Poverty Hurts

Amber Lovatos grew-up in a family without enough income to pay for a toothbrush let alone routine dental check-ups. So, by age 13, Amber literally had holes in her teeth.

Amber Lovatos: “I was in such extreme pain that I couldn’t sleep.”

The pain wouldn’t go away on its own. So, at age 13, Amber was taken to a dentist for the first time.

Amber Lovatos: “The dentist told my Mom that I needed a root canal, and my parents couldn’t afford that. So instead, my Mom took me home and she ground-up cloves. She would mix it with water and I would stick it in a hole in my tooth.”

Despite the well-meaning intentions of this home remedy, Amber continued to suffer.

Amber Lovatos: “I would wake up in the morning and there’d be blood on my pillow and there’d be dried blood on the corners of my mouth.”

Since then, Amber Lovatos became the first member of her family to graduate from college, choosing to become a public-health dental hygienist. Motivated by the challenges of her own pediatric dental pain, Lovatos has now organized more than 40 outreach events, which provide free dental products, services, and oral cancer screenings in under-served communities.

That caught the eye of Procter & Gamble, P&G, makers of Crest and Oral-B. In fact, the Amber Lovatos audio clips you just heard are actually from a video that P&G sponsored to help launch their pediatric oral health campaign called Closing America’s Smile Gap.

P&G Narrator:  “Crest and Oral-B believe that all children deserve access to proper oral care – which is why we are dedicated to Closing America’s Smile Gap.”

To increase equity in pediatric oral health, P&G announced wide-ranging support:

P&G Narrator:  “We’re traveling to the hardest hit communities to provide much-needed dental care, and we’re donating over 2 million products. We’re educating communities, especially kids, about the benefits of healthy oral care habits and frequent dental visits. And we’re establishing a scholarship program for minority dental students so that we can bring more diversity into the profession.”

Great. But, what’s in it for P&G?  Beyond the satisfaction of doing the right thing, why is a for-profit, publicly-traded company – with the responsibility to maximize shareholder value – taking on the mission of reducing America’s oral healthcare crisis?

Here’s a hint, from a P&G online ad:

P&G Narrator:  “For every Crest or Oral-B product you buy, we’ll donate one to a child in need.”

Ah, yes, the You-Buy We’ll-Give tactic – sometimes referred to as Buy-One Give-One – is a cause marketing technique that can attract new customers and increase share-of-wallet among current customers.

Especially for utilitarian products like toothpaste, You-Buy We’ll-Give promotions do increase purchase intention, according to research published in the Journal of Psychology & Marketing.

Yet, as clever as that is, it turns out that there’s an even bigger lesson to be learned from Procter & Gamble’s approach to cause marketing, which we’ll explore on this episode of Meaningful Impact.

America’s ToothFairy

Today’s episode is being published during Podcasthon Week, when more than 1,500 podcasts are featuring non-profit organizations. Meaningful Impact has chosen to highlight the National Children’s Oral Health Foundation, better known as America’s ToothFairy, because they are one of the non-profit partners supported by Closing America’s Smile Gap, the oral health campaign funded by Procter & Gamble, on behalf of their Crest and Oral-B brands.

To learn more about the need for oral healthcare outreach, and their partnership with Crest and Oral-B, Meaningful Impact spoke with Jill Malmgren, Executive Director of America’s ToothFairy.

Jill Malmgren: “We were able to partner with Crest and Oral-B. They donated probably over a half-million dollars in both product and financial support, which ultimately led to us reaching over 100,000 kids with oral care products, resources, care, services, and education. We’re so grateful.”

Grateful because millions of American children, particularly those in low-income families, suffer from untreated tooth decay, a preventable disease.

Jill Malmgren: “Thirteen percent of our nation’s children are suffering from untreated tooth decay.”

So, I asked Jill about the difference between getting an occasional cavity vs. experiencing untreated tooth decay.

Jill Malmgren: “That is a great question. I think they’re often used interchangeably, which is not necessarily the case. Cavities can be treated kind of as a one off: a simple filling and then the tooth can be restored and remains healthy. However, severe tooth decay is a progressive tooth disease. That can lead to daily pain for kids, infections, gum disease, jawbone damage, abscesses (which can be quite dangerous), and even tooth loss.”

The chronic pain of severe tooth decay can lead to broader consequences.

Jill Malmgren: “The daily pain that a child experiences: That can result in sleepless nights, malnutrition, as well as even difficulty learning in school.”

The consequences of untreated tooth decay can persist long beyond childhood. In fact, more than 17% of Americans have no remaining teeth by age 65.

Jill Malmgren: “Untreated tooth decay has devastating long-term physical and socio economic consequences. Those can include speaking problems. We experience a lot of children that mumble because they don’t want to show their teeth. You’re dealing with kids that have a broken smile. So, they might be afraid to raise their hand in class because of fear of being bullied. So they tend to be often shy (and) withdrawn, which is detrimental to their education and overall success. These are kids that are afraid to laugh out loud. They’re afraid to smile, impacting, ultimately, their ability to get gainful employment.”

For millions of America’s youth, aged 2-19, untreated tooth decay is often the result of agonizing trade-offs caused by poverty. One third (33%) of low-income parents report that they cannot afford to take their children to a dentist.

Jill Malmgren: “Many of the people that we serve are low income. They have a lot of priorities to deal with. They might be worried about (putting) food on the table or where they’re going to sleep at night. Oral health falls a little bit lower on the priority when you’re (having to deal) with food and shelter.”

There is hope, however. Dental care education does work. To drive home that point, Malmgren shared an anecdote about the kind of oral health outreach events funded by Crest and Oral-B, where youth attendees were given a toy and dental products.

Jill Malmgren: “We gave them all a little toy as well as an oral healthcare kit to take home. I watched this young boy that looked at his toy, and looked at his kit, and he came back and he said: ‘Miss Jill, if I give you back my toy, can I have another oral care kit for my sister, because we don’t have our own toothbrushes.’  Of course, I was like: ‘How many do you need? How many kids are in your family? What can we do and please keep your toy.’ This is a 5-year-old kid. He was willing to sacrifice the little toy we gave him in order to get that oral care kit for his sister.”

When we return, I’ll review the Closing America’s Smile Gap campaign.

Closing America’s Smile Gap – Campaign Components

Launch

Closing America’s Smile Gap was launched in 2021 with an 11-minute introduction video and dental care partnerships with America’s ToothFairy, Jet Dental, and Feeding America. Kare Mobile joined as a partner shortly thereafter.

Though the campaign is now national in scope, Procter & Gamble’s initial goal was to “close the smile gap for 2 million families across 10 states.”

From the start, the campaign incorporated social justice rationale into its messaging. According to P&G:

P&G Narrator:  “Underserved communities in America are experiencing a disparity in access to dental care. Many children don’t even own a toothbrush or visit a dentist until they’re much older. Black and Hispanic kids are the most affected. Black children are two times as likely to have poor oral health, and Hispanic children are four times as likely.”

By October of the following year, P&G had already donated $2.5 million worth of products, distributed by non-profit partners at community outreach events and at safety-net dental clinics which provide check-ups, education, complimentary Crest & Oral-B products, and follow-up care.

Many of these outreach events required the deployment of temporary and mobile clinics, because sixty million Americans live in “dental deserts,” which means there are no dental services nearby.

To supplement short-term intervention with long-term solutions, P&G also created scholarships at top dental schools to support future dentists and dental hygienists willing to work in areas that are currently under-served.

National Brush Day

In the United States, candy-fueled Halloween is followed a day later, ironically, by National Brush Day – an invention of the Ad Council and 35 dental organizations.

In 2022, Crest & Oral-B hoped that the soft news hook of National Brush Day would yield media coverage of the thought-provoking ads that they placed in The New York Times, on digital transit billboards in New York City, and via online videos published on Instagram, YouTube, and the Closing America’s Smile Gap website.

The ads raised awareness about the millions of American children suffering from untreated tooth decay, followed by a call-to-action to help via a You-Buy We’ll Give offer.

That said, rather than just hoping for earned media, Crest & Oral-B also paid celebrities and 174 social media influencers to post on Instagram and TikTok, coordinated to kick-off on National Brush Day at 7:00am ET, when many people are thinking about brushing their teeth. Collectively, the celebrities, influencers, as well as brand executives, posted 635 pieces of content yielding 112,000 engagements.

That outreach was further supported by sponsored segments on broadcast media, such as Jacksonville’s NBC 12 television station. That segment featured what appeared to be a semi-scripted interview with Dr. Franklyn Aguebor, better known to his patients as ‘Dr. A.’:

Dr. Franklyn Aguebor: “I’ve seen first-hand what the smile gap can do to a child: Not only the physical pain that a cavity causes but (also) the emotional stress due to lower confidence and missed opportunities. That’s why I wanted to help and you can too. Together, we can make sure every kid has what they need to brush their teeth every day. Beginning today, November 1st on National Brush Day, and throughout the entirety of November, join Crest and Oral-B in closing America’s smile gap. For each product purchased, Crest will donate to a child in need.”

In the New York Times, a full-page ad featured a montage of young children attempting to clean their teeth without a toothbrush or toothpaste, instead using just their finger.

The prominent headline read: “This is not how kids should have to brush their teeth. But for millions today, it might have been their only option.”

Roya Partovi, the campaign’s Chief Creative Officer, noted that the advertising “pointed the finger, literally and figuratively, at the smile gap.”

The body copy of the New York Times ad read: “Today is National Brush Day. Yet, millions of kids woke-up this morning without access to the basics many of us take for granted such as a toothbrush and toothpaste. It’s part of a much bigger problem in America – a lack of access to oral care for kids in underserved communities. The outcome? Millions of kids living with cavities and other preventable oral health issues that cause them to miss out on opportunities today and tomorrow. At Crest & Oral-B, we call this the smile gap. And we are committed to closing it. For each product purchased in November, we will donate (a) product to a child in need.”

Online Video

A similar montage of young children using their finger to clean their teeth is the cold open to Crest & Oral-B’s online ad. As you’re hearing, sullen background music punctuates the stark imagery.

Narrator: “This is not how kids should have to brush their teeth. But for millions today, it’s their only option. This is the “smile gap.” Join Crest & Oral-B in closing America’s smile gap. For every purchase, we will donate (a) product to a child in need.”

At the bottom of the screen, legal micetype clarifies: “Crest & Oral-B will donate up to 500,000 products purchased in the month of November. The product purchased is not guaranteed to be the same product that will be donated.”

For Crest, this phase of their award-winning advertising and PR campaign yielded 1.3 billion earned media impressions, a 31% increase in share-of-voice, more than 365,000 consumer engagements, and a 1% lift in growth rate compared to the same period the year before.

Back-to-School Promo

The following year, timed to coincide with back-to-school season, Crest and Oral-B ran another You-Buy We’ll-Give campaign, amplified by a paid partnership with Jesse Williams, perhaps best-known for his portrayal of Dr. Jackson Avery on Grey’s Anatomy.

Crest and Oral-B also published a U.S. Kids’ Oral Health Report Card that illustrated the “shocking discrepancies in access, affordability and education between low and high-income families in the U.S.”

Though Closing America’s Smile Gap promotions are intermittent, Crest & Oral-B’s support of under-served communities is ongoing. P&G’s senior vice president of Oral Care, North America, told Marketing Daily that the goal of Closing America’s Smile Gap “is to get 20 million smiles (by) 2030.”

Clearly a win for the cause.

And, also, a win for Procter & Gamble: Closing America’s Smile Gap is credited with yielding 5% sales growth, according to a case study published in 2024.

When we return, we’ll explore lessons learned.

Other ‘You-Buy We’ll-Give’ Examples

So, we’ve established that Closing America’s Smile Gap is a good example of a You-Buy We’ll Give campaign.

The storyline for that type of campaign, has at its core, a minimum of three elements:

1. a compelling problem
2. a conditional solution
3. co-heroes

Spoiler alert: The co-heroes always include you, the consumer, AND the product that the advertiser would like you to buy.

I’ll demonstrate, using excerpts from another Closing America’s Smile Gap online video. Even though the video’s running time is just 30 seconds, you will still be able to clearly recognize all three core elements of a You-Buy We’ll Give campaign.

Here we go…

Element 1 – The Compelling Problem:  “This is not just a toothbrush and toothpaste. It’s a chance to get a good night’s sleep and pay attention in class, to make new friends, and to make the team. But millions of kids don’t have access to basic oral care. And poor oral health is linked to low confidence, poor grades and missed opportunities. This is America’s smile gap.”

Element 2 – The Conditional Solution:  “So for every Crest or Oral-B product you buy, we’ll donate one to a child in need.”

Element 3 – Co-Heroes:  “Join us in closing America’s smile gap.”

While there’s a lot of room for creativity and customization, these three core elements of a You-Buy We’ll Give campaign are replicable for most consumer product categories.

In fact, in-kind corporate donations, triggered by the purchase of a product, are not new. Consider the Tide Loads of Hope program, which was founded over 20 years ago, initially to clean the clothes of those displaced by Hurricane Katrina.

Tide (which is the world’s largest laundry detergent brand) sets-up free, mobile laundromats in disaster areas, which brings us to…

Element 1 – The Compelling Problem:  “Every year, millions of Americans face disaster. That’s why we created the Tide Loads of Hope program: A free laundry service which provides clean clothes for families affected by disasters. You don’t know how very basic essentials are until you have none.”

Element 2 – The Conditional Solution:  “You too can help families affected by disaster by purchasing yellow-capped Tide.”

Element 3 – Co-Heroes:  “Together, we can provide Loads of Hope.”

Was that corroborating example a fluke?  A coincidence?  Let’s try yet another product category. This time: period hygiene products. The excerpts you’re about to hear are from a two-minute informercial presented as if it were a cable news interview. The interviewer appears to be a news anchor. The interviewee is a celebrity influencer, Nicole Lopez-Alvar, best known for her appearance on ABC’s The Bachelor. Let’s start with her, to hear…

Element 1 – The Compelling Problem:  “In the United States, 1 in 5 girls have missed school due to their lack of access to period protection. Not having that access can limit their potential to a full and prosperous life and career.”

Element 2 – The Conditional Solution:  “Now, through August 29th, for every purchase of a specially-marked package of an Always period product, Always will be donating one pad to a girl in need.”

The interviewer concludes the sponsored content by emphasizing…

Element 3 – Co-Heroes:  “Once again, YOU can help end period poverty and save on select Always and Tampax products by shopping at your local Walgreens or by visiting Walgreens.com.”

In that case, note that there are three co-heroes: You, the product, and the participating retailer.

So, there’s a formula to this. But to be clear, You-Buy We’ll Give campaigns are typically not run continuously. Instead, think of these engagement activations as the McRib of cause marketing promotions – potentially recurring, but when available, offered only for a short time.

For instance, Pampers (the world’s largest diaper brand) is a long-time practitioner of cause marketing, but runs You-Buy We’ll-Give promotions only occasionally and for a fixed period of time, like this two-month campaign announced by social media influencer Allyson Felix.

Allyson Felix: “Families have an amazing opportunity when they buy Pampers Swaddlers Huge Packs at Walmart. They can help Pampers donate up to a million preemie diapers to Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals.”

So, in the quest for lessons learned, we’ve uncovered three commonalities between Crest & Oral-B compared to Tide, Always, and Pampers.

First, they all have deployed occasional You-Buy We’ll-Give promotions.

Second, the storyline for those You-Buy We’ll-Give campaigns have all followed a similar pattern.

Third, the product itself is part of the solution:

• Crest and Oral-B donated Crest and Oral-B toothpaste and toothbrushes.
• Tide donated Tide laundry detergent.
• Always donated Always period products.
• Pampers donated Pampers diapers.

Strong similarities to be sure. Yet, there is a fourth commonality among those products that we have not yet explored. Have you figured it out yet? Give it some thought during the final break.

When we return, I’ll answer The Big Question – the question I raised during the intro:  What’s the broader cause marketing lesson to be learned here?

The Big Question

So, what else do Crest, Oral-B, Tide, Always, and Pampers share in common?

Well, as you know, Crest and Oral-B are owned by Procter & Gamble.

But what about the others? Who owns the other brands?

Not coincidentally:

• Tide is also owned by Procter & Gamble
• Always is also owned by Procter & Gamble
• Pampers is also owned by Procter & Gamble too.

All five brands are owned and operated by Procter & Gamble.

In fact, if you go to the Community Impact section of Procter & Gamble’s website, you’ll see those five brands featured – presented almost like a cause marketing portfolio.

That’s when I finally understood Closing America’s Smile Gap in context.

It turns out that the oral-health campaign is just one example among many of P&G’s intentional strategy to align its major brands, like Crest and Oral-B, with a closely-related cause.

Consider the alternative:

• Tide could have supported STEM education as its flagship cause. But didn’t.
• Always could have supported historical landmark preservation as its flagship cause. But didn’t.
• Pampers could have supported wildlife habitats as its flagship cause. But didn’t.
• Crest could have supported breast cancer awareness as its flagship cause. But didn’t.
• Oral-B could have supported veterans as its flagship cause. But didn’t.

All of those facetiously-proposed causes are actually important and deserving of corporate support. But, to a consumer, none of those alternative causes would feel authentic.

So instead, Procter & Gamble chose to align each of its priority causes with the most closely-related brand in its portfolio. After all:

• Who better than Tide to clean the clothes of victims made homeless by natural disasters?
• Who better than Always to help low-income families get access to period products?
• Who better than Pampers to provide diapers specially made for premature babies?

And circling back to where we started: Who better than Crest and Oral-B to close America’s smile gap in otherwise under-served communities… especially in partnership with non-profit organizations like America’s ToothFairy aka The National Children’s Oral Health Foundation.

On that note, I’d like to thank Jill Malmgren, CEO of America’s ToothFairy, for sharing her insights on today’s episode. If you’d like to support the work of the America’s ToothFairy, here’s how:

Jill Malmgren: “We have lots of opportunities to volunteer or engage and, of course, donate. So, your listeners can visit AmericasToothFairy.org. They can click the Resources tab and they also can click on our Get Involved tab to see how maybe they or their company can volunteer and help ensure all kids have a healthy smile.”