• by Aaron Baar , May 6, 2008

Colgate-Palmolive is stepping up its efforts to reach African-American consumers through two promotions timed for this week. One features the actress Holly Robinson Peete touting a new toothpaste, Total Advanced Whitening, while the second is a Mother's Day promotion featuring Gospel artist Mary Mary. 

Though executives say the timing of the two efforts is coincidental, the campaigns do mark a concerted effort by the New York company to reach minority consumers. "They're [part of] our effort to engage African-American consumers," David Cardona, Colgate's multicultural marketing director for oral care, tells Marketing Daily. "One is related to product news, the other one is a multi-brand effort to engage people."

The Total Advanced Whitening commercial featuring Peete is part of a three-pronged effort for the brand, featuring notable celebrities in the African-American, Hispanic and general markets. The general market effort has featured actress Brooke Shields, while the Hispanic effort showcases broadcast journalist Myrka Dellanos (former host of Univision's "Primer Impacto").

"We definitely recognize the potential to Colgate of Hispanic and African-American consumers," Cardona says. "And we're committed to both groups."

To reach minority consumers, the company is ramping up multicultural marketing spending this year. While Cardona would not give specific numbers, he said multicultural spending would be up this year over 2007 (which was up 30% over 2006). "It's definitely up," Cardona says. "You can see it by the amount of initiatives we're rolling out to consumers."

One of those efforts includes a Mother's Day promotion that is intended to continue the company's traditional "celebration" of African-American women timed for the holiday, says Tiffany Pratt, director of multi-cultural marketing for household products. "We wanted to drive a deeper promotion with Mom this year. The objective is to celebrate all the mothers in our lives."

In the African-American community, several different women tend to fill "mother" roles, Pratt says, listing godmothers, stepmothers, grandmothers, church mothers and even aunts who are more like mothers. The promotion is meant to celebrate all those roles with a song commissioned for Colgate-Palmolive by Mary Mary called "A Mother's Smile."

A verse and a chorus of the song are available through a free e-card at colgate.com/mothersday. The full song will be available for download to 50,000 consumers who enter two UPC codes from products such as Colgate toothpaste, Palmolive dishwashing liquid and Softsoap body wash.

Using the song and the Internet was a way to get some unique "pick up" for the promotion, than the more traditional efforts of the past. Pratt says. "We didn't want to create another card or another flower. The Internet is different and more viral."

The Mother's Day promotion will be advertised on in-store products, online and in national publications such as Jet, Pratt says. The company is also running radio ads in top markets, she says.

Colgate Palmolive is also in its third year of running a Hispanic-targeted promotion that includes giving consumers a calling card to phone their mothers for the holiday, Pratt says.