It's Just a Toothpaste

To me, each brand is alive, almost like an entity that we bring to life with our actions, structuring each little part of it. Brand cannot just be a logo, graphics, colors, and design. It might start there, but over the years, it evolves into a persona (sort of), it grows a character, it gains the ability to be resonant with a specific crowd for all the specific core reasons it embodies. It becomes a "self-made" magnet for the right people.

With that in mind, I recently came across Colgate's post on Facebook, and it really got my attention. And no, it wasn't because I needed to buy some toothpaste, and it spoke to my needs. Instead, it stood out in the "perfectly polished world" of social media. It was basic, it was raw, it was organic, and it was funny! At the time I saw the post, it was 1 day old and had 12k reactions. As I started writing this blog, I wanted to check how the post had evolved, so I did some productive scrolling, and it made me positively surprised, and so this article just gained a whole new, much better spin on it. So here we go!

Below you can see the most recent screenshot of Colgate's Facebook post (16th Sep, 2025). It is currently sitting at 331k reactions, 4.9k comments, and 21k shares.

Colgate's Facebook post.

The stats seem pretty good, don't they? But it gets even better. Below are a few other posts on their page that I found interesting.

A few other posts from Colgate's Facebook feed.

Here are the numbers:

Post 1: 439 reactions, 96 comments, 26 shares

Post 2: 226 reactions, 19 comments, 6 shares

Post 3: 6.1k reactions, 69 comments, 118 shares

What you will notice is that these posts generated way less response and engagement than did the first one. And I did not intentionally pick the ones with a low response rate. If you look through their page, you will notice that the numbers generally float around the same level as the above 3 examples. So the hand-sketched post was really an out-of-the-ordinary event. Now, I know I said "it gets even better" and then dropped a bunch of examples that are not so impressive, so you might be wondering what is the "gets better" element to all of this.

Here it is: How does your brand become a magnet for engagement?

Get clarity: First of all, you need to know your brand inside out. You and your team need to live it, understand it, well, I could say breathe with it. Many brands, especially when it comes to personal brands, are not necessarily aware of all that they have to offer, of their values, and core elements that make them different and stand out from the crowd. They haven't taken the time to recognise their own individuality, and so they get lost and stuck in frameworks, how tos, and "copy my content/strategy and get results" type of behaviour. If you don't know where you stand, if you don't clearly define and build your own foundation, then it's very hard to step out into the world authentically and speak to your audience in a way that really represents you. And this is a recipe for getting lost in the crowd, which might be costing you a lot of money and potential customers. So do a deep dive, discover your quirks and perks, and start moulding a new way in which you show up as a brand that is original to you.

Stay in your lane: Now that you have clearly established your foundation, make sure to stay in your lane and do what is in alignment with your core brand essence. Don't be a copycat, don't make content just because others did it and it made them go viral, or it brought them sales. We are here for the long-term success and stability, not just a "get rich and known quickly, and be forgotten by tomorrow" type of thing. Longevity, strength, and lasting impact are in focus here. So, do your own brainstorming, come up with creative ideas that have not been done yet, and make something that is new, fresh, and exciting. If you were to put yourself in the consumer's shoes and look at the way your brand shows up, would you go for it? Or would you say, "meh, this is just like what that other guy was selling to me, I'll skip"? This is a great "reality check" and mindset reset that will help you look at things from a different angle, and it will help you to design customer experiences and touchpoints that will feel more authentic and organic to your brand.

A simple example to make the above point more visual. Look at the colour palettes below - If I asked you to choose the colour you like the most, which palette would make the choosing process easier? The one with almost identical shades of Midnight Green, or the one where there are clear differences in colours?

If you were to ask me, I would spend way less time on the bottom palette, and I would make my choices way faster with way more certainty and confidence. On the other hand, the Midnight Green palette would give me a lot of space to think, compare, dwell, and overcomplicate my decision-making process. And it's the same with brands. Be so obviously different that people can choose you in an instant because they trust that the choice they made resonates with what they want from that choice. Make it easy for people to recognise you in the crowd of possibilities and options, and even more important - make it easy for people to choose you because they can clearly recognise WHY they are choosing you.

Have courage: probably the most important thing - when everyone goes left, make sure you go right. Choose to follow your brand's unique essence and infuse every move you make with it. People can feel that stuff. Be bold in your steps and dare to do things differently. Yes, people have measured and tested different methods, and they work, and bring great ROI - BUT - how sustainable are those methods to you specifically? Are they helping you build towards impact, longevity, and loyalty, or are they just another "let's do this quick" type of strategy? Make sure you know what your long-term goal is, and if the approaches you are choosing to show up with and get yourself in front of people really work for you in the big picture. Like in Colgate's case, instead of trying to be cool or cute or quirky to get attention, sometimes it works much better if you just show up very raw and real, and have fun in the process.

Continually evolve: As I mentioned in the first paragraph, brands are alive. They change and evolve with the times, and the strategies or approaches that worked 50 years ago don't work today. Just a well-known fact. So, as you create your strategy and structure for the way forward, make sure to also keep it flexible. Be adaptable and fluid in your "brandflow". Allow yourself to explore and try new things as you go, because you might be surprised at how much more value, customer engagement, and fan loyalty they will bring to you. Don't be rigid; instead, embrace creativity and fun in the process of building up your success story. Be someone who welcomes ideas that are new and haven't been done before - because this is your way, and this is what makes you stand out, and this is what makes you be more visible in the flood of everything.

Listen and observe: Be aware of the world around you. What kind of feedback are you getting? See what customers welcome and how they behave towards your brand. Then ask yourself, how can I resolve the issues that people are experiencing in relation to my brand/product/service in a genuinely authentic way that still stays true to my brand, and yet caters to people's needs and wants? At the end of the day, the brand is all about people. It's all about the connection between you and your audience. So the most important thing, really, is to look at everything you do from a very human-to-human perspective, and this will become increasingly important as we dive deep into the era of AI. Don't lose touch with the "humanness" of your brand, keep it alive and moving, because that's what's going to make a big difference going forward. People will crave authentic, real, and raw connection, and the best way to go is to be as genuinely human as possible.

As a cherry on top, when I checked Colgate's post again, I saw this comment:

And this speaks to the point I made about people looking for real and authentic connection, in a world that is fast becoming screen, AI, and online media dominant. Don't lose touch with the best thing we have to offer - our human genius! Also, the comment got 15k reactions, and that tells you a lot about what people out there are looking for and connecting to.

So, to conclude, yes, it's just a toothpaste brand that happens to be super big, and any kind of post could generate the "lucky spike" in engagement. Except it didn't (until this point now)! And people's response is very clear, and it tells us a lot about what the audience wants and craves for. And when you juxtapose it to the rest of the content they put out, the takeaways become very clear.

Now go brush your teeth!

Till the next read!

Teja Jereb