A study called “The Real Truth About Beauty: A Global Report” revealed to personal care product maker Dove that women want to see more diverse images of physical attractiveness, ones that reflect the vision of beauty women have versus those currently portrayed in popular culture. It inspired the brand to launch the global Campaign for Real Beauty a few years ago, featuring TV spots and a website www.campaignforrealbeauty.ca.
But as pioneers of real beauty, the company didn’t stop there. They also created a nonprofit organization, the Dove Self-Esteem Fund. “That study also told us that only two percent of women describe themselves as beautiful. We wanted to take a leading role in increasing that number, which is why we created the Dove Self-Esteem Fund,” explained Alison Leung, Dove brand manager for Canada.
The Fund develops and distributes resources that enable and empower women and girls to embrace a broad definition of beauty and provides needed resources to organizations that foster a broader definition of beauty.
“The Fund is intended to be an agent of change to educate and inspire girls on a wider definition of beauty and to make them feel more confident about themselves,” Leung continues, adding that Dove hopes its message resonates with its consumers and that they are loyal to the brand because they believe in its philosophy.
It is because of Dove’s efforts to start a conversation about real beauty that SHOOT named the company Creative Marketer of the Year for 2007. Dove’s credentials are strong. This year it won awards for the short web film “Evolution” that promotes the Self-Esteem Fund and the self esteem workshops that were running across Canada in the fall of 2006. The awards included the Grand Prix in both the Cannes Film and Cyber competitions and then similarly garnering London International Awards’ Grand Prizes in the TV/Cinema and Digital Media competitions.
“It’s been an extremely exhilarating time. Cannes was the icing on the biggest most delicious cake…Suffice it to say, we oversold the workshops in a flash. Everything on top of that has been bonus,” says Janet Kestin, chief creative officer, Ogilvy Toronto, the agency behind the campaign.
Kestin adds that the most gratifying thing about working with Dove is that the client gives the creative team what creative people want the most, “the opportunity to experiment and a whole lot of faith.”
The Dove Self-Esteem Fund is dedicated to starting a conversation, so it was fitting to put “Evolution” online where it could easily be viewed and then shared. But Kestin points out that new media wasn’t a big topic of discussion when the campaign launched. “But everyone’s instincts around the mission was if you want to be engaged in culture, you have to be where culture is…The brand has pushed media barriers from the beginning with the ultimate example thus far being the one- minute films on YouTube,” she says.
Leung believes the power of “Evolution” was how simply it demonstrated how images are altered to present what society knows as beautiful and how it was passed along and encouraged girls and women to challenge this false representation and embrace their own beauty. “In addition, consumers were able to discuss ‘Evolution’ in online forums and share their thoughts and opinions with one another,” she says.
While Dove set the bar high with “Evolution,” it did not disappoint with the follow-up Web film “Onslaught” (a SHOOT Top Spot, 10/26/07).”‘Onslaught’ delivers a powerful message about the avalanche of subtle influences and overt suggestions that lead girls to believe they’re not good enough. We believe that message is certainly as powerful and meaningful as the message that ‘Evolution’ delivered,” says Leung. “Moving forward, we will continue to educate and inspire girls on a wider definition of beauty and to make them feel more confident about themselves in lots of new and exciting ways.”
Leung points out that another of the Dove films, Amy, got a little more up close and personal with consumers than “Onslaught” and “Evolution.”
In the film we see a young man pedaling his bike to his friend Amy’s house. When he arrives he is seen outside her house calling her name several times but gets no response. The camera angle changes suggesting someone is watching him from inside the house, but we never see anyone. The words Amy can name 12 things wrong with her appearance flash across the screen. After a pause, we see the words, He can’t name one. Sent to you by someone who thinks you are beautiful.
“Amy, which we launched this fall, had a very different objective. We wanted it to also be shared, but we wanted the film to be more personal. My favorite part of this film is that you can customize it with the name of a girl in your life. Being able to customize the video and share it makes it especially personal, and this intimacy and meaning would be lost in a traditional TV spot,” Leung says.
Pride in marketing
While all of these projects have generated a lot of positive buzz for Dove, parent company Unilever has received some flack about being hypocritical considering it’s the same company that markets Axe, which often features scantily clad women in sexually charged scenarios in its ad campaigns.
“Unilever is a large, global company with many brands in its portfolio that speak to the lifestyles of diverse audiences. Each brand’s efforts are tailored to reflect the unique interests and needs of its audience,” Leung comments about the criticism.
“The Dove brand takes great pride in pioneering ‘real beauty’ and is dedicated to making more women feel beautiful every day by widening today’s stereotypical view of beauty and inspiring women to take great care of themselves. The brand is dedicated to reach five million girls by 2010 with self-esteem programming in addition to the million girls they have already reached through their efforts.
That Dove has reached out to females, not only of diverse shapes and sizes, but ages too, creating brand loyalty from young girls and moms to grandmas also makes its marketing impressive. “At Dove, we certainly recognize the importance of reaching the next generation of women. That’s why we offer programs specifically targeted to girls in this age range, including our Real Beauty School Program, which is designed for use in classrooms across the country, and our Girls for Girls Mentor program, which is currently being piloted by a school in Whitby, Ontario. This program gives girls the tools and resources they need to work together to build stronger self-esteem,” explains Leung.
“We also recognize the importance of reaching mature women. ‘Beauty Comes of Age’ is a groundbreaking study from Dove that shows that women 50+ want to redefine what aging means and that they want to be celebrated. Key highlights of the study show that women take pride in their age but feel misrepresented by popular culture. The Dove pro–age campaign aims to celebrate the diverse beauty of mature women and demonstrate that beauty has no age limit.
“Now that’s a beautiful thing.
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