Colgate started an #EveryDropCounts campaign raising awareness about the issue of wasting water while brushing your teeth. This commercial shows a man leaving the faucet on while brushing his teeth. While the water is running, Colgate illustrates how many uses the water has for others who may not even get that much water in an entire week.
Instead of advertising their product, Colgate uses this spot to create a PSA. It’s a successful commercial because it’s an issue that directly relates to their product – while they don’t cause the issue, they still have the authority to bring attention to the problem. The concept is clever and well-thought out because many of us are reminded to not waste water while brushing our teeth growing up. This advertisement visually shows us other uses for the water, making the message memorable. Colgate doesn’t mention their product and the toothpaste that is visible sitting on the sink in the ad doesn’t even have their label - or any logo - which demonstrates that it’s both a universal issue regardless of toothpaste brand and that the Colgate brand is starting the conversation, giving Colgate brand favorability.
The advertisement has over 10 million views on YouTube and their hashtag “#EveryDropCounts” is active on Twitter to facilitate a conversation on the issue. Colgate created a website just for this campaign, encouraging others to pledge to save water and share with others to spread awareness. They’ve even come up with content about the statistics of water waste so people can tweet it out to help spread the word. According to their website, 30,516 people have spread the word so far.