Evolution of a brand called“DOVE”

Contents:• Introduction

• Case summary

• Reasons

• Marketing strategy

• SWOT analysis

• Achievements

• Recommendations

• Learnings

Unilever

• Anglo-Dutch company

• Merger of Lever Brothers and Margarine Union

• Major brands: Knorr, Lipton, Bertolli, Surf, Vaseline, AXE, Lux, Pond’s, and Lifebuoy

“Masterbrand”✦“Path to growth” initiative

✦ Winnow more than 1,600 brands to 400

Brand footprintPersonality:

Everyday womenwho enjoys

taking care ofeverything

Functional benefits:

1/4th cleansingcreamMild

Good for your skin

Core values:Gentle,Clean,

Moisturizing

“I’m clean and moisturized,but still me.”

Early advertisements

Silvia Lagnado, global brand director of Dove, led a worldwide investigation into women’s

responses of beauty industry.

Nat-ural

Av-er-age

At-tractive

Fem-inine

Good look-ing

Cute Pretty Beautiful

So-phis-ticate

d

Sexy Stunning

Gor-geous

0

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

31%

25%

9% 8% 7% 7%5%

2% 1% 1%1%

1%Averag

eAttractive

Good-looking

Cute BeautifulSophis--ticated

SexyStunning

Findings

Only 2% of the womenthought they looked beautiful

• April, 2004 - “Dove firming lotion”

• Ads are “Let’s celebrate curves”

• Sept,2004- launched a global campaign

• Campaign for Real Beauty

As a result..

Dove Tick-box campaign (Stage 1)

Change the way the world sees beauty(Stage 2)

“We want to challenge the definition of the beauty. We believe that beauty has become too narrow in definition. We want to

defy the stereotype that only young, blond and tall are beautiful.”

-Philippe Harousseau, Dove’s Marketing DirectorCampaign for real beauty1. First phase2. Second phase

(Stage 3)

Stage 4“Evolution” film

Why?

• Declining sales

• Increased competition

• Resulting advertising clutter

• Stagnation

• Brand positioning

Mixed messages

“Real Ads by Real Women”

• Try the product

• What does “luxury” mean to you?

• Explore the world around you

Media planning

✦ Oprah winfrey dedicated a whole show

to low self-esteem

✦ The ad was one of the most downloaded

commercials on Youtube

Bought all the billboards in Grand central station

“…surpassed $1 billion mark in 2004 global

sales… expected to gain between $60 million and

$70 million in lotion sales..”

“…within amonth sales ofthe Dove range

of firming creams had doubled.”

“..behind a 700% risein sales of Dovecreams in the

first half of the year

Results

Widening customer base

Public Relations

BRA ABG USA CAN GBR ITA FRA NLD PRT JPN

Women who are beautiful have greater opportunities

in life

68% 52% 44% 28% 37% 50% 49% 40% 50% 39%

Physically attractive

women are more valued

by men

69% 60% 59% 51% 50% 63% 71% 40% 73% 57%

The media and advertising set an unrealistic standard of beauty that

most women can’t every

achieve

66% 77% 81% 69% 74% 80% 72% 72% 62% 20%

I wish the media did a better job of portraying women of

diverse physical attractiveness-

age, shape, size

91% 86% 80% 75% 75% 81% 77% 69% 66% 41%

Beauty can be achieved through

attitude, spirit, and other

attributes that have nothing to do with physical

appearance

88% 82% 87% 82% 64% 76% 74% 72% 81% 57%

I do not feel comfortable describing

myself beautiful

40% 49% 44% 35% 54% 45% 41% 34% 36% 41%

Global Survey

“Walk the talk”✦ Global Dove Self-esteem fund✦ Helped build girls, aged 8-17, build self-confidence.

www.campaignforrealbeauty.com

Brand development system

Unilever

Product category

Brand

Building thebrands in

specific markets

DevelopmentDeveloping idea,

innovationBringing the brand to

life in marketplace

Pros Cons

✦ Memorable

✦ Social sensitivity

✦ Socially responsible image

✦ Refreshed Dove’s image

✦ Built a relationships with its

actual customers, viz real women

✦ No strong connection between the

ads and dove products

✦ Questionable image

✦ Painted themselves into a

corner

✦ Too much focus on cause

and not the product/brand✦ Hypocrisy of criticising

beauty industry and selling “beauty” products.

SWOT analysis

Strengths

• Unconventional• Effectiveness of

advertising• Emotional touch

Weakness

• Contradictory in nature• Women featured were

comparatively slim

Opportunity

• Male customers• Continuous

innovation

Threats

• Risk for being a brand for “fat” girls

• Marketing risk• Undermining the

• aspiration of customers• Sustainability in the long run

Learnings

TAKEINITIATIVE

INTERACTIVEMARKETING

Case basedmarketing

Social sensitivity

GlobalRelevance

GlobalRelevance

CONCLUSION✦ Landor Associates identified Dove as one of the 10 brands with the

greatest % gain✦ Dove had grown by $1.2Billion

Parody advertising abounded on Youtube, Google

-Alicia Clegg, brandchannel.com

Taking up the cudgels for reality is a risky strategy for Dove. The underlying idea is appealing; the difficulty is in how to express it. When Dove ran its Masterbrand advertising, it was criticized by some for choosing unrepresentative “real” women—a 96-year-old, described by one marketer as: “the old lady equivalent of a super-model”; a heavily freckled, but enviably cute, 22- year-old, and so on. The latest campaign has a harder edge, tipping the balance away from aspiration toward realism. It may be more honest, but does its honesty leave women enough freedom to dream?” Seth Stevenson, a columnist for the popular online magazine Slate, went further: “Talk about real beauty all you want—once you’re the brand for fat girls, you’re toast.”4

Recommendations forfuture marketing programs

Connect campaign to Dove products

Move away from issues and focus more on products: MakeDove Self-esteem Fund separate from Dove products

Keep real people and customers involved: Take advantage of online buzz with separate websites for products and funds.

Connect women to specific products:“How does Dove make you feel beautiful?”

Problem:Lost control of the

campaign. Themessage overpowers

the brand.

SolutionReal women,Real BeautyCampaign tofocus on how Dove productshelp women

achieve beauty

Maintain social sensitivity

Helps in Customer Relationship Management