The most common health issue in the world isn’t colds or malaria, AIDS or Ebola. It’s cavities. These can, especially in developing countries and rural regions, lead to millions of hours of missed school and sick days every year, and unplanned health costs for families.

And changing diets are making the problem worse. According to a recent Indian survey, 96% of dentists agree that the foods children eat today are leading to more cavities.

Colgate-Palmolive had spent years developing a revolutionary new way to prevent cavities, by neutralizing sugar before it even gets the chance to attack teeth. It’s the biggest advance in cavity-fighting since fluoride 50 years ago.

But fighting sugar isn’t very important to people when they don’t think they’re eating any sugar. That was the problem we needed to solve.

There is a common misconception that only sweets and candy cause cavities. Our objective was to educate shoppers on the real threat of cavities from everyday foods. Our strategy to do that was to reveal the amount of hidden sugar in the groceries that someone was about to purchase, and to provide an immediate incentive for trial.

As a pilot we do not yet have full results. But early data indicates the activation is very effective at communicating the message, and was able to successfully shift the perception of sugar from something only in sweets to a threat hidden in everyday foods. It has helped establish a strong and differentiated proposition for Colgate Sugar Acid Neutralizer against other toothpastes.

The personalized discount made possible by the analysis of each individual basket increased the impact of the message and brought home the need for superior protection for each individual shopper. Our objective of using existing data to convert shoppers in the store also resulted in an increase in sales for Colgate Sugar Acids Neutralizer. Importantly, during the campaign period, we have seen strong trade-up from regular toothpaste brands, and even conversion of a healthy percentage of shoppers to immediate impulse purchases at the register.

Qualitative data collected during the activation indicates that visualizing personal sugar consumption and incentivizing trial of a superior solution was very well received by shoppers. As coupon redemption information is not yet available it is difficult to quantify the real impact on shopper’s behavior however verbatims from shopper interviews show a high degree of success.

To educate shoppers on the real threat of cavities from everyday foods, by revealing the amount of hidden sugar hiding in their grocery basket, we targeted the shoppers’ in-store. At the moment of purchase, their food choices were most top of mind.

Most people believe that sugar is only present in sweets and candy; and they don’t realize the amount hidden in everyday “healthy” foods like bread, fruit, sauces and juice. Despite the ready availability of nutritional data and sugar content on food packaging, shoppers mostly ignore these facts.

So in India, Colgate initiated a partnership with a local retailer to highlight the sugar content in everyday foods on the cash register receipt, and surprise people with this information in an easy to digest way.

In order to highlight how much sugar there is in foods traditionally considered healthy, we had to select and analyze a wide range of food items by the nutritional information provided by manufacturers. We developed a database of the sugar content in many popular foods and beverages, and used category average nutritional content to avoid incurring challenges from any particular manufacturers.

Next we thought about user experience of consuming this data. Because consumers struggle with the grams and percentages commonly used in nutritional packaging information, we created a simple visual mnemonic to convey the amounts, using sugar cubes as a visual device, and assigned a ‘sugar cube’ weighting to each food data point.

Finally, we developed software that synced this database into the retailer’s POS and cash register printer system.

Data are at the core of this creative idea, as its execution and impact depended on accurate information shoppers are currently unaware of, presented in a simple yet impactful way.

At checkout, each tagged food item present in the shopping basket was was instantly matched to the database upon scanning at the till, and the corresponding sugar amount printed on the receipt. This information was printed on the receipt in a simple “sugar cube” visual form, along with a calculation of the total sugar level in the basket.

To close the sale, we also calculated and printed an immediately redeemable discount coupon, the value of which was linked to the total level of sugar content per shopping basket. The cash discount increased, based on the total sugar content in each grocery receipt. More sugar equaled a greater need for the product, and thus a higher discount. The product was merchandised at checkout to facilitate impulse trial.

This execution allowed us to create a customized interaction with a message that encouraged immediate purchase based on the specific data gained from scanning each shopper’s basket.

It educated shoppers about the hidden sugar content in regular foods, and encouraged shoppers to continue enjoying the foods they love, while staying protected.

It transformed a piece of ordinary proof of purchase (the receipt) into an educational discount coupon.

And importantly, it used a technological solution that required no technology on the part of the user. The data and technology was invisible to them.

This campaign allowed us to leverage both data (nutritional content) and a medium (register receipts) that are commonly existing but underutilized, to showcase the significant danger the hidden sugars in our diets can pose to India’s oral health. Finally it allowed us to deliver a much-needed solution: Colgate’s revolutionary new product.