Colgate-Palmolive в Индии внедряет ИИ и науку для роста продаж и премиализации

New Delhi: Colgate-Palmolive India is using a “Many Indias” approach, artificial intelligence and science-led innovation to sharpen its products, communication and retail execution as the oral care major looks to grow beyond mass toothpaste penetration. In its FY26 Annual and ESG Report, the company said it follows a “Many Indias” approach by adapting products, communication and strategies to diverse needs across regions, cultures and income segments. The company’s reported advertising and sales promotion expense stood at Rs 819.40 crore in FY26, compared with Rs 822.46 crore in FY25, according to its financial statements. In her message to shareholders, Prabha Narasimhan, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Colgate-Palmolive India, said healthy margins, supported by the company’s “Funding-the-Growth” programme, allowed Colgate to increase advertising investments by 10%, “fueling innovation, strengthening brand health, and expanding household penetration.” She said the company was working to evolve oral care “from a repetitive morning chore into a cornerstone of national health and systemic well-being.” The larger strategy is to move Colgate beyond toothpaste and toothbrush availability into oral health behaviour, premium beauty routines, performance-led oral care and new consumption occasions. Narasimhan added, “Digital agility remains a key part of our strategy.” She said Colgate is using data analytics and artificial intelligence to improve its value chain, from forecasting to consumer engagement. By refining its presence across traditional and digital retail, the company aims to be available whenever consumers need it. AI is visible across several parts of the company’s operating and marketing system. In customer development, Colgate said its flagship image-recognition tool, AmaZing, is active in modern trade stores and focused on consistent on-shelf availability and improved brand visibility. The tool helps the company build agility in stock deployment across channels. The report also said the rollout of premiumisation initiatives in modern trade is supported by leadership workshops and a validation process using image recognition to ensure strict in-store compliance. This makes AI part of the shelf and shopper-marketing system rather than only a back-end productivity tool. The company’s AI and ML-powered recommendation engine also supports assortment planning across approximately 1.7 million outlets, enabling more targeted product availability. Image recognition-led execution through the AmaZing platform was scaled across modern trade, including independent outlets, to improve in-store execution and visibility. With near-universal product penetration achieved, the next phase is focused on driving consistent adoption of recommended dental practices. The company cited data showing that 80% of urban Indians do not brush at night, 55% of rural Indians do not brush daily, and 91% of Indians do not visit a dentist even once a year. This gives Colgate a clear category development challenge: drive habit, frequency and preventive care, not just reach. That is where the Colgate Oral Health Movement fits into the brand strategy. Narasimhan said the company moved from awareness to mass-scale action by democratising dental screening through mobile technology. The initiative empowered over 4.5 million Indians across 700 districts to take charge of their oral health, and one-sixth of those screened proactively visited a dentist, according to the report. The initiative used India’s first AI-powered oral health screening tool accessible through WhatsApp, backed by a network of over 50,000 dental professionals from the Indian Dental Association. It connected individuals to free dental consultations and gave the company large-scale behavioural insights on oral health risks across regions and age groups. In e-commerce, Colgate said the channel remained its highest-growth channel in FY26, delivering strong double-digit net sales growth. It said the company capitalised on the quick commerce shift, with quick commerce net sales doubling during the year. The company is also offering curated and exclusive products aligned with modern digital shopping habits. The report shows that Colgate’s brand campaigns in FY26 were directed at two primary goals: revitalising market-leading products to expand their market presence and elevating premium offerings to meet specialised and evolving consumer demands. A major part of that strategy is science-led premiumisation. Colgate Total was pushed beyond routine hygiene through a campaign featuring Rahul Dravid and a partnership with Mumbai Indians. The report said Dravid was onboarded to champion a “marginal gains” philosophy, transitioning the narrative from routine hygiene to a disciplined performance ritual. The Mumbai Indians partnership took the idea further by introducing the Performance Linked Oral Test as a core fitness protocol. Through this, Colgate positioned oral health as a “performance variable” and linked dental wellness with athletic readiness, stamina and recovery. At the beauty end, Colgate Visible White Purple was positioned as a modern grooming product. The campaign, featuring Kriti Sanon and cricketer Abhishek Sharma, used the scientific principle of colour theory, where purple tones neutralise yellow tints, to claim an instant whitening effect. The company described it as the “first step” in a daily beauty ritual. The report said whitening category penetration in India is approximately 2%, compared with 25% in developed markets, giving Colgate room to build the segment with products such as Visible White Purple and new formats. In its core portfolio, Colgate Strong Teeth was relaunched with upgraded flavour and Arginine plus Calcium Boost Technology. The campaign retained the mother-child trust platform but shifted the conversation from fear to functional assurance around cavity protection. The FY26 report also shows Colgate trying to bring AI into marketing operations and product communication. The company said it introduced an AI-powered artwork validation engine that automatically checks packaging designs against regulatory, legal, R&D, brand and packaging standards. The tool is aimed at improving accuracy, reducing manual reviews, protecting brand integrity and accelerating speed-to-market. The company also said its in-house AI content platform enables rapid generation of high-quality product visuals for e-commerce and digital channels, reducing production time, costs and dependence on traditional photoshoots. For a brand with a wide portfolio and increasing digital commerce exposure, this directly affects speed, consistency and cost of creative execution. Altogether, the company is using regional segmentation to sharpen communication, science-backed claims to create differentiation, premium formats to improve value, and AI to strengthen execution across retail, content, packaging and consumer engagement.