hello® Products: “Strangely Rush to Brush-able”

Humanaut has just launched a new ad campaign for oral care client hello® products, one of the fastest growing oral care brands in the US. The brand’s distinct “naturally friendly™” lifestyle positioning has strong appeal among younger consumers and across broad segments. hello’s product line up includes adult and kids toothpaste, mouth rinse, toothbrushes and floss. The brand is sold primarily in food, drug, and mass retailers and online. This is the first national TV advertising for hello, which was acquired by Colgate-Palmolive early this year.

The oral care category is known for being somewhat bland, clinical and a bit underwhelming when it comes to design and ingredients inspired by nature. The “Strangely Likeable” campaign goes so far as to suggest that it’s actually a new and somewhat strange feeling for anyone to actually like their toothpaste.

Humanaut created five humorously voyeuristic ads for hello, including one 30-second spot and four 15s. Some show a succession of people going through the daily ritual of brushing their teeth at their bathroom sinks. Midway through, their expressions change, as if each is undergoing some kind of revelation. “With naturally friendly and effective ingredients like farm grown mint, people are experiencing the strange feeling of actually liking their toothpaste,” a female narrator explains as they mug into their mirrors. “Hello,” one ad tags, as the voiceover switches to whisper mode. “Strangely Likeable Toothpaste.”

Other executions focus on specific scenarios involving couples, a dad and his young kids, and college students, and highlight a specific hello product feature such as vegan ingredients, innovative crinkle-free package design, activated charcoal, or kid-friendly flavors like wild strawberry and watermelon.

The spots will debut March 30 on top-rated national cable TV networks and shows that attract women ages 25 to 54. Buys include premiere units in “Keeping Up With the Kardashians” on E! and “90 Day Fiance” (TLC) along with slots on Nick Jr, OWN, WeTV, LMN (Lifetime Movie Network), Lifetime, Bravo, and Oxygen. The campaign will also target programmatic and OTT channels including Hulu and Amazon Prime, as well as digital (YouTube) and social channels (Facebook, Instagram). The work will begin running online March 23.

“This category was long overdue for a more human approach,” said Humanaut Founder and Chief Creative Director, David Littlejohn. “Hello makes better-tasting products that are vegan and effective with beautifully designed, crinkle-free tubes, and their brushers are having this new experience of actually enjoying the toothpaste,” Littlejohn continued. “These spots bring to life that weird moment of discovery and the idea that people—even kids—look forward to brushing.” Delicious, vegan, effective products with thoughtful ingredients and gorgeous tubes have created a cult-like following for the personal care brand: People started posting selfies on Instagram with hello tubes and writing five-star reviews of its products.

“We put a lot of thought about everything else we put in our mouth, but why not our toothpaste?” asked Craig Dubitsky, the friendly founder of hello. “This year we’re introducing ingredients you never thought you’d see in toothpaste like white turmeric and matcha green tea, a line of CBD oral care products, and even toothpaste in chewable tablet form that comes in sustainable, plastic-free packaging.”

“Strangely Likeable” is Humanaut’s second campaign for the client. The first was last year’s Spyt (“pronounced “spit”) campaign, an awareness and buzz-building activation that allowed people to use their mobile phones to summon hello’s mobile brushing stations on scooters via social media in certain metros.