Brush With Success: How 'Hello' Used Design to Stand Out Among Oral Care Brands A breath of minty-fresh air ripples through the staid oral-care market.

Whenever Craig Dubitsky went shopping for toothpaste, he couldn't help but grimace.

"This stuff goes in your mouth. Typically your reward is that you get to spit it out. Even the advertising is set up to convince you that the more it hurts, the more it works," explains Dubitsky, who set out to launch a kinder, gentler alternative.

"The drivers in the oral-care category are fear and shame," he points out. ""If you're not whitening, you're frightening' or "If your breath isn't mountain-spring-fresh, you're not going to get the job or the date.' Take all those pictures of extracted teeth on products. That stuff freaked me out. I know what they're trying to say—"This stuff is so good it gets to your roots'—but it's the last thing I wanted to see. If I go to the car dealer and you're telling me about the safety of the car, I don't want to see dead bodies on the floor of the dealership."