Biting the bullet: that time I handled the biggest brand in the world in the middle of the pandemic

Some stints just pass you by while some break you and re-create you to become even better at what you do.

THE PROBLEM:
I moved to Hong Kong to handle Colgate-Palmolive APAC in July 2020. Kantar describes Colgate as the only brand bought by over half of the world's household. And we all know how big Asia-Pacific is. At this time, the world has just shut down but the Colgate business didn't. It couldn’t. There are thousands of lives around the world that depended on it — on the business and on what the brand meant. It was the perfect stage to bring to life “Smile Strong” and it had to start from within. So we soldiered on.

OUR SOLUTION:
In the span of 24 months, we helped key lead markets concretise what “Smile Strong” meant for them. While the end goal of putting optimism in action was the same, the tensions in the PH, TH, AU, MY, and IN were nuanced.

We tailored it to the different segments through People Journey work to further flesh out Colgate’s brand identity on both a master brand and sub-brand level across markets and executed across the full ACPL funnel.

We also crafted the vision for the next 5 years for key products and product extensions.

We then innovated to fill in market gaps where needed. Using the Design Thinking Model, we created new products and brand experience that included formula, format, and packaging design for Colgate Plax, Herbal Detox, Gums, Total where I participated in recruitment, moderation, facilitation, concept-writing, consumer co-creation, iteration, and presentation to stakeholders which included local, regional, and global clients.

We also crafted portfolio management strategies for big brands such as Colgate Optic White and Colgate Sensitive Pro-Relief with CP Consumer Insights and Innovations teams.

We were also responsible for global, and local brand stewardship. APAC is one of Colgate’s most diverse markets so I, together with my team, regularly checked in with 11 markets (PH, TH, MY, IN, CN, SG, VN, CB, ID, TW, AU, NZ) to provide strategic guidance. Then, we also regularly aligned with Global strategy team on a monthly basis to ensure we were all smiling strong consistently and distinctively.

Finally, we also helped set the foundations for a new Agency business model who can better service the brand.

RESULTS:
All of these efforts resulted to big smiles across the board.

As of early 2022, Colgate equity has improved in terms of distinctiveness, visibility, and emotional bond, specifically arresting our 5-year decline in TH while steadily growing the business across all our other markets.

But for me personally, it’s elevating creativity in the region and making APAC a centre for excellence in creative innovation that I take most pride in. Hours and hours of pushing and pulling in the boardroom, pushing brand teams to be more human, stretching the meaning of “Smile Strong” to be more embedded in culture, and showing that creativity is scary…but it is always, always worth it is the legacy I’m proud to leave behind.