding their smiles.

As is believed and taught in various institutions, the F pattern of reading on any given material, be it on digital or print, the Colgate Visible White ad was positioned in a way that one couldn’t help but give it a look not just because of the space it consumed but because it showcased the model’s ‘white teeth’, the only person whose teeth were actually visible shining bright right at the centre.

Also, if one takes a closer look at the images placed on the front page, one is likely to find out that the various people’s faces have been put on the first page in a manner that it wouldn’t be wrong to suggest that everyone is actually looking at the model’s smile, whilst they are all hiding theirs.

In fact, the various soft features on the page which had the headlines such as “LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION: OTT PLATFORMS VS. THE SILVER SCREEN”, “Sunny days are here: Goa remains the ultimate youth hotspot”, “Is the metaverse fashion’s new runway?”, “Smart shoes designed to detect heart rate”, “Visa-on-arrival countries a top draw for Indian travellers” and “It’s a graphic tale that speaks volumes” had been construed in a way that even though the front page looked no different than any other day.

But, alas, it was only when one read the ‘Consumer Connect Initiative’ mentioned on the bottom right of the masthead or disclaimer at the bottom left corner of the page or just beside the model’s visibly white teeth that they found out that this was a work of fiction for ‘advertisement purposes’ only.

Taking to LinkedIn to post about the latest innovation, The Times of India mentioned that the partnership for this one aims to show the transformative power of a beautiful white smile and carries forward the spirit of the campaign TVC- highlighting the captivating effect of Visible White, in an interesting way.

“The content curation brings out the saying , ‘When Visible White shines bright, other teeth stay out of sight’,” the post mentioned.

Info@BestMediaInfo.com