Submitted by CollectivelyAgency IPI Score 72/100

Sensodyne Clinical White Launch

Influencer Marketing

Collectively moved Sensodyne beyond clinical authority by activating 23 beauty and lifestyle creators, delivering a 6.57% engagement rate reported as 31% above benchmark.

670KImpressions
6.57%Engagement rate
6.27%In-feed view rate
19KTotal engagements
2.5xComment relevancy rate
31%Engagement rate above benchmark

About the campaign

Sensodyne, the number one dentist-recommended toothpaste for sensitive teeth, needed to launch Clinical White into a crowded US whitening market without leaning solely on the clinical authority that had begun to feel inaccessible as competitors adopted similar dentist-testimonial tactics. The product answered a documented tension, with 86 percent of people with sensitive teeth wanting whiter teeth while 50 percent experience sensitivity when using whitening products, but communicating that dual promise of whitening performance and sensitivity safety required creative territory clinical messaging could not easily occupy.

Collectively's strategy moved the brand from authoritative expert to accessible companion in daily routines, activating 23 beauty, lifestyle and expert creators who produced in-feed content around morning routines, personal sensitivity experiences and beauty insights, content that felt owned by the creator rather than scripted by the brand. Marianna Hewitt, co-founder of Summer Fridays with 1.1 million Instagram followers, joined as an earned voice conducting press interviews at the product launch event.

Collectively reports 670,000 impressions, 19,000 engagements, a 6.57 percent engagement rate described as 31 percent above benchmark, a 6.27 percent in-feed view rate, and a comment relevancy rate 2.5 times the usual level, suggesting the non-endemic approach prompted on-topic conversation about whitening and sensitivity. All figures are agency self-reported.

Case in 60 seconds

Sensodyne needed to launch Clinical White into a crowded teeth whitening market without relying solely on clinical or dental authority figures, and had to reach consumers beyond its traditional base.

People with sensitive teeth commonly want whiter teeth but also experience sensitivity when using whitening products, per industry coverage of the launch, creating a documented unmet need that the Clinical White formula, built on five clinical studies, was designed to address.

Move the campaign away from clinical credibility alone and toward personal, relatable storytelling through non-endemic beauty and lifestyle creators, associating Clinical White with everyday routines rather than dental authority.

Collectively activated 23 beauty, lifestyle, and expert creators producing content around morning routines, personal sensitivity experiences, and beauty insights, and brought in Marianna Hewitt, co-founder of Summer Fridays and an Instagram creator with 1.1 million followers, as an earned voice conducting press interviews at the product launch event.

The campaign delivered 670K impressions, 19K engagements, a 6.57% engagement rate reported as 31% above benchmark, a 6.27% in-feed view rate, and a comment relevancy rate 2.5x the usual level; all figures are self-reported by Collectively and have not been independently verified.

Strategy Breakdown

The primary strategy-learning section — interpretation, not a press-release summary.

Primary audiences were beauty and lifestyle consumers who prioritise whitening aesthetics alongside people who experience tooth sensitivity. Collectively deliberately targeted segments outside Sensodyne's established dental-focused consumer base, reaching them through creators those audiences already follow.
Whitening and sensitivity care sit in separate mental categories for many consumers: whitening is a beauty aspiration, sensitivity is a medical concern. Collectively describes Sensodyne's prior approach as leaning on traditional dentist endorsements, and Clinical White needed to inhabit both categories simultaneously.
The teeth whitening market is competitive. Communicating a dual promise, whitening performance plus sensitivity safety, required creative territory that clinical messaging alone could not easily occupy.
For this campaign Sensodyne moved from authoritative dental-expert positioning to accessible companion in daily beauty and wellness routines, with creators vouching for the product through personal experience rather than clinical endorsement, per Collectively's own account.
The strategy centred on content that felt owned by the creator rather than scripted by the brand. Morning routine and beauty ritual content provided a natural, low-friction context in which to introduce a sensitivity-safe whitening product, meeting consumers at a moment of existing grooming behaviour rather than interrupting them with a product claim.

Creative & Execution System

Assets & channels

  • In-feed social content across 23 creator accounts (platform specified as Instagram in package metadata)
  • Physical product launch event with press interviews

Partners

  • Collectively (lead influencer marketing agency)
  • Marianna Hewitt (co-founder of Summer Fridays; earned voice at launch event, 1.1M Instagram followers)

Participation mechanic

  • Creator-produced content themed around morning routines
  • Creator-produced content themed around personal sensitivity experiences
  • Creator-produced content themed around beauty insights
  • Earned press interviews conducted by Marianna Hewitt at the launch event

Creator role

  • 23 paid creator partners producing in-feed content (beauty, lifestyle, and expert verticals)
  • Marianna Hewitt as earned voice at launch event conducting press interviews

Results & Evidence

MetricValueResult typeConfidence
Impressions670KReachAgency reported
Total engagements19KEngagementAgency reported
Engagement rate6.57%EngagementAgency reported
Engagement rate vs benchmark31% above benchmarkEngagementAgency reported
In-feed view rate6.27%EngagementAgency reported
Comment relevancy rate2.5x the usual levelEngagement QualityAgency reported

Why Collectively's strategy worked

  1. 1

    Non-endemic creator partnerships can shift brand perception for functional products when the creative territory — morning routines, beauty rituals — is close enough to the product's use case. Beauty and lifestyle creators framing Clinical White as a personal discovery made the dual whitening-and-sensitivity proposition feel accessible rather than clinical.

  2. 2

    Earned influencer presence at launch events, distinct from standard paid posts, can extend reach into press coverage without additional paid media spend. Marianna Hewitt's press interviews at the launch event gave the campaign a bridge into beauty press that paid in-feed content alone would not have reached.

  3. 3

    Comment relevancy rate is a useful signal beyond standard engagement metrics. The 2.5x comment relevancy figure suggests audiences were discussing the product's specific proposition rather than leaving generic reactions, indicating the creative territory prompted genuine purchase-relevant interest.

  4. 4

    A creator mix spanning beauty, lifestyle, and expert voices allows a brand with strong clinical credentials to enter new audience segments without abandoning its existing authority. The expert voices maintained category credibility while beauty and lifestyle creators provided the relatability needed to reach whitening-focused consumers.

  5. 5

    For a brand that had previously relied on unpaid dentist testimonials and clinical authority positioning, moving to creator-led personal storytelling represents a deliberate channel and tone shift; the engagement rate reported above benchmark suggests the approach was well-received by target audiences, though independent verification is absent.

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