CL Colgate Palmolive Co

By Nathalie Tadena 

When Colgate makes its debut as a Super Bowl advertiser in February's big game, it won't be using its 30-seconds of airtime to promote its line of toothpastes and toothbrushes.

Instead, the oral-care products brand's Super Bowl spot "Save Water" aims to remind consumers to turn off the tap when brushing their teeth.

"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."

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, created by Y&R Peru, 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. On average, Americans waste at least four gallons of water per year by running the tap while brushing their teeth.

The ad ran for a one-week period in Peru and Colombia in 2014 and 2015 in connection with World Water Day. The campaign in Latin America garnered 48 million TV impressions and 34 million digital impressions, Colgate said.

Colgate wanted to use the Super Bowl as a way to significantly ramp up and amplify the brand's ongoing water conservation message in North America, Mr. Campbell said. The "Save Water" ad ran on TV in the U.S. in the first quarter of the year, though it didn't get much attention.

"We absolutely bought the [Super Bowl] ad for this piece of information, " Mr. Campbell said. "It's an important venue for which we could communicate this in the biggest way possible."

The Super Bowl spot will be the primary TV exposure for the "Save Water" campaign, though it will also have an online component. In addition, Colgate is launching a landing page with more information for consumers on the impact of water conservation.

The commercial will air at the two-minute warning in the second-half of the game, around the time viewers are likely preparing themselves for bed and getting ready to brush their teeth.

The Colgate brand spent roughly $149 million on measured media in the U.S. last year and roughly $103 million this year through September, according to Kantar Media, whose analysis includes spending on traditional media and online display.

This is the Colgate oral health care brand's first appearance in the Super Bowl. Its parent company Colgate-Palmolive has previously advertised in the Super Bowl in 2013 with a commercial for the Speed Stick deodorant brand.

For any advertiser -- let alone rookies -- it can be a challenge to stand out on television's biggest stage. The Super Bowl's advertisements garner as much attention as the actual game, setting up high expectations for brands to deliver spots that are memorable or funny. The 2015 game attracted the largest number of first-time advertisers since the dot-com boom, according to Kantar Media.

PayPal and LG are also among advertisers making their first-ever Super Bowl appearance in the upcoming big game. There were 13 first-time big game advertisers in Super Bowl XLIX, representing 32% of the game's total advertising, a higher percentage than in previous years, according to data from Kantar Media.

Last February's Super Bowl XLIX drew in a record 114.4 million viewers, the largest audience for a U.S. television program ever. Advertisers are paying as much as a record $5 million for 30 seconds of airtime for Super Bowl 50 on Feb. 7, CBS Chief Executive Leslie Moonves has said. (CBS is broadcasting the upcoming game.) Colgate declined to comment on how much the brand is paying for its big game spot, but Mr. Campbell said it is a "significant commitment."

The Super Bowl push comes as Colgate-Palmolive makes global market share gains in the toothpaste and toothbrush categories. In the most recent quarter, Colgate-Palmolive's organic revenue increased 5% and it increased its global toothpaste market share to 44.7%.

Write to Nathalie Tadena at nathalie.tadena@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 22, 2015 12:52 ET (17:52 GMT)

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