Asia-Pacific Power List 2023: Yves Briantais, Colgate-Palmolive

Yves Briantais

VP of marketing
Colgate-Palmolive
Singapore
Member since 2021

Joining Campaign Asia-Pacific’s Power List for a third time since 2021, Yves Briantais, marketing chief for Colgate-Palmolive in APAC, has relocated from Hong Kong to Singapore but continues the brand’s purpose-led transformation across the region.  

Committed to a zero-plastic approach and 100% recyclable packaging for all its products by 2025, Colgate launched a first-of-its-kind recyclable tube in 2022. To promote the move in Australia, Colgate-Palmolive partnered with Vice News to create a documentary named ‘Comedians Talking Trash’ hosted by Aaron Gocs. Using stand-up comedy and a recycled tube character called Colley, some fun was put back in recycling to great results. The campaign reached 9.9 million views, 130% more than planned, while website traffic increased by 500%. The 67% sales uplift during the in-store campaign was nice, but what was even better was the attitude change with 95% of viewers stating they had become more eco-conscious and willing to recycle.

While caring about a zero-plastic future, Briantais also encourages campaigns that champion inclusivity and diversity. One example would be the Hear Gear project, a recent Colgate campaign to raise awareness of inclusion and belonging in sports featuring Jamie Howell, a deaf QAFLW athlete playing for Brisbane’s Yeronga Devils.

In Malaysia and Singapore, Colgate collaborated with rapper Airliftz and released a video to promote the campaign "We're Stronger When We Smile". The body positivity story was told by compiling all the negativity the 24-year-old Airliftz received during his life after being born with facial differences and redefined the meaning of a perfect smile. Face of Optimism, a 90-second video accompanying the campaign, won a silver and a bronze at Kancil Awards for online single film category and best use of cultural insights in film and branded content, respectively.  

Under Briantais’ leadership, Colgate continually promoted positive messages throughout the pandemic. When Singapore finally dropped its mask requirement for public transport in February, Colgate came up with a fresh pop-up campaign for its global ‘Smile Strong’ series to celebrate the mask-free moment, inviting everyone to ‘Free Your Smile’ in eye-catching DOOH ads.

Briantais has been working with Colgate-Palmolive marketing since 1999, first in product management, then later as marketing director in Europe. Eventually, he was promoted to vice president of global design and packaging in New York and later moved to Asia-Pacific as vice president for marketing in 2019.  Briantais has been a juror for the Effie Awards and Festival of Media APAC and is a frequent guest speaker at industry events.