Inspiring Better Oral Health with Animated Story
Mary Ekah
In line with its mission to reach 10 million Nigerian school children with face-to-face engagement, through its school oral health programmes by 2020, teaching when and how best to brush teeth for optimal oral health always, Unilever’s toothpaste brand, Pepsodent, has for the first time introduced a new digital behaviour change programme to make daily tooth brushing a fun habit for the whole family.
The initiative, which is mobile approach to behaviour change, tagged, ‘Little Brush, Big Brush’, is a 21-day behaviour change programme to help families with children build better tooth brushing habits through fun and play, delivered on people’s mobile phones through Facebook messenger. Combining strong storytelling and cutting-edge AI technology, Little Brush Big Brush is an animated story, which comprises 21 episodes featuring animal characters that help children develop good brushing habits for life.
The innovation was unveiled during the just concluded World Oral Health Day celebration marked by the company in conjunction with the Federal Ministry of Health and the Nigerian Dental Association at Teslim Balogun Stadium, Lagos, to raise awareness of the importance of brushing teeth daily, morning and night with a fluoride toothpaste like Pepsodent to avoid dental decay with the hope more families will be reached through this unique innovation.
Speaking at the event, Global Vice President, Oral Care, Unilever, Severine Vauleon, explained that children are powerful behaviour change advocates in their homes, often driving conversation and action with parents around issues like this, adding, “We’re confident that kids will love the stories and characters and this will drive their interest and excitement to brush day and night.”