Colgate-Palmolive’s Brigitte King on steering a global giant through digital transformation

Few products are as universal as toothpaste, whether your preference is for minty, whitening or sensitive gums.

That’s something that Brigitte King, global chief digital officer at Colgate-Palmolive, understands all too well. But even though many of its products are household names around the world, she has been busy adapting the company’s marketing in response to consumers’ shifting demands and media’s relentless fragmentation.

“Purchase and, fundamentally, the zero moment of truth was at the physical shelf in the store,” King tells The Current Podcast. “That’s no longer just the case. The moment of truth can happen anywhere, and on any platform.” This shift brings a need to deploy content and ads on a multitude of channels, at the right time — no small feat for a sprawling, global consumer goods giant.

To do that, Colgate-Palmolive has been rethinking its approach to media investment. “We are a business grounded in many years of legacy, that has often been TV first and TV heavy, and that’s no longer the case,” says King, adding that the company’s global media spend is now over 65% on digital media.

Elsewhere, King shares why Colgate-Palmolive is focusing its media investments on connected TV, why she thinks the marketing funnel looks more like a seesaw and how she’s thinking about riding the retail media wave.