The Dove Effect: Getting Women To Embrace Their Natural Beauty.

chrgomes    October 16, 2014

Organization Name: Unilever/Dove

Industry: Customer Goods

Web References: www.dove.ca/www.dove.com

Description of how social media is used for business performance:

In September of 2004, the Dove brand behind Unilever was looking to step up its marketing efforts to target women in the general medium. Dove commission a global study to better understand the mindset and the relationship of women, beauty and overall well-being in between. The study had identify a growing concern as to how women of all ages perceived female beauty to be in the real world. Hope to better understand the stigma as to why women from all walks of life seem to misinterpret nor limit knowledge as to what beauty truly is and what was preventing women from recognizing and enjoying beauty in themselves. The study found that the definition of beauty was having a profound affect on the self-esteem of women in general:

  • Only 4% of women around the world describe themselves as beautiful.
  • Two thirds of women strongly agree that “the media and advertising set an unrealistic standard of beauty that most women can’t ever achieve”.

Dove believes that beauty should be for everyone, because when you look and feel your best, you feel better about yourself. As part of this study, the Dove brand created the Campaign for Real Beauty and the Dove Self-Esteem Fund to educate and inspire girls and women to embrace a wider definition of beauty.

“To create a world where beauty is a source of confidence and not anxiety.”

– Fernando Machado, the global brand vice president for Dove.

Dove Real Beauty Campaign: Sketches (Source: YouTube)

The objectives for Dove Real Beauty Campaign was to focus on beauty and women as follows:

  • Reinvent the female-focus marketing.
  • Prove women are their own harshest critics.
  • Show women that they are more beautiful than they think they are.
  • Promote natural beauty.

The strategies for the Dove Real Beauty Campaign was to provide a clear and defined customer engagement approach as follows:

  • Advertiser a clear and concise brand mission.
  • Understand the mentalities and traits of the consumers, especially women in consensus.
  • Attempt to better and riches people’s’ lives beyond the product or service provided. To embrace encouragement and empowerment for all women alike.

“Sometimes it takes a stranger to open your eyes to your own beauty”.

– Unknown

 Dove Real Beauty Campaign: Mothers & Daughters – You Are Beautiful (Source: YouTube)

Dove proceed with their Real Beauty Campaign with a video to target women from all walks of live of different ages and ethnicities. The goal of the Real Beauty campaign video was to focus on the emotional appeal of women to ignore their own harsh critic and to embrace and empower their inner beauty. Lessons for others: Since the video went viral on various social media platforms promoting Dove’s Real Beauty Campaign has been well-recognized and well-received positively by millions of users around the world. The campaign evoked an emotional reaction in millions of people who inspired them to share the positive message with others and join the conversation across the brand’s social channels. The result from various social media platform as follows: YouTube

  • +12 Million views.
  • 1 share for every 20 views.
  • 96% Likes.
  • 1652% increase on Dove Channel subscribers.

Facebook

  • 3.1 million aggregate shares on Facebook
  • 1 in 10 Facebook users saw the campaign video.
  • +611,000 new Dove Fans.

Twitter

  • +240 million impressions
  • 14358% increase of daily tweets related to the brand.

Google

  • Responsible for 90% of the video searches on search engine.

Since Dove continues to market their Real Beauty Campaign, they have received numerous awards and recognition from the advertisement industry and women support groups for the work with Real Beauty Campaign. Dove continue to promote and engage women from all walks of life with their video marketing efforts and even today. Since the launch of the Real Beauty Campaign videos, not only improve Dove brand but made it well-known brand as follows:

  • The most watched online ads ever, according to Unilever, with over 163 millions views globally in 24 different languages.
  • 4.6 billion media impressions.
  • Revenue of +$600 million in Dove products each quarter for Unilever.

Dove has inspires women and viewers alike, to reassess how they see themselves with their Real Beauty campaign. Dove believes that when women look and feel their best, they feel happier and enrichment. More importantly, to embrace encouragement and empowerment for all women alike.

References:

Ad About Women’s Self-Image Creates a Sensation By Tanzina Vega. (http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/19/business/media/dove-ad-on-womens-self-image-creates-an-online-sensation.html?_r=0)

Dove ‘Real Beauty’ Campaign Turns 10: How A Brand Tried To Change The Conversation About Female Beauty By Nina Bahadur.(http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/21/dove-real-beauty-campaign-turns-10_n_4575940.html)

How Dove’s Real Beauty Video Touched A Nerve and Went Viral By Dawn Papandrea. (http://contently.com/strategist/2013/04/25/how-doves-real-beauty-video-touched-a-nerve-and-went-viral-video/)

Dove Campaign For Real Beauty.                                                               (http://www.dove.us/Social-Mission/campaign-for-real-beauty.aspx)

Dove Campaign For Real Beauty. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dove_Campaign_for_Real_Beauty)

The Real Truth About Beauty: A Global Report.(http://www.clubofamsterdam.com/contentarticles/52%20Beauty/dove_white_paper_final.pdf)

Dove Real Beauty Sketches.                                                         (http://realbeautysketches.dove.ca/)

Submitted By: Chris Gomes – SMBP Student, University of Waterloo.

To contact the author of this entry, please email at: tophergomesy@gmail.com

If you have any concerns as to the accuracy of anything posted on this site, please send your concerns to Peter Carr, Program Director, Social Media for Business Performance.