Week Six Lecture Welcome to the world of public relations!.docx
Kensington-8-2015-MSCSM-CB (1)
1. Imperial College Business School
MSc Strategic Marketing 2015-2016
Consumer Behaviour (BS1502)
Dove Men+Care
Communication Strategies:
Bridging the Identified Gaps
KENSINGTON 8
EMILIE STORDALEN (01084344)
CAROLINA PLEXIDAS (01110243)
MARGARIDA FERNANDES (01153653)
PATCHARAPAK VIDHAYASARANA (01095171)
SHENGHAN LIAO (01094469)
PRIYASHI NAHATA (01108167) Word count: 2974
2. TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................... 1
2. IDEAL CONCEPT MAP .................................................................................................... 2
2.1 Previous Strategies......................................................................................................... 3
3. METHODOLOGY .............................................................................................................. 5
3.1 Sampling ......................................................................................................................... 5
3.2 Elicitation Stage ............................................................................................................. 5
3.3 Mapping Stage................................................................................................................ 6
3.4 Aggregation Stage.......................................................................................................... 6
4. CONSENSUS MAP ............................................................................................................. 7
5. GAP ANALYSIS.................................................................................................................. 9
5.1 Gap One – Femininity to Masculinity.......................................................................... 9
5.2 Gap Two – Moisturiser to Deodorant and Body Wash............................................ 10
6. COMMUNICATION STRATEGY.................................................................................. 11
6.1 Communication Idea One – Rugby World Cup Event ............................................ 12
6.2 Communication Idea Two – The Groom Room........................................................ 14
7. CONCLUSION .................................................................................................................. 17
8. REFERENCES................................................................................................................... 18
9. APPENDIXES.................................................................................................................... 22
3. 1
1. INTRODUCTION
Dove, a brand under the umbrella of Unilever, is one of the top three most valuable brands in
the cosmetic industry (Brandirectory, 2015). This report will focus on Dove Men+Care, a brand
extension from Dove.
A consensus map was developed to identify potential gaps between the desired brand
associations and the actual associations. A sample of 15 men aged 25-35 living in London was
used for this research.
Analysis of the gaps was used as the input to develop effective communication strategies in
order to influence and change the mental image of Dove Men+Care in the target consumer’s
mind. Consumer behaviour theories was applied in order to help justify how the communication
ideas will alter the association.
4. 2
2. IDEAL CONCEPT MAP
By thoroughly analysing Dove Men+Care’s communication strategies since its launch, the
terms most commonly used to describe and advertise itself were aggregated (Figure 1). The two
elements that have been consistently refined are Athletes and ‘Care’, linking to the brand’s
vision statement of being ‘the caring side of masculinity’ (Cliffs, 2015).
Figure 1: Dove Men+Care Ideal Concept Map
5. 3
Dove Men+Care’s first-order associations are centred around caring for yourself (i.e.
‘Hygiene’, ‘Deodorant’ and ‘Body wash’) and caring for others (i.e. ‘Sport’ and
‘Generational’), focusing on families and sports teams. The brand possesses one major
connection between the ‘Masculine’ and ‘Care’ first-order associations as these two are the
basis of its brand identity. The second and third-order associations are indirect connections to
the brand. These are also important, as they are the cues the brand can use to target its
consumers.
2.1 Previous Strategies
In 2010 the campaign ‘Journey to Comfort’ focused on targeting 35-44 year olds (Wong, 2010).
It was illustrating life events experienced by consumers up until the present moment, and the
effort it had taken to grow into themselves. As 74% of men engage with sports on social media
(Mintel News, 2015), Dove Men+Care used this as an opportunity to partner with athlete
endorsers and differentiate itself from Dove.
By 2013, the target age range had shifted to 25-54. In addition, 73% of men complained that
they were being inaccurately depicted by adverts. The brand used this research to present itself
as the choice for those ‘who’ve evolved beyond’ the stereotypes (Neff, 2013).
When the brand launched in the UK, it was eager to align itself with what the segment was
passionate about to encourage ‘brand trial and create user loyalty’ (Newsworks, 2015). Dove
Men+Care partnered with The Telegraph newspaper and the official media partner of the Rugby
Football Union in 2013. This created a great opportunity for Dove Men+Care as it provided the
brand with a more masculine edge.
6. 4
By 2015, the link between ‘Care’ and ‘Masculine’ was fortified with the use of its ‘Care Makes
a Man Stronger’ slogan, aiming to challenge cultural stereotypes of what defines a man. To do
this, emphasis was put on its athlete endorsers’ achievements in their personal lives, not in the
sport, setting an aspirational goal all men can achieve with the support of the brand.
There was a subtle shift once again, indicating the expansion of its target age range for its
consumers. Dove Men+Care hashtags changed from #RealDadMoments to #RealStrength,
showing its shift from fathers to men in general (Griner, 2015).
7. 5
3. METHODOLOGY
To obtain a better insight into the behaviours of Dove Men+Care’s consumers, appropriate
sample and methods were chosen to increase the validity and credibility of the research.
3.1 Sampling
Dove Men+Care has a target market of men ranging from 25 to 54 years old (Neff, 2013).
However, this report will focus on a specific age range of 25 to 35 years old men living in
London, to measure their associations with the brand.
3.2 Elicitation Stage
The first step involved eliciting brand associations with Dove Men+Care, by conducting one-
to-one interviews with 15 men aged 25-35. Participants were asked: “When you think of Dove
Men+Care, what comes to mind?” Thisencouraged them to mention any associations they have
with the brand. Following the interviews, the associations collected were organised into a table
labelled as the Association Corpus (Appendix 4). The frequency of each word was counted and
only the words that appeared in at least 50% of the participants’ interviews were retained,
forming the Elicitation Word List. However, the results from this lead to only three first-order
associations, thus this was reduced to 25% in order to enlarge the Elicitation Word List
(Appendix 5). In addition, participants were asked: “What hygiene products are the most
important to you?” which led to a deeper understanding of their behaviour towards the products,
and gave insights to develop more tailored communication strategies for the target market
(Appendix 10).
8. 6
3.3 Mapping Stage
In the second stage, participants were presented with the Elicitation Words List, and asked to
draw a brand map for Dove Men+Care. They were also able to add concepts that did not appear
on this list as second-order associations. Participants were instructed to connect the concepts
based on their perceived strength of each connection using one, two or three lines (one
indicating a weaker connection and three lines indicating a strong connection).
Additionally, participants were also asked to rate the brand on a scale of 1 to 10, where 1
indicates very unfavourable and 10 indicates very favourable (Appendix 8).
3.4 Aggregation Stage
In the third stage, the 15 individual brand maps (Appendix 11) were aggregated to produce the
Consensus Map showing how consumers perceive Dove Men+Care. For the first-order
associations, the strengths of the association connections to the brand were selected based on
the most frequent strength indicated by the interviewees (Appendix 6). A similar approach was
adopted to aggregate second-order associations (Appendix 7). However, due to the fact that
there were numerous second-order associations, only those mentioned by at least 25% of the
participants were retained. Nevertheless, as three out of the seven second-order associations
were already mentioned as the first-order associations, only the remaining four were connected
to its corresponding first-order association.
9. 7
4. CONSENSUS MAP
The consensus map for Dove Men+Care indicates that there are nine first-order associations
with the brand (Figure 2). The first-order associations with the strongest links include ‘Soap’,
‘White’, and ‘Creamy’; the medium links include ‘Moisturiser’, ‘Clean’, ‘Good smell’, and
‘Body wash’; and the weakest links include ‘Bird’, ‘Shampoo’, and ‘Feminine’.
Second-order associations were mostly derived from three first-order associations. When asked
about the ‘Moisturiser’, people often related with being ‘Smooth’ and ‘Soft’. For ‘White’,
people accounted for this because of the ‘Packaging’. The ‘Bird” correlated as the ‘Logo’ for
the brand to most people, thus becoming a second-order association.
Although ‘Soap’ (one of the strongest first-order associations) did not have any second-order
associations, it was strongly related to other first-order associations including ‘Clean’ and
‘Good smell’ through interconnectedness. This indicates that people strongly associated these
three factors to the brand especially when they were in relation to one another.
An interesting observation was that ‘Feminine’ appeared to be a first-order association, even
though Dove Men+Care targets men. Additionally, the rest of the first-order association had a
tendency to lean towards describing the Dove women's care range as well, such as ‘White’,
‘Creamy’, ‘Shampoo’ and ‘Moisturising’.
11. 9
5. GAP ANALYSIS
Following the three-stage Associative Network Memory Model for Dove Men+Care, two main
gaps were identified.
5.1 Gap One – Femininity to Masculinity
The most prominent gap this report focuses on is changing the feminine associations to
masculine. Dove revamped their brand for men in 2010 and built a brand extension (Miziolek,
2012) to create a new brand perception by adding ‘Men+Care’ to the existing logo and changing
the colour palette to dark grey. However, it is evident that the target consumers still strongly
associate it with a women’s care brand. The consensus map clearly demonstrates this as
participants associated Dove Men+Care packaging with the colour white instead of dark grey.
This may be due to the immense media exposure of Dove’s ‘Real Beauty’ campaign (Appendix
9) that became ‘one of modern marketing’s most talked-about stories’ (Bahadur, 2014).
In addition, Dove Men+Care wants to be associated with attributes such as ‘Strong’ and being
involved with sports by committing to sponsor the Rugby World Cup 2015 (Rugby World Cup,
2015). In reality, none of the participants interviewed associated the brand with being active or
involved with sporting events, highlighting the major gap in associations.
12. 10
5.2 Gap Two – Moisturiser to Deodorant and Body Wash
The second gap identified how participants associated Dove Men+Care with moisturiser, and
the qualities that make it nourishing for skin, using words such as ‘Creamy’, ‘Smooth’ and
‘Soft’ to describe the product. Whereas ideally the brand wants to be associated with powerful
protection deodorants and hygiene products such as body wash and the grooming product range.
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6. COMMUNICATION STRATEGY
The communications strategies proposed aim to alter the associations between the actual
associations and the desired associations of the brand.
Dove Men+Care’s hygiene products such as deodorant and body wash are classified under the
self-esteem section in Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, as using hygiene products help to boost a
user’s confidence and leads to positive feelings towards themselves (Tuk, 2015a).
Dove Men+Care products are considered a necessity that consumers use in private, therefore
the brand has a low influence on their purchase behaviour (Tuk, 2015d). According to the
Consumer Involvement Theory, Dove Men+Care are considered low involvement products that
provide consumers with a short-term sensual gratification (McNamara, 2015). Consumers are
likely to put minimum effort in their decision-making process and make impulsive choices with
low motivation in the MOA Model (Tuk, 2015c). Their attitudes are formed through a ‘Like –
Buy – Think’ model in the ABC Model of Attitudes and Hierarchy Effects (Tuk, 2015c).
The primary aim of the communication is to persuade and change men’s weak attitudes towards
this product category. The peripheral route from The Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) will
be applied by using heuristics and peripheral cues (Tuk, 2015c), as this is more likely to grab
their attention. The strategies to tackle this will be simple and easy to understand, with emphasis
on building a good feeling towards the brand through endorsers and integrated communication
strategies.
14. 12
6.1 Communication Idea One – Rugby World Cup Event
Firstly, Dove Men+Care should organise an event booth, featuring a tackle pad challenge called
#DoveMenStrength running throughout the Rugby World Cup 2015 in the UK (Figure 3). The
main objective is to alter the target’s mental image and bridge the identified gaps of the brand
from ‘Feminine’ to ‘Masculine’, and emphasise ‘Active’ and ‘Strong’. By continuing to use
rugby as an endorser (Newsworks, 2015), it highlights Dove Men+Care’s ideal masculine
positioning and strengthens its associations to ‘Sport’.
Figure 3: Tackle Pad Event at World Cup Stadiums
The link between Dove Men+Care and rugby is a referential association with evaluative
conditioning, meaning that even when the Rugby World Cup ends, consumers will still think
of the brand and associate it with the rugby’s masculine, sporty and strong values (Sweldens,
2015).
15. 13
Furthermore, a sporting event like the Rugby World Cup would attract a lot of male viewers,
with the 2015 event being recorded as the “best-attended, most-viewed, most-socially engaged
and most competitive Rugby World Cup to date” (Rugby World Cup, 2015).
To reach a wider audience the #DoveMenStrength booth should be present in different venues
such as London, Manchester and Newcastle. The Dove Men+Care colour scheme should be
applied to the booths, including the logo. The tackle pad challenge will be an engaging activity
asking men to play, aiming for Top 10 highest strength score. As a reward, they will be offered
a VIP meet-and-greet with a famous rugby player, who will further act as an endorser for the
brand. This plays on heuristic cues in the peripheral route that help alter men’s weak attitudes
toward this product category (Tuk, 2015c).
After each attempt, the participant will get a customised message that they can easily share
(Figure 4).
Figure 4: Example of Participant Tweeting
By creating a fun and effective motivation for participants to share on social media channels,
we utilise the theories of self-expression needs, as they will want to show off their score and
challenge friends, while boosting their self-esteem in the process. (Tuk, 2015e).
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In addition, during the halftime break the brand will announce the Top 10 highest scores on the
scoreboard, utilising the stimuli of the unexpected (Tuk, 2015b) and drawing everyone's,
especially the participants’, attention to the #DoveMenStrength challenge. Because of this, self-
esteem will be heightened as it will be seen as a personal achievement, and will also increase
the incentive for men to photograph and share the scoreboard on their social media (Tuk,
2015e). This Word-of-Mouth promotion by participants who share #DoveMenStrength will act
as an informational influence aid, shifting men’s attitudes towards masculine and strong
associations (Tuk, 2015d).
The Dove tackle pad challenge will be stored in long-term memory for those who experience it
during the Rugby World Cup event (Tuk, 2015b). However, Dove should also promote the
campaign on their social media channels to reach larger audiences, using repetition to enforce
the ideal concept of Dove Men+Care, while having enough variation in each post to keep the
audience interested each time (Tuk, 2015b).
6.2 Communication Idea Two – The Groom Room
To increase awareness of the Dove Men+Care hygiene products and help men associate it
with the brand’s colour scheme of dark grey, an experiential campaign called ‘The Groom
Room’ (Figure 5) is recommended to take place in the UK’s largest gym chain- Pure Gym
(Cave, 2015). Male’s changing rooms in three of the biggest Pure Gym branches across
London, Birmingham and Leeds should be transformed into a Dove Men+Care themed
environment with branded dark grey walls and offering product trials. As Dove Men+Care
would ideally want to be recognised for their deodorant and body wash it is recommended
that they offer these products for free. In addition, these were amongst the top five most
important hygiene products that participant’s stated in their interviews (Appendix 10).
17. 15
Figure 5: Example of Design for Groom Room
Dove Men+Care should focus on scent marketing in order to make it a crucial part of their
identity. According to scent experts, smells are associated more quickly with memories than
auditory and visual cues and has the power to enhance consumer behaviour (Smiley, 2014), so
it is advisable for the smell to be detectable in the changing rooms. This scent will be used as a
stimulus to grab men's preconscious attention when entering the room, triggering their sensory
receptors. With repeated visits, their interpretation of the smell will be associated with the
brand, making it recognisable and memorable (Tuk, 2015b). The Groom Room will use various
attention-drawing techniques including self-relevance; by providing men with the product,
when they are most likely to need it. For instance, Dove Men+Care body wash will be available
in the showers and deodorant on the counters so they can use it before and after their workout.
In addition, rhetorical questions such as ‘Isn’t sweating great when you’ve got Dove
Men+Care?’ will be visible on mirrors, next to the products. This will act as a reminder and
help them to build a connection with the brand (Tuk, 2015b).
18. 16
The Groom Room will help to influence men’s implicit attitudes about Dove Men+Care and as
a result influence their behaviour without much thought (Tuk, 2015c). For example, they might
have a pleasant memory of a good workout at the gym where they happened to use Dove
Men+Care. The pleasant feelings associated with that day could rub off on the product, leading
them to form favourable associations with it. When they encounter the product at supermarkets,
the product associations such as the deodorant’s powerful protection and the fresh feeling of
the body wash could be activated automatically leading them to have a favourable reaction
towards it.
Since we already know their attitudes are formed through a ‘Like – Buy – Think’ model in the
ABC Model of Attitudes and Hierarchy Effects (Tuk, 2015c) this strategy takes the consumers
through these stages within the branded changing rooms, enhancing the their experience with
the use of Dove Men+Care products. It is then more likely that their associations will be retained
in their Associative Network and their long-term memory (Sweldens, 2015). In addition, their
positive experience will encourage them to share their enthusiasm with friends through WOM
(Tuk, 2015d).
19. 17
7. CONCLUSION
This report has identified two major gaps between Dove Men+Care’s ideal perception in the
minds of their target market, and their actual perception. It is necessary to close these gaps so
that the brand can achieve better positioning, and create the right brand image of itself in the
minds of its consumers.
Two strategies were developed in order to close the gaps identified between the ideal and actual
brand maps. The first communication idea aims to change consumer’s associations from being
feminine, to being masculine. To close this gap, it is recommended for Dove Men+Care to
organise an engaging event at the Rugby World Cup with a tackle pad challenge. This will give
the brand a masculine edge that will be correlated back to the brand. The second communication
proposal is the experiential campaign, The Groom Room. This aims to grab men’s preconscious
attention with sensory stimulus, and enhance their brand associations through consistent use,
embedding Dove Men+Care deodorant and body wash into their minds and routines. Both
strategies will integrate the grey colour scheme to shift men from associating the brand from
white to grey.
With these strategies in action, Dove Men+Care can hope to achieve a more accurate brand
perception of themselves for their target market and increase brand equity. However, it must be
acknowledged that the communication strategies developed in this report are based on the
results given by 25-35 year olds, who are only a fraction of Dove Men+Care’s whole target
market range.
20. 18
8. REFERENCES
Bahadur, N. (2014) Dove 'Real Beauty' Campaign Turns 10: How A Brand Tried To Change
The Conversation About Female Beauty. [Online] Available from:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/21/dove-real-beauty-campaign-turns-
10_n_4575940.html [Accessed 9 November 2015].
Brandirectory (2015) Top 50 Cosmetic Brands 2015. [Online] Available from:
http://www.statista.com/statistics/243722/brand-value-of-the-leading-15-cosmetic-brands-
worldwide/ [Accessed 9 November 2015].
Cave, A. (2015) Pure Gym founder on how he built Britain's biggest gym chain. [Online]
Available from:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/retailandconsumer/11337645/Pure-Gym-
founder-on-how-he-built-Britains-biggest-gym-chain.html [Accessed 9 November 2015].
Cliffs, E. (2015) The Caring Side of Masculinity Takes Center Court During NCAA® March
Madness®. [Online] Available from: http://www.multivu.com/players/English/7471451-
dove-men-care-ncaa-march-madness/ [Accessed 9 November 2015].
Griner, D. (2015) For Super Bowl, Dove Men Will Basically Just Put a New Hashtag on Its
2014 Father's Day Ad. [Online] Available from: http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-
branding/super-bowl-dove-men-will-basically-just-put-new-hashtag-its-2014-fathers-day-ad-
162438 [Accessed 9 November 2015].
21. 19
McNamara, S. (2015) Consumer Involvement Theory. [Online] Available from:
http://www.adcracker.com/involvement/Consumer_Involvement_Theory.htm [Accessed 9
November 2015].
Mintel News (2015) Mintel in the Media - This Week’s Highlights, 13 July 2015. [Online]
Available from: http://www.mintel.com/blog/mintel-market-news/mintel-in-the-media-this-
weeks-highlights-13-july-2015 [Accessed 9 November 2015].
Miziolek, J. (2012) How Dove Reinvented Its Brand For Men. [Online] Available from:
http://www.fastcompany.com/1824772/how-dove-reinvented-its-brand-men [Accessed 9
November 2015].
Neff, J. (2013) Dove Gives Guys a Break in Men+Care Push. [Online] Available from:
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November 2015].
Newman, A. A. (2015) Want to Sell Men's Grooming Products? Hire an Athlete, Not a
Hollywood Star. [Online] Available from: http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-
branding/want-sell-mens-grooming-products-hire-athlete-not-handsome-hollywood-star-
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2015].
22. 20
Rugby World Cup (2015) Rugby World Cup 2015 signs-up Dove Men+Care. [Online]
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Business School, 16 October
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Business School, 19 October
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School, 25 October
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School, 28 October
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Business School, 4 November
23. 21
Unilever (2015) Body Washes & Bars. [Online] Available from:
http://www.dovemencare.us/Products/Body-Washes-Bars/default.aspx [Accessed 9
November 2015].
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action/detail/Dove/299975/ [Accessed 9 November 2015].
Wong, E. (2010) Dove Super Bowl Spot Scores Initial Points with Men. [Online] Available
from: http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/dove-super-bowl-spot-scores-
initial-points-men-107033 [Accessed 9 November 2015].
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Appendix 4: Associations Corpus
Participant Associations Corpus
1 Shower Gel Deodorant Hand wash
Hand soap
bar
Clean -
2 Moisturiser Feminine
Hand
cream/soap
bar
Bird Purity -
3
Smell/Milk
y
Creamy
Grandparen
ts
White Bird
Classic
soap bar
4 Creamy Bird White - - -
5 Soap
Women of
all sizes
White - - -
6 White Soap Clean
Girl's
beauty
products
- -
7 Shampoo Bird Smell/scent
Value for
money
White -
8 Moisturiser
Moisturise
r
Good for
sensitive
skin
Nice Smooth -
9 Soap White Bird Feminine Smell/scent -
10 Shampoo
Body
wash
Soap Clean Fresh -
11 Bird, Dove Deodorant Creamy Soap Woman -
12 Deodorant
Sensitive
Skin
Shampoo Moisturiser Bird -
13 Soap
Shower
Gel
Shampoo
Dove ads
with
Women
White/blue/
gold
Price
14 Body wash
Moisturise
r
Good Smell Soft colors - -
15 Soap Peace Creamy - - -
