We travelled to the Coldest City on Earth, to create a unique documentary that showcased both the beauty and trials of living in such harsh conditions through a range of compelling and entertaining characters. The film gives tooth sensitivity and Sensodyne an authentic role in this environment and celebrates the impact on life once you can live sensitivity-free.

The campaign was created in just 4 months. Largely because, if shot too early we wouldn’t capture a true representation of Yakutsk’s deep freeze – but too late the equipment and crew wouldn’t be able to function in the extreme cold. Equally, markets wanted to run the campaign in winter, so we delivered and localised before Christmas. Production kicked off in September, and the campaign was delivered before Christmas.

The idea was delivered through a range of assets built into a customer journey designed to capture attention of non-Sensodyne users, and even non-sensitivity aware. At the heart of the campaign is the 60” film, discovered via a selection of 6” and 15”, driving to a webpage where the depth of the campaign is housed, including the longer documentary film expanding on the characters, location and condition. The campaign is global, and will run in selected Sensodyne markets worldwide across 2018/2019.

The Coldest City in the World Campaign has run in 3 launch markets so far – Germany, India and France - and initial results are very positive, with Coldest City performing above GSK benchmarks as an impactful piece of brand-building communication. In Germany, with 5.6 million views, and a vCPM of 8.96 vs a benchmark of 34.49, the campaign has demonstrated high potential. Equally, a high dwell time and 67.2% lift in ad recall are strong indicators for future success. In Germany, on Outbrain, the campaign performed to record levels seen on the platform, with cost-per-click €0.14, and completion rate of the campaign webpage via the film at 55%. In India, the total reach of the campaign was 2.3m, on top of which it received unpaid digital PR coverage in advertising & marketing publications like Economic Times Brand Equity & Impact. These had a reach of 9.7Mn audience.