LEVERAGING A BRAND ASSET
Dove
In 1955, Unilever (then Lever Brothers) introduced Dove, whichcontained a patented, mild cleansing ingredient, into the soapcategory. It was positioned—then and now—as a “beauty bar” withone-fourth cleansing cream that moisturizes skin while washing (asopposed to the drying effect of regular soap). Advertisementsreinforced the message by showing cream being poured into thebeauty bar. In 1979, the phrase “cleansing cream” was replaced with“moisturizer cream” when a University of Pennsylvania dermatologistshowed that Dove dried and irritated skin significantly less thanordinary soaps. Based on this study, Unilever began aggressivelymarketing Dove to doctors. Soon about 25 percent of Dove users saidthey bought the brand because a doctor recommended it, greatlyenhancing the bar’s credibility as a moisturizer. By the mid-1980s,Dove had become the best-selling soap brand and commanded a pricepremium.
In 1990 the Dove soap patent ran out, and arch-competitorP&G was soon testing an Olay beauty bar with moisturizingproperties, a product that rolled out in 1993. One year later, OlayBody Wash appeared and soon garnered over 25 percent of ahigh-margin sub category. Blindsided, the Dove brand team belatedlyrecognized that Dove was in the best position to compete as amoisturizer body wash and that they had missed the chance to be aleader in this new subcategory. In response, the firm rushed DoveMoisturizing Body Wash into stores. The product did not live up tothe Dove promise, however, and a reformulation in 1996 was only apartial improvement. In 1999, though, Dove finally got it rightwith the innovative Nutrium line, based on a technology thatdeposited lipids, vitamin E, and other ingredients onto the skin.The advanced skin-nourishing properties provided enough of a liftto allow Dove to charge a 50 percent premium over its regular bodywash and ultimately pull even with Olay in the body wash category.By leveraging strong brand equity, pursuing innovative technology,and being persistent, Dove was able to overcome a late entry intothe market.
In 2000 Unilever made Dove a masterbrand, which meant that itwould invest in extending Dove’s authority to a broader set ofcategories, including hair care, lotion, and deodorant. Forexample, Dove introduced a deodorant line with uncharacteristicallybold advertising (one tag line was “Next stop, armpit heaven”). Asit turned out, the deodorants were named as one of the top 10nonfood new products in 2001, garnering over $70 million in saleswith close to 5 percent of the market and making Dove thenumber-two brand among female deodorants. The “one-quartermoisturizing lotion” positioning, effectively communicated asprotecting sensitive underarm skin, generated a Dove spin ondryness that differentiated the product line.
The next product extension was Dove Hair Care, with moisturizingqualities directly responsive to one of the top two unmet needs inthe category. The product’s branded differentiator, WeightlessMoisturizers, is a set of 15 ingredients designed to make hairsofter, smoother, and more vibrant without adding any extra weight.After achieving top-selling status in Japan and Taiwan, Dove HairCare entered the U.S. market in early 2003 with a massiveintroduction campaign, joining a product family used by nearlyone-third of American families. Two years later it introduced DoveBody Nourishers Intensive Firming Lotion, formulated with collagenand seaweed, intended to give the user firmer skin after twoweeks.
These extensions contributed to a dramatic sales success. Thebrand’s business grew from around $200 million in 1990 to over $5billion today by some estimates (exact figures have not beenreported since 2011). Geographic expansion also contributed. Dove’spresence increased to over 100 countries, far more than in 1990,with particular strength in Europe (where it gained 30 percent ofthe cosmetics and toiletries market), Asia-Pacific (25 percent),and Latin America (11 percent). Kantar’s brand valuation has Doveat $5.5 billion dollars and the eighth most valuable personal carebrand in the world. How did Unilever pull off this feat?
By 2004, with no major geographic expansion or brand extensionin sight, Dove looked to another route to add energy and purpose toits brand. Global company research involving 3,200 interviewsrevealed several surprising facts about how women thought aboutthemselves—only 2 percent of women described themselves as“beautiful,” 5 percent “pretty,” and 7 percent “good looking,”—50percent of women thought their weight was too high (60 percent inthe United States), and two-thirds of women felt that the media andadvertising set unrealistic standards of beauty. Dove saw anopportunity to take a leadership role in what was ultimately calledthe “The Campaign for Real Beauty.”
The result was set of advertising campaigns (first created inthe United Kingdom) featuring “real women” instead of ultrathinmodels. In the early tick-box campaign, viewers were shown picturesof a range of women and asked to vote on billboards in popularlocations such as Times Square for the words “outsized” or“outstanding,” “wrinkled or wonderful,” and “44 and hot or 44 andnot” by phoning 1-800-342-DOVE. In other campaigns, Dovephotographed groups of women in their underwear claiming “RealWomen have Real Curves.” The campaign received enormous exposure inthe media with over a thousand stories and parodies, most, but notall, positive (some felt it would be ineffective, others pointedout that Unilever was still using models for its other products,and still others thought Dove was promoting obesity). It generateda 10 percent sales boost.
Based on this response, in 2006 Dove took even bolder steps bydeveloping a Super Bowl ad, which showed adolescent girls withcomments under their pictures, such as “Hates her freckles,”“Afraid she’s fat,” “Wishes she were blonde,” and ending by saying“Let’s change their minds…because every girl deserves to feel goodabout herself and to see how beautiful she really is.” This ad wasa smashing success as was the program that Dove called “TheSelf-Esteem Fund,” which funded workshops for girls tocounterbalance other media and cultural ideas about beauty. Dove’ssocial mission was to encourage girls to develop a positiverelationship with beauty, helping to raise their self-esteem andthereby enabling them to realize their full potential. Over 119million young people in 115 countries have received help from 2005through 2015.
Other campaigns followed, including the very popular 2006“Evolution” ad that won awards at the Cannes advertising festivaland went straight to the web. This provocative footage shows awomen going from a makeup session to a billboard and all of thealterations that are made to her and to her image in the process.This ad has spawned hundreds of such transformations and parodieson the web. In 2013, the Dove “Real Beauty Sketches” ad involves ablinded forensic artist capturing women’s descriptions ofthemselves compared to other women’s descriptions of these samewomen. The comparisons were striking with most women describingthemselves as less attractive than others described them. Thebyline “You are more beautiful than you think,” supported Dove’sposition. More recent campaigns to “Love your curls” encouragemothers and daughters to celebrate their curly hair and “DoveSelfie” involves girls and their moms capturing their ownindividualized beauty and to “redefine beauty one photo at atime.”
As intended, the Dove brand now serves as an umbrella forproducts in four main groups—bar and body wash, deodorants,skincare lotions, and haircare—and more than 100 different linesincluding facial wipes, firming lotions, shampoos, body washes,anti-aging cleansers, skin
- What is your opinion of the “Real Beauty” campaign? Why does itwork? What are its biggest challenges?
- How should Unilever manage the Axe–Dove tension, if atall?
- How should Unilever measure the success of the “Campaign forReal Beauty?”
- Will the campaign sell in China? If not, should the brandposition be adapted and if so, how? Discuss the costs and benefitsof doing so.
