Colgate wants to know: What’s the story behind your smile?

Colgate-Palmolive has launched a new Asia Pacific campaign titled “Every smile has a story”, spotlighting real family stories across the Philippines, Australia, New Zealand, India and Malaysia.

The campaign aims to celebrate the trust consumers have placed in Colgate over generations, through stories rooted in family, care and everyday oral health habits.

In the Philippines, the campaign tells the story of a grandmother working overseas who sends Balikbayan boxes (box filled with personal items) home to her family. Among the items packed are tubes of Colgate, positioned as a symbol of love, care and protection for her granddaughter despite the distance between them.

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The Australian leg of the campaign features Australian Football League star Patty Cripps, who grew up in a remote community located hundreds of miles from a dentist. According to the campaign, Cripps’ mother made sure he protected his teeth with Colgate, a habit he is now passing down to his own child.

In New Zealand, the campaign highlights the impact of Colgate’s "Bright smiles, bright futures" programme, which the brand said has reached two billion children and their families globally. The story follows a teacher at Mayfield Kindergarten who helps young children build confidence through good oral health habits.

Meanwhile in India, Colgate spotlights a multi-generational sweet shop family whose legacy is built not only on confectionery, but also on its continued trust in Colgate to help keep the family’s smiles cavity-free.

Another India story features Prateik Smita Patil, son of the late Indian actress Smita Patil, focusing on how he carries forward one of his mother’s most cherished gifts, her smile.

Through the campaign, Colgate-Palmolive is positioning oral care as more than a daily routine, linking it instead to family traditions, intergenerational trust and emotional connections across the region.

Samir Singh, EVP marketing at Colgate-Palmolive Asia Pacific, said the campaign is rooted in a universal desire to protect one’s family and support their health and well-being through every stage of life.

"These are stories about growing up, about being away from home and coming back, about joy, disappointments, celebrations, ups and downs, about life, and most of all, about love," he said. "Colgate’s role in these stories is small but intimate, and completely authentic. We hope this will become a new way of communicating to people who are tired of hyperbole and exaggerated claims. Of telling human stories, simply and honestly." 

The campaign also builds on Colgate-Palmolive’s wider “Make more smiles” positioning, which was introduced last year alongside a refreshed corporate identity and brand film.

The film opened with the line, “What’s in a smile? To us, everything that matters in this world,” framing the company’s new tagline as a call to action for its employees to advance its purpose of reimagining a healthier future for people, pets and the planet.

As part of the refresh, Colgate-Palmolive updated its logo in a more vibrant shade of blue, with a curved white space between the “c” and “p” designed to resemble a smile. The rebrand also included a modernised colour palette, standardised graphic elements and an updated approach to photography, iconography and digital use

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