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Assignment 4 - DOVE

Dove launched the "Campaign for Real Beauty" from 2002-2007 to promote a more inclusive definition of beauty and raise women's self-esteem. Some critics argued this posed risks to Dove's sales if it discouraged the purchase of beauty products. However, the campaign generated significant buzz and ultimately improved Dove's brand image and customer perceptions despite initial concerns it could backfire. Dove's strategic initiative to establish global brand units helped communicate its new message more widely and pave the way for its future success.

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159 views

Assignment 4 - DOVE

Dove launched the "Campaign for Real Beauty" from 2002-2007 to promote a more inclusive definition of beauty and raise women's self-esteem. Some critics argued this posed risks to Dove's sales if it discouraged the purchase of beauty products. However, the campaign generated significant buzz and ultimately improved Dove's brand image and customer perceptions despite initial concerns it could backfire. Dove's strategic initiative to establish global brand units helped communicate its new message more widely and pave the way for its future success.

Uploaded by

tanima
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Q. Footnote 2 refers to Dove as having started a conversation “that they don’t have control o.

” In
“When Tush comes to Dove,” Seth Stevenson writes about the “risky bet that Dove is making.” Do
you see risks for the Dove brand today?

Dove had been launched in 1957 by Unilever. The objective was to not position Dove as a regular bar
of soap but instead a “cleansing cream”. The advertising campaign was created by Ogilvy and
Mather. The message was simple. Dove did not dry the customer’s skin like soap as one quarter of it
was made of cleansing cream. Over the next forty years, the brand positioning was simple. The focus
was on the functional benefits of using Dove. It nourished and cleaned the skin. Dermatologists
found it had superior moisturizing properties. Over time, Unilever branded it a “moisturizing cream”.
The brand Dove had great recall and was easily recognizable.

In 2000, Unilever undertook a strategic initiative called “Path to Growth”. The objective was to
establish global brand units for Masterbrands. These brand units would over the next five years
create a global vision for each of these Masterbrands so that each geographical region could follow
practices and this vision. Consequently, 1600 brands of Unilever would be reduced to 400. These 400
brands would act as umbrella units. This system of brand management would be key to
communicating a wider message and pave the way for the future for Unilever. Strategically it could
be broken up into Brand Development and Brand Building.

From 2002 to 2007, Dove launched multiple ads and ideas under the “Campaign for Real Beauty”.
The objective was to celebrate beauty of women across the world and change the way society had
grown accustomed to perceiving beauty. Through the firming campaign, Tick Box campaign, self
esteem workshops and the short film that was aired at the Super Bowl, Dove’s mission was to make
more women feel beautiful and to take care of themselves further by using Dove products. It was to
promote inclusivity and raise women’s self esteem and not feel ashamed about their bodies.

However, Seth Stevenson criticised this Campaign and believed Dove was making risky bets. If Dove
was aiming to debunk the myth of the beauty industry and how the stereotypical image of beauty
should not be considered attractive any longer, this would in turn jeopardize even the sale of Dove
products. Women would no longer consider spending money on beauty products and Dove could
suffer Billions of dollars’ loss.

In the firming campaign, Dove wanted to portray natural beauty rather than stereotypical models.
This is controversial because if the beauty of supermodels is unattainable to begin with, Dove should
not be marketing its products as self-conscious women might be prone to having further self esteem
issues. Also, the message that may be communicated is that Dove is meant for “unattractive”
people. This might lead to a branding and marketing nightmare for Unilever.

In the campaign that involved filming daughters discussing self-esteem challenges, there were no
products mentioned under the Dove umbrella. It involved racial profiling where an Asian pre-teen
was photographed with the caption “Wishes she was blonde”. It was as if Dove wanted to debunk a
lie that had been marketed by the beauty and wellness industry for a long time that this image of
beauty is unattainable.

With the advent of media, TV shows hosting social debates, blogs and critics freely being able to post
videos and messages on forums in the early 2000s, this campaign could have proven to be a huge
blunder and critics may have tarnished the image of Dove forever. However, this did not happen and
all the “buzz” ended up positively affecting the brand image and customer perception and
behaviour.

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