Improving oral health
The consequences of poor oral hygiene can begin with discomfort and pain, but can lead to life-threatening illnesses. Our products and brand communication activity can make a real difference.
A neglected area of health
Poor oral health is a widespread global problem and one that is rarely prioritised by governments. Individuals also accept it as a fact of life, especially where there is little or no access to dentists.
More than 1 billion people do not use fluoride toothpaste. We estimate that more than 3 billion people do not brush twice a day. In developing countries, where there is low awareness of oral hygiene and a poor healthcare infrastructure, 90% of dental cavities remain untreated. Even in developed countries, according to the World Health Organization only 5–10% of public health expenditure relates to oral health.
Yet poor oral health is largely preventable. Clinical data has shown that twice daily toothbrushing with fluoride toothpaste can reduce tooth decay by up to 50% in children, compared with only brushing once.
There is a clear opportunity for business growth. In 2011 we launched an ambitious growth plan for our oral care business which includes brands such as Signal, Pepsodent, Close Up, Mentadent, Aim and Zhong Hua. This will bring the benefits of good oral care to our consumers through targeted behaviour change campaigns.
Our target
As part of our Sustainable Living Plan we have set the following target:
We will use our toothpaste and toothbrush brands and oral health improvement programmes to encourage children and their parents to brush day and night. We aim to change the behaviour of 50 million people by 2020.
Brush Day & Night
Signal, Pepsodent and Close Up's mission is to improve oral health by getting children and their families around the world to brush day and night using fluoride toothpaste. Brushing habits that last are best forged during childhood, so we are focusing our campaigns on instilling good habits from an early age.
The Brush Day and Night message focuses on the single change that World Dental Federation (FDI) experts and dental professionals agree will improve oral health globally. The campaign is built around the insight that parents often find it difficult to get children to brush their teeth. Rather than being a chore, brushing teeth together at night can become an opportunity for passing on good habits through shared fun.
The Brush Day and Night television campaign shows the amusing times that a father and son share when brushing their teeth together at night. The campaign has been supported by a website where people can share their own videos and experiences.
The campaign is already established in France, Italy, Greece, Indonesia, Vietnam and Morocco and will be extended to more than ten countries in 2011. In 2010 we estimate that the campaign effectively reached 10 million children.
The Brush Day and Night campaign builds on our unique partnership with the FDI World Dental Federation, known as ‘Live.Learn.Laugh’, that was first established in 2004 to promote oral health.
2010 marked the start of a second phase of partnership with the FDI that will again support national dental associations around the world to work with their local Unilever oral care brand. The partnership provides funding for oral health promotion projects, the national dental associations identify suitable projects and then develop and promote them with Unilever and the FDI. In 2011 more than 30 country teams are set to launch projects which, like our Brush Day and Night campaign, seek to improve oral health through encouraging twice-daily toothbrushing with a fluoride toothpaste.
We also run oral hygiene programmes based in schools. We estimate that these reach more than 4 million children a year.
How do we measure behaviour change?
Measuring the impact of our campaigns is key to achieving tangible results. The same smart sensor technology we use to analyse handwashing habits is also used to observe toothbrushing habits accurately and unobtrusively.
We conducted research into brushing habits in a number of markets using 'smart toothbrushes which contain a sensor that logs the frequency of use. Results have shown that families involved in the study started to brush twice a day following our hygiene education campaign, thereby proving its effectiveness.
Affordability
Our products are priced very competitively and offer good value for money by giving consumers performance they can depend on at an affordable price. We offer small pack sizes of Close Up and Pepsodent which bring our products within reach of low- income consumers. We also develop new products, for example in 2008 we launched the Pepsodent Smart Clean, a quality toothbrush that costs just 10 rupees in India (or approximately 16 euro cents).
External publications
Our oral health scientists run large research programmes, often working together with world-leading academic experts. We invite these experts to discuss oral care topics in scientific symposia at the FDI World Dental Federation Annual World Dental Congress as well as publish scientific papers together. For example, Unilever scientists presented papers at the FDI Congress in Stockholm in 2008 in a symposium entitled 'Design for behaviour change and better oral care'. See International Dental Journal Supplement in downloads to read more.
