Earned & PaidColgate-Palmolive
Colgate-Palmolive spent $2.70B on advertising and marketing in fiscal 2025, down 0.6% on the year before and +60% since 2019. That's 13.3% of revenue, more than in 2019: leaning in.
Marketing spend by year
Bars: advertising and marketing expense, $B (10-K). Line: spend as a share of revenue.
What they told investors
“We're not necessarily suggesting that's going into promotion at all. Quite frankly, on the contrary, we expect our advertising, our thematic brand building work to be much more effective as we move forward as we accelerate advertising, particularly in some of the key geographies…”Noel Wallace · 2026 Q1 · transcript
“the fact that we've continued to sustain high levels of advertising investment, particularly in emerging markets has allowed us to accelerate the growth.”Noel Wallace · 2026 Q1 · transcript
“Year-to-date advertising spend is roughly in line with 2024’s record level, and Q4 advertising is expected to be “roughly in line with the year to date,” with advertising as a percentage of sales “down slightly year on year.””management · 2025 Q3 · transcript
“We are still spending very robustly against our brands, although we pulled back a little bit in some markets where we saw the consumer is much more challenged.”Noel Wallace · 2025 Q3 · transcript
What the 10-K says about marketing
- cutting spend “Selling, general and administrative expenses as a percentage of Net sales increased by 30 bps to 38.8% in 2025 as compared to 38.5% in 2024. Excluding the items described above in both periods, as applicable, Selling, general and administrative expenses as a percentage of Net…” 10-K, Feb 23, 2026
- cutting spend “as due to significantly higher raw and packaging material costs (760 bps) and unfavorable mix (10 bps), partially offset by cost savings from the Company’s funding-the-growth initiatives (280 bps) and higher pricing. This decrease in Selling, general and administrative expenses…” 10-K, Feb 23, 2026
- investing in brand “significantly higher raw and packaging material costs (410 bps), partially offset by cost savings from the Company’s funding-the-growth initiatives (310 bps) and higher pricing. This increase in Selling, general and administrative expenses was due to higher overhead expenses (60…” 10-K, Feb 23, 2026
- investing in brand “to cost savings from the Company’s funding-the-growth initiatives (270 bps), higher pricing and favorable mix (140 bps), partially offset by significantly higher raw and packaging material costs (310 bps). This increase in Selling, general and administrative expenses was…” 10-K, Feb 23, 2026
Say vs do
Of the 1 statement about its marketing budget that the filings can check, 1 held up.
What they said
“Year-to-date advertising spend is roughly in line with 2024’s record level, and Q4 advertising is expected to be “roughly in line with the year to date,” with advertising as a percentage of sales “down slightly year on year.””
Management on the 2025 Q3 earnings call, Nov 1, 2025 · transcript
Backed by the filings Marketing as a share of revenue, FY2024 → FY2025: 13.5% → 13.3% (-0.3 pts)
“We're not necessarily suggesting that's going into promotion at all. Quite frankly, on the contrary, we expect our advertising, our thematic brand building work to be much more effective as we move forward as we accelerate advertising, particularly in some of the key geographies…”
Noel Wallace on the 2026 Q1 earnings call, May 1, 2026 · transcript
Can't tell from annual filings The period isn't clear.
“This decrease was due to decreased advertising investment (20 bps), partially offset by higher overhead expenses (10 bps), both as a percentage of Net sales.”
The FY2025 10-K, Feb 23, 2026 · 10-K
Can't tell from annual filings The 10-k passage doesn't say which year it describes.
“This increase in Selling, general and administrative expenses was due to higher overhead expenses (60 bps) and increased advertising investment (50 bps).”
The FY2025 10-K, Feb 23, 2026 · 10-K
Can't tell from annual filings The 10-k passage doesn't say which year it describes.
What they did
| Year | Marketing spend | Change | Share of revenue |
|---|---|---|---|
| FY2025 | $2.70B | -0.6% | 13.3% |
| FY2024 | $2.72B | +14.7% | 13.5% |
| FY2023 | $2.37B | +18.7% | 12.2% |
| FY2022 | $2.00B | -1.2% | 11.1% |
| FY2021 | $2.02B | +3.7% | 11.6% |
| FY2020 | $1.95B | +15.0% | 11.8% |
Against its peers. Compared with the 11 other CPG advertisers we track (Procter & Gamble, Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Kimberly-Clark, Church & Dwight and 6 more): since 2019 its marketing spend went +60% (peer median +35%); its share of revenue moved +2.5 pts (median +0.5); last year -0.6% (median +1.6%).
In interviews, its leaders made 48 statements about marketing: 1 argued for investing in brand and 0 for cutting.
How we check: a statement gets a verdict only when it's clearly about the size of the whole company's marketing budget over a full fiscal year; we compare it with the advertising and marketing expense in that year's 10-K. Statements about one quarter, one brand or channel, or the mix between brand and performance can't be checked against annual filings.
What they say about media
The marketing channels it talks about using for itself on earnings calls and in its 10-Ks and 10-Qs, since 2019; counts are statements, not spending.
- Measurement “So we clearly, are understanding where the profit pools are, the revenue pools are, so to speak, and using our money wisely, and we're spending significantly more time understanding ROI as more of our money moves into digital advertising.” Noel Wallace on the earnings call · May 1, 2026 · source
- AI in marketing “Marketing and content, we will be using generative AI; it will be pivotal to transforming all of our marketing and digital strategies.” Noel Wallace on the earnings call · Nov 1, 2025 · source
- Creative campaigns “In particular, we are seeing good results from our Hill's master brand campaign to end Pet obesity as well as our new campaign for Hill's Pet Essentials, our vet-distributed wellness product in Europe.” John Faucher on the earnings call · Jul 30, 2021 · source
- Programmatic & display “We're improving our digital marketing through programmatic media buying, through more personalized content and we're doing testing that allows us to more accurately predict the effectiveness of our media driving higher ROI in the end.” Noel Wallace on the earnings call · Oct 30, 2020 · source
- Retail media “And if you think about marketing to a consumer on Amazon or Ali Baba, it's not the same, or marketing to a consumer on tesco.com or through the last-milers in Latin America.” Noel Wallace on the earnings call · Oct 30, 2020 · source
In the news
- Colgate-Palmolive Bets Big on Digital Transformation, Unified Commerce Marketing Consumer Goods Technology · Sep 24, 2026 · marketing