Dove: Evolution of a Brand

Harvard business school case analysis

What is the purpose of analysis?

Evaluation of dove’s “Campaign for real beauty”.

• Analyze the strategic mix employed by the brand.

• Evaluate the campaign’s positives and negatives.

1.

Understanding the advertising decisions

and brand management.

2.

Dove

Unilever

No.1 “cleansing brand” in 2007

Launched by

in health and beauty sector

Lever brothers (U.K.)

Margarine Unie (dutch)

Unilever

What was the reason for the merge???

“Both the companies

depended on

palm oil, one for soap and other for

edible oil products.”

“Path to Growth” initiative by Unilever

Aimed to

Reduce the number of brands from 1600 to less than 400.

Create unified global identity.

Launching “Dove”!!

Was launched as a ‘beauty bar’ in 1957 with non-irritating skin cleaning

properties and it contained high levels of natural skin moisturizers.

Dove soap doesn’t dry your skin

because it’s

Message by the ‘Ogilvy and Mather’ advertising agency:

Endorsed by physicians for skin care, dove became a ‘Masterbrand’

in 2000, extending into personal care beyond beauty bar.

Need for

“The campaign for real

beauty” ?

‘Dove’ became a Masterbrand in 2000, due to which it could no

longer communicate functional superiority.

Need for ‘The campaign for real beauty’ (1/2)

‘Dove’ should stand for a Point of view.

Need for ‘The campaign for real beauty’ (2/2)

Analysis of the strategic mix employed by ‘Dove’.1a.

Dove led a worldwide investigation into women’s responses to the iconography used by the beauty industry.

“Young, white, blonde and thin” were the universal characteristics of women portrayed in beauty advertisements, but for many women these were unattainable standards...

“Unilever went to 3,000 women in 10 countries and among the findings there were only 2% of respondents worldwide chose to describe themselves as beautiful.”

‘Dove’ launched

Tick-Box campaign in which billboards were erected and viewers were to

vote on whether a woman on the billboard was “outsized” or

“outstanding.”

The next series of Dove ads ,in June 2005, were known as the ‘Firming campaign’ ads because they promoted a cream that firmed the skin.

The company wanted the ads to “change the way society views beauty,” and “provoke discussion and debate about real beauty.”

But did the campaign talk about the brand’s uniqueness and taking

beauty to a new level of attractiveness??

‘Dove’ engaged executives in the idea behind The “Campaign for Real Beauty” by filming their own daughters discussing their self-esteem challenges.

But how would the company earn returns from investment in the media

when there is nothing mentioned about the product in the ad??

‘The main purpose was to expose the false claims made by the beauty industry that supermodel beauty

was in the grasp of everyone’

Next, the advertising agency launched a 112 sec. Film to drive the audience to self-esteem workshops organised by ‘Dove’.

The digital film known as

‘Evolution’ was posted on Youtube in 2006, and reached 3 million views in 3 months.

The mission behind all these creative initiatives taken by

Dove?????

To unify ‘The campaign for real beauty’

“ To make more women feel beautiful every day by broadening the narrow definition of beauty and inspiring them to take great care of themselves.”

Mission read

Evaluating the campaign’s positives and negatives.

1b.

Dove launched a campaign called “real ads by real women” inviting customers to create their own ad .

This helped launching ‘Dove cream oil body wash’ in a very creative way and

build a feeling of confidence among the

customers who would be featured in the advertisement!!!

Unilever established the global

“Dove Self-Esteem Fund” to raise the self-esteem of girls and

young women.

The survey by dove also proved the

point that beauty is now more about confidence and self-esteem rather than “Being young, white,

blonde and thin”

Even without using much of paid media, the campaign touched the public:

Thousands of blogs and Internet chat placed the brand in consumer hands.

There were declarations by fathers to daughters on themes like self esteem.

BUT

There were certain negatives of this campaign too!!!!!!

The self esteem ads did not mention any product.

Debunking the beauty myth ultimately means you are debunking the whole reason to spend a little more money for your product.

Featuring ladies in white underwear sometimes caused reaction from media (Chicago Sun Times controversy).

Understanding advertising decisions and

brand management

2.

‘Dove’ bought Every billboard at the grand central station to build a buzz about the brand.

Evolution advertisement idea was prepared to go forward without paid media at all..

The ad was released to YouTube, and never ran on television!!!!

The contest ‘Real ads by Real women’ was a marketing strategy involving low advertisement cost and high customer gain!!

But the most important decision was to advertise at

‘Super bowl’ !!

Were they out of their minds advertising for

‘Hates her freckles’ at a place ideal for

‘Selling beers’??

But somehow, this was the best way to tell

90 million Americans that women suffer from

low self-esteem!

Instead of keeping away from the ‘Chicago sun times controversy’,

dove embraced the debate....Turning it into an indirect branding strategy!

The team continued to build coverage with more than 200 local news

programs and more than 60 national broadcast and print outlets, which ran a

cover story on the campaign.

Dove launched the

“Dove Real Beauty Award” and the

“Global Dove Self- Esteem Fund”

which helped the brand build value without spending

on advertisements!!!!

• The ‘Path to Growth’ initiative by Unilever split the responsibility for a brand between two groups:

Brand development

Brand building

This helped in effective brand management by dividing and controlling the two portfolios

independently.

Conclusion of the case analysis

Comments and suggestions:

• The campaign for real beauty shattered the stereotype of “young, white, blonde and thin” as beauty icon.

• Dove’s campaign not only helped in selling and promoting the product, but also created a valuable brand image in its customers’ minds, that is concerned about a social change.

Though the contribution of “The campaign for real beauty” in the success of Dove is still unrealized.....

Dove is recognised as one of 10 brands

with the Greatest percentage gain in brand health and business value in the past three years!!

“These slides were prepared by ‘Kartik Singla’

as a part of an internship done under ‘Prof. Sameer Mathur’ (www.IIMInternship.com).”

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