Dove

casestudy

Aniqa Akmal Janjua and rabia faisal BBA 8D

Synopsis:
Dove wanted to come up with a campaign which breaks the stereotype of beauty that exists in
the mind of women know days which make them think that they are not beautiful and apart from
that make general public realize that they are beautiful the way they are and they don’t need to
look up to runway models.so as result of it they came up with a campaign which talked about
real beauty standards. They were able to get a lot of positive feedback on that campaign but they
also got some backlash on it too. So now dove need to think about their next strategy to deal with
this situation.
COMPANY ANALYSIS
Unilever, the parent company of Dove, is an Anglo-Dutch multinational company and the third
largest consumer goods company in the world. Unilever’s product offerings span diverse
segments and categories: foods, refreshment, home care and personal care. Unilever owns over
400 brands, 14 of which generate sales in excess of US $1 billion to 5 a year. Some of the most
recognizable brands include Lipton, Knorr, Ben & Jerry’s, Hellman’s, Magnum, Sunlight, Axe,
Vaseline and Dove. The company developed a new brand identity focused around the idea of
“adding vitality to life.” The company’s vision is to make the two billion people that use
Unilever products each day look good, feel good and get more out of life.
The Dove Brand was developed in the United States in 1957 with the formulation of a new
beauty cleansing bar. Made with mild cleansers and moisturizing cream, Dove’s flagship product
is generally known for leaving skin smooth, soft and clean. The current Dove line of products
includes a full range of body washes, hand and body lotions, facial cleansers, deodorants,
shampoos, conditioners and hair styling products for both men and women.
COMPETITOR ANALYSIS
Dove has a lot of direct and in direct competitors as has almost all personal care markets: bar
soap, body wash, face wash, hair care, deodorants and antiperspirants, and lotion. Dove’s direct
competitors in each of these markets range from other Cross-Category Power Brand’s that
operate in several personal care markets e.g. Neutrogena, Nivea, Old Spice, Axe, etc. and
dominant brands that operate in one or more personal care markets e.g. L’Oréal, Garnier,
Pantene, Aveeno, etc. Other competitors such as Nivea, Aveeno and Neutrogena focus on
functional benefits and position themselves in the “expert care” segment of the market. St. Ives
and Irish Springs focus on aroma and position themselves in the “sensorial uplift” segment of the
market. Brands such as Axe and Old Spice focus communication on boosting the male ego by
providing men confidence through the use of its products. L’Oréal, Garnier and Pantene position
themselves similarly; however, their focus is providing confidence to women. All of the
competing brands feature stereotypical models in traditional advertising efforts.
Indirect competitors for Dove represent personal care brands that operate in only a few markets
and can be identified by smaller market shares. These brands include face and body wash brands
such as Cetaphil; soap brands such as Ivory and Burt’s Bees; deodorant and antiperspirant brands
such as Arrid; and lotion brands such as Curel and Glysomed. These brands focus advertising on
functionality.
HISTORY OF REAL BEAUTY CAMPAIGN
Dove, a brand that has devoted itself to listening to women,10 partnered with Strategy One to
conduct a study surveying 3,200 people from 10 countries about women’s relationship to their
own beauty. The result of the study was published in a paper titled, “The Real Truth About
Beauty – A Global Report.” The results of the report suggested Only 2 per cent of women
describe themselves as beautiful;47 per cent of women rate their body weight as “too high”; 48
per cent of women agreed with the statement, “When I feel less beautiful, I feel worse about
myself in general;”59 per cent of women strongly agree that: “physically attractive women are
more valued by men;” 68 per cent of women strongly agree that: “the Media and advertising set
an unrealistic standard of beauty that most women can’t ever achieve.”
The findings strongly suggested that the definition of beauty was causing anxiety in women. In
response, Dove ventured and opened the conversation about what beauty means to real women.
The Dove Campaign for Real Beauty was launched with the goal of widening the definition of
beauty by featuring advertisements with everyday women instead of models.
INITIAL REACTIONS OF CUSTOMERS
On the release of the video catering diversity and breaking the stereotypes of unrealistic beauty
standards it was applauded by people and media but dove got some backlash on it too. Dove was
criticized for having a campaign about accepting real beauty while also selling products intended
to improve people’s appearances. Also, Dove was critiqued for the lack of diversity in its Real
Beauty Sketches video. The majority of participants were Caucasian with people of color only
being shown on screen for a total of 10 seconds. It was argued that this representation reinforced
a narrow perception of beauty.
TACTICS TO MAKE VIDEAO VIRAL
Dove partnered with YouTube and Unruly to facilitate the distribution and seeding strategy the
launch of Dove Real Beauty Sketches videos as the next phase of the Dove Campaign for Real
Beauty. The purpose of the short film was to document a compelling social experiment that
proves women are more beautiful than they think. An artist was told to make sketch of the
women as they describe themselves and then those sketches are shown to different people and
recorded.
EMOTIONAL CONTENT
The video captures strong emotional reactions as the women discover they are overly critical of
their own appearances and they describe themselves as big round face protruding jaw and stuff
like that but when women heard beautiful and attractive comments from strangers that made
them feel happier warm and love able.
ROLL OUT STRATEGY
Dove Skin VP Fernando Machado first launched the video in four key markets: the U.S.,
Canada, Brazil, and Australia. It was then rolled out abroad and uploaded in 25 languages and
seen in 110 countries. Dove partnered with YouTube and Unruly to facilitate the distribution and
seeding strategy. Furthermore the PR served as a key channel in generating initial placements
with media such as the Today Show, Mashable, Huffington Post and Channel 7 Morning Show
in Australia. The film was distributed to top media around the world and was quickly shared by
women, men, media and even other brands. This led to 4 billion PR and blogger media
impressions and counting.
WHAT SHOULD DOVE DO NEXT; 3 Strategies
Three options were being considered for the next stage of Dove’s advertising efforts:
• The Selfie documentary
• The Mirror campaign
• Overhaul of the Dove branding strategy
The Selfie Documentary
One alternative of awareness was the Selfie Documentary narrative. As the name itself suggests,
Dove would urge and recommend mother- daughter duo to present a "selfie" to a photograph
display. Taking a selfie and posting it on different social media apps is a everyday trend that
everyone has already accepted it in their routines.
Dove would provoke young girls to take a fair selfie without any filters or editing, and have their
mom do likewise. After the selfies were submitted to Dove, all members would go to the display
where they could see the selfies and record positive attributes about the photographs on sticky
notes. This procedure would then be caught by video. An eight-minute short film and an
increasingly compact three-minute ad would be created, along these lines to the Dove Real
Beauty Sketches video.
This alternative would be a natural fit with the current strategy of redefining true beauty. This
option would also resonate with the target market, as the act of taking selfies was prominent in
current social media trends and the mother-daughter relationship was featured.
The Mirror Campaign
Another proposal that was being taken into consideration was the Mirror campaign. This would
be a promotional occasion set up in diverse busy urban centers. During this event, there would be
a outsized mirror with the expressions “Dove knows you’re beautiful” written across the top.
Individuals or groups of people would be called upon to take photos in front of the mirror, and
post the photos on social media outlets using the hash tag #dovetruebeauty.
During this occasion, Samples of Dove would likewise be given out to empower and encourage
participation. In addition to these events and to enhance their effect, a few banners with the
similar text and concept would be posted all through the city (e.g., on transport stops and metro
vehicles). This would expand the campaigns scope, since individuals would likewise have the
option to take part in the discussion individually.
This occasion may be a smart thought since it was an unexpected and highly appreciated
methodology in comparison to the documentary that Dove had concentrated on before. The
labels and hashtags may likewise help start conversations about the real beauty campaign,
additionally permitting Dove to connect with members.
Overhaul Dove Strategy
The overhaul Dove Strategy was the end resort. It really got everyone thinking if they should just
ditch the idea and campaign as it had already reached its 10th year of execution and they weren’t
sure if the message was very effective anymore or it had gone monotonous. But if they did ditch
this idea, they were confused if they would go back to the conventional advertising techniques
that every other brand focused on and hire models and sell the idea that everyone is successful in
selling. And they were confused if both of the options were not considerable, what other idea
could they craft? What message would they promote this time?
All in all, this strategy was a real thinker because if they did ditch their campaign they could
receive a lot of backlash from their customers that the values and morals that they had been
focused on for the past 10 years, they decided to abandon the idea. This strategy came with a lot
of baggage for sure.
WHAT DID DOVE ACTUALLY DO
Dove’s "Campaign for Real Beauty" is now more than 10 years ago, it was a shock to those who
were used to seeing a different type of messaging. To this day, the campaign questions beauty
standards, beliefs women hold about their own looks, and how we instill confidence in young
girls. Dove continues to define how brands can spark conversations around issues their audience
cares about.There is still a long journey ahead to make people see what is real and what is
photoshoped but the initial steps taken by Dove were remarkably proactive and ahead of its time.
Now many companies such as Loreal, FentyBeuaty, Rimmel and Glossier are promoting more
than just one shade to skin tone.These ads discontinue the tradition of convincing people that
makeup and products are there to mask or correct issues. Now the message of expression is used
for makeup and other beauty products.High end brands such as Gucci and Christian Dior have
discontinued the use of anorexic models for their shows to help build confidence and self-esteem
of young girls who grow up thinking being health is fat and being anorexic is pretty.
Discuss the real-world reaction
The campaigns elicited a strong emotional response from viewers. Dove published survey data
asserting, over half (54%) of women globally agree that when it comes to how they look, they
are their own worst beauty critic, which equates to a staggering 672 million women around the
world. What really made this campaign perform particularly strongly is the content, which
elicited the intense emotional responses of ‘warmth, ‘happiness’ and ‘knowledge’ from its target
demographic.
Since its 2004 inception, Real Beauty’s provocative ads, thought leadership, and educational
initiatives for beauty equality combined to form something more akin to a social movement than
a gimmicky emotional appeal from a packaged goods giant.The campaign’s impact extended
beyond promoting a vision for beauty equality. Sales for Dove jumped from $2.5 to $4 billion in
the campaign’s first ten years. Dove bars became the number one preferred soap brand in the
U.S. and Unilever’s bestselling product company wide.
But things became bad for Dove in October 2017, when Dove released a three-second body wash
ad on Facebook. The ad featured a diverse trio of women individually lifting their shirts to
transition into one another: a black woman pulled up her shirt to reveal a white woman, who then
unveiled an Asian woman.Depicting a black woman transforming to white through soap was an
unwitting nod to an ugly theme of 19th century advertising when blatantly racist messages
suggested "dirty" people of color could be purified to white with soap.Unsurprisingly, the ad
swiftly incited a wave of criticism across social media denouncing Dove for racism.