Dove: More than just a Change in the Beauty Industry
For a brand that makes soap, it is plausible to see the impact of how a company can transform their simple products into a notable revolutionary company catered to the positivity and well-being of citizens across Nations. Dove, a long time standing Woman’s personal care brand, developed under the parent company of Unilever, has taken nations by storm with their latest decade long campaigns serving positivity and awareness to woman. “Make beauty a source of confidence, not anxiety. When it comes to your body, love the one your in.” For a long time, woman of all generations have been under the belt about the confidence in the skin they’re in which affects our overall mental health and positive engagement. Feeling lesser than the man in every context, Dove has chosen in it’s own way to take the typical stay-at-home- mother-shrivelled-up-behind-clothes and transform the myths and negative connotations about woman into empowering messages for generations to come.
Over the years, Dove has created a well known name for themselves but it does not start and end with their products and tag lines, it is how they promote, advertise, and engage with their consumers in the manner and platforms they use. On platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pintrest, and even Youtube, their mission statement and purpose as a company are constantly present. “Dove is committed to helping women realize their personal beauty potential by creating real products that deliver real care.” “Sharing Stories, products, and celebrating beauty in all its forms — including yours.” “We’ll bring you content made for real women, starring real women — from our most ground breaking campaigns to beauty advice from out experts. Together, we have the power to make beauty confidence contagious.”
It is one thing to make note of these tag lines on social media but it is another to actively promote and engage with the themes discussed consistently. Ultimately, Dove has been successful through their education and awareness they are bringing forward within society. Their highly sought after research into brands and trends related to beauty is evident within their strategies. Dove took it upon themselves to create, promote, and track content online using social media. The #RealBeauty campaign is one of their most viral and influential promotional campaigns attached to their name. With this campaign, Dove catapulted the widening of the industry and aimed at decreasing stereotypes on the views of beauty in society while inspiring woman to take care of themselves. Focused on all types of women, different races, body types, cultures, etc., the video has surpassed 35 million views and started a movement with our society.
What constituted the acts of being relevant, Dove video logged real life women working with a retired FBI Agent to sketch the idea they had of themselves as well as reflect what the outer world sees in them. The video simplified women within media to be the everyday neighbour next door verses your next celebrity you see on television. The video’s impact resulted on the idea of how many women, like ourselves, think poorer of themselves then the outer world… something Dove knew needed to change. The campaign transformed the entire industry’s idealistic views pushing the once advertised unattainable beauty campaigns into something real. With such prominence of mental health and how the invisible illness is changing the course of society, the empowerment and education this one campaign promotes highlighted a topic we all need to engage in.
Even more so, the campaign was never advertised around the products that Dove sells but rather brand development and messaging. The video and purpose itself changed the customers point of views rather than the beauty product they wanted to advertise for. This was one of their major successors in being a revolutionary company. Getting rid of the advertising commercials of their next best product served to make you look and feel like porcelain, the company changed the idea of advertising and generated talk amongst their brand identity. Inevitably, it promoted community members to discuss, connect, embrace, and create relationships with one another and their brand.
Inspiring content is what will keep you alive, and is what ultimately has kept Dove so strong. The campaign held “real women” gravitating credibility and inspires younger generations to follow. It gained free media from the constant discussion regarding the campaign/brand, raising positive awareness and self esteem towards woman. By confronting contradictions at the forefront, it created an authenticity and opened the doors to a less exclusive environment for multiple consumers. Their pubic relations stand point ultimately surpasses those of their competitors.
Engagement is the true advocate for the online success many brands are seeing. Being prominent on over 5 social media platforms, Dove promotes this idea consistently. Each tweet is focused on the current campaigns being distributed within their company or references their main viral campaigns to keep awareness strong. On the photo sharing platform of Instagram, Dove actively posts photos of real life women of all types and shares their stories to finding their beauty. On any viral thread Facebook holds regarding the company, there are replies to individuals of non-automated messages; rather messages that are relevant to their comment or post. But it is not only their front tier engagement that gravitated Dove into the success story they are. The confidence the brand and campaign instilled gave trust to consumers and other organizations Dove has been affiliated with. It drove word-of-mouth information buzz in regards to the ads and obtained effective external sources of marketing, i.e., newspaper, radio and magazines all wanting to discuss and be apart of the importance of their message and brand. If I were the Chief Financial Officer of Dove, I would be jumping for joy over this type of free advertising.
However, as good as the one-time campaign may be. Is it a long term, profitable campaign? Will Dove be able to take it one step further?
These questions are often asked amongst any campaign but as Dove knows, once they have debunked all myths following beauty, is there any more they can do? Defiantly, Dove mastered the continuing revolution by not committing to becoming the average company servicing your every day citizen. Introducing numerous lines of other products, they have produced larger shares of clientele with online campaigns, like Evolution, focusing on their original belief and keeping relevant with trends. Evolution featured the effort that goes behind the scene’s in creating that dreamed of “model appearance” that evidently brought in over $150 million in accolades. Other campaigns like Onslaught, features the transition’s women face from childhood to adulthood with an inspiring light. Anxiety about appearances are brought on at a young age, where 72% of participants worried over their appearance which affected whether or not they are/feel beautiful. The video aimlessly discusses the wave of advertisements that girls are subject to at a young age — developing each and every notion of beautiful before they are able to develop it within themselves. The extreme benefit behind Onslaught, a more recent campaign induces the idea about who is using social media more frequently and where the knowledge of real beauty needs to start. 90% of social media users are between the ages of 18–29 where the age minimum is only projected to further decline into earlier years of adolescence for those who are committed members of various platforms. Onslaught showcases a young child indicating the stereotypical myths and connotations develop at their first encounter with social media. According to the Canadian Association of Mental Health, kids grades 7–12 report spending over 2 hours on social media per day and express higher reports of depression, anxiety, and going as far as suicidal thoughts and occurances. Dove hit home for many with this campaign. Like some say, these “micro moments within the media can ultimately become a macro problem.” Media can have a detrimental affect on individuals of any age and any size, race, gender, etc. It can affect sleeping patterns, a loss in productivity, address concerns around anxiety, and depression. It can form addictions and unhealthy habits that reside within the unfortunate discourse of social media.
Although, the extreme success of Dove’s visual aids have catapulted their online presence and completely changed the relevancy of the entire industry. When Information is spread verbally, only 10% of the information is actually stored. When distributing the same information but with visual aids in association with it, the relevant information is stored 3 times longer at a rate of 65%. Once only prominent in a few countries, Dove has expanded its headquarters and services to over 80 countries worldwide.
Clearly, its marketing techniques and plausible expansion worldwide garners their success at the core. Dove as a company displays good corporate citizenship that allows communities to be involved with the brands, has trust, values opinions, and is consistently eager to try new ideas. Like discussed numerously, success doesn’t often just fall in the hands of the beholder. The chance or opportunity may fall but it is what those with the key do with it. Dove researched heavily into the trends and concerns being distributed across the industry, making note of the disconnect and transparency that is often seen within the media. Ultimately, if Dove didn’t take it upon themselves to initiate this movement 10 years ago, it is safe to say the beauty industry would not be as strong, prominent, and self-positivity focused as it is today.
