Colgate pushes for sustainability regionally with Shopee

Global household and consumer products brand Colgate-Palmolive is making progress for sustainability in Southeast Asia with a series of regional sustainability campaigns on eCommerce site Shopee.

Titled "Colgate’s Shopee Super Brand Day", the campaign is the latest in a range of sustainability-driven campaigns from Colgate and is part of the brand's overarching "Smiling Planet" campaign that aims to help consumers make a difference by choosing its products. 

It was done in collaboration with global brand and customer experience agency VMLY&R. 

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The campaign ran across different days in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand and Taiwan and saw the brand offering shoppers discounts on its range of recyclable and sustainable oral, personal and home products.

Additionally, the brand donated a portion of each sale to the World Wide Fund for Nature Singapore's (WWF) Eco-Schools programme. The programme engages students in student-led sustainability initiatives within campuses and empowers them to be changemakers. 

As a result, Colgate saw a strong uptick in sales across the region, with some markets reporting a +1700% jump in sales compared to regular business days. 67% of total buyers were also first-time buyers. 

"Change always begins with a small act. Our small act was to make recyclable tubes a reality and a small act for consumers could be discarding recycling tubes and sustainable packaging in the right spaces or bins in accordance with the local regulations," said M. Chandrasekar, SVP customer development, Colgate-Palmolive APAC.

"Working with VMLY&R we are able to make these small acts slightly bigger. Just by taking the small act of choosing to purchase Colgate-Palmolive sustainable products, consumers know that a portion of their purchase goes towards important educational projects that impact their environment and their future, showing that together, even small acts like this can make a big difference.”

“Being a force for good is a key part of Colgate-Palmolive’s DNA, from their recyclable (toothpaste) tube to their commitment to driving social impact, preserving the natural environment and empowering communities to live brighter, healthier futures," added Alex Tan, commerce director, VMLY&R Singapore.

“We know that consumers care about their environment, but often feel helpless to make an impact. Through Colgate’s 'Shopee Super Brand Day' campaign consumers were empowered to make a sustainable choice whilst contributing to creating a greener future by supporting WWF’s important youth programme, and the results for Colgate speak for themselves.”

In 2022, Colgate made a commitment to eliminate plastic waste by 2025. Now, more than 83% of the brand's packaging by weight is recyclable due to innovations such as the HPDE recyclable toothpaste tube.

Colgate also launched a separate campaign, titled "Share the Answers" in October 2022 to introduce the use of the HPDE recyclable toothpaste tubes. The digital campaign features an animated recyclable toothpaste tube called “Colley”, which was rolled out across Meta, YouTube and TikTok.

“We are committed to help find solutions to the problem plastic represents for the planet. And we want to do it holistically from making our products recyclable whilst simultaneously educating people and collaborating with organisations on the ground. We are kicking-off our campaign in Asia Pacific, starting with Australia, with a range of animated content, including this lovely video introducing Colley, our newly launched recyclable tube,” said Yves Briantais, vice president of marketing, APAC, Colgate-Palmolive.

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