There are a lot of communities in Brazil unassisted by the government and basic public services. And the void left by the institutions is also not filled by brands – not every market manages to enters the close streets and alleyways of these communities. Traditional media doesn’t work the same there.

In this context, Colgate created a Free Oral Health program for kids from 11 to 18 years old, following them until they turn of age. There was only one problem: how in this narrow place do you let people know this service has arrived in the community?

SO…

In partnership with Outdoor Social, a community-led producing company, Colgate entered 11 low-income peripheral neighborhoods, the ones with the Free Oral Care program, filling them with billboards that used people’s houses to form smiling faces.

This was possible due to pareidolia – the brain capacity to see patterns on regular, everyday things. All residents that ceded the spaces received compensation just like a media outlet would, making it fair for everyone.

Through another partnership with Turma do Bem, a community-led content company, we told the stories of each family that received a billboard through an integrated digital campaign, that also had strategical out of home placed at the streets closest to the community entrances, along with a real-content-to-media strategy that fueled them. The results were as following: