Dove is a personal care brand known for things like antiperspirants/deodorants, body washes, beauty bars, lotions/moisturizers, hair care, and facial care products. The products are sold in more than 80 countries and are offered for both women and men. But about 12 years ago now Dove launched one of the biggest conceptual ad campaigns of the decade that caused a viral reaction from the public as people started to talk about womens beauty and what it means to be beautiful, like never before.
(Picture Above: Dove Logo 2016)
But first let me define the term “viral campaigning” otherwise known as “viral marketing”. Dictionary.com says,
(Picture Above: Screen shot taken of the simplest way to define “viral campaigning”)
A blog posted by thehuffingtonpost.com back in 2014 discusses “The Real Beauty Campaign” in great detail as it goes back and looks at its history and how it continues to grow beyond just trying to sell a “bar of soap” and instead Dove is trying to “start a conversation about beauty” as they “tapped into what women were thinking” the blog post says.
This is because the company “had its genesis in a growing concern that portrayals of female beauty in popular culture were helping to perpetuate an idea of beauty that was neither authentic nor attainable. Dove was concerned that this limited portrayal of beauty was preventing women from recognizing and enjoying beauty in themselves and others. The company was also aware that – in a world where female beauty is highly valued – this situation could also impact women’s well-being, happiness and self-esteem.” says says a global report on the “Findings of the Global Study on Women, Beauty and Well-Being” done by 4 doctorates from Harvard University, London School of Economics Dr. Jennifer Scott and StrategyOne in 2004.
So “Dove launched a billboard campaign that featured groups of “real,” diverse women in their underwear.”
(Picture Above: “Real beauty” billboard campaign)
“Dove’s mission, in commissioning “The Real Truth About Beauty” study, was to explore empirically what beauty means to women today and why that is. Further, Dove wanted the study to assess whether it was possible to talk and think about female beauty in ways that were more authentic, satisfying and empowering.” the report continues.
The beauty brand did this by not only creating billboards but also “photography projects capturing the beauty girls see in the world around them….a series of short films to raise awareness about the fund and the larger campaign.” The series consisted of three films, they were called, “Daughters,” a series of interviews with mothers and their daughters; “Onslaught,”a look at how the beauty industry targets young girls; and “Evolution,” showing how makeup and digital alterations can make an average woman look like a supermodel, which quickly blew up on YouTube.” says huffingtonpost as Dove realised that “a product-based affair was never going to [affect change],” Janet Kestin, former creative director of Ogilvy & Mather Toronto who worked on “Evolution,”
(Video Above: “Evolution” short film by Dove)
Evolution become the most viral companion out of the three with currently 18.7 millions views on Youtube and therefore it turned the real beauty companion into a household name. “Evolution struck a chord, opening their eyes to the narrow definitions of beauty they grew up with and the way images were manipulated to fit said ideals.” says huffingtonpost.
Another ad done by Dove similar to the “Daughters” ad (linked above) but in 2013, shows women describing their appearance based on what they think they look like to a FBI forensic artist named Gil Zamora who can’t see them and is drawing them based off of what their saying. He would ask question like “tell me about your hair” and “tell me about your chin” to which they would answer, “It kind of protrudes a little bit, especially when I smile,”. Then the artist would ask strangers what these women look like after only one meeting, and the answers were completely different like “she had nice eyes they lit up when she spoke” and the resulted in the strangers drawings looking more attractive and closer to what they the person actually looked like than the self-descriptive ones.
(Video Above: “Real Beauty Sketches” ad)
The campaign is designed to create a realisation in women, particularly, that we are too hard on ourselves but without spelling it out because it would be less effective and therefore the campaign wouldn’t of commanded as much attention as it did.
A blog post by “MatiesMarketing244” writes about this video saying “this specific campaign was an instantaneous hit on every possible social media outlet! Especially YouTube, but also Facebook, Instagram and Twitter users could not get enough of the heart warming, feel good video…It went viral because it is real and every human being can relate to it. Even men have mothers, wives or daughters who face the struggle of realizing their own beauty. It moves you in a deep, personal way because it forces you to do introspection and to figure out how you see yourself.”
I personally remember the “Real Beauty Sketches” video doing the rounds on social media and I still see it on social media today, I also agree with what Maties said, it is appealing because it is heart warming to see the realisation of peoples own beauty on their face and brought me to tears because of it. It also made me curious to try this myself. The ad gained my trust meaning that I trust the Dove brand because they have shown that they truely care about what we think and feel and that is reflected in every aspect of their company and not just their products.
Dove continues to evoke conversation and change within the subject of beauty, as in 2015 the company gave women the chance to walk through either a door that said average or beautiful based on their own perception and opinion of themselves.
(Video Above: Dove viral campaign from 2015)
Smallbiztrends.com writes in their blog post about this campaign in 2015 saying, “what makes this campaign so great is the fact that is appeals to the emotions of their target audience. It is relatable and it makes you think, “what door would I have chosen?” What’s cool is that then after asking these questions you start to think about the importance of real beauty (and what do you know, that’s Dove’s tagline). It got away from advertising the product and advertised something that relates to everyone. Whether you think you’re beautiful or not, you fit into one category which makes this ad relevant”
While Maties carries on to say that “Another big media boost that the campaign received was when images of men started circulating on the internet! They were making spoofs and parodies such as the one in the image below”
(Picture Above: Male version of the “Real Beauty” campaign)
“These types of images created an even bigger awareness of the whole concept that we are more beautiful than we think. It made the idea even more universal when men were incorporated as well”
In conclusion Dove is redefining what beauty is by showing women that they are beautiful with these adverts that show that we shouldn’t criticise ourselves. Dove have created a positive viral campaign and because of that, it is ageless. Because feeling confident and beautiful in your own skin is something that will never go out of style and is more important than selling products. Thank you Dove for realising this and keeping your customers feeling beautiful!
References:
http://www.dreamgrow.com/11-awesome-inspiring-facebook-campaings/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/21/dove-real-beauty-campaign-turns-10_n_4575940.html?
https://smallbiztrends.com/2015/12/best-viral-campaigns-2015.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dove_(toiletries)
http://www.dictionary.com/browse/viral-marketing
https://matiesmarketing244.com/2016/09/14/you-are-more-beautiful-than-you-think/
http://www.clubofamsterdam.com/contentarticles/52%20Beauty/dove_white_paper_final.pdf
Images:
https://theculturebinge.wordpress.com/2013/04/17/dove-real-beauty-sketches-women-are/
(All sites visited 10th October)
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