This is the analysis of the case 'Dove: Evolution of a brand' by Harvard Business School.

1. Dove: Evolution of a
Brand
Harvard business school case
analysis

2. What is the purpose
of analysis?

3. Evaluation of dove’s
“Campaign for real beauty”.
• Analyze the strategic mix
employed by the brand.
• Evaluate the campaign’s positives
and negatives.
1.

4. Understanding the
advertising decisions and
brand management.
2.

5. Dove
Unilever
No.1 “cleansing brand” in
2007
Launched by
in health and
beauty sector

6. Lever
brothers
(U.K.)
Margarine
Unie
(dutch)
Unilever

7. What was the reason
for the merge???

8. “Both the
companies
depended on
palm oil,
one for soap
and other for
edible oil
products.”

9. “Path to Growth”
initiative by Unilever
Aimed to
Reduce the number of brands
from 1600 to less than 400.
Create unified global identity.

10. Launching “Dove”!!

11.  Was launched as a ‘beauty bar’ in
1957 with non-irritating skin cleaning
properties and it contained high
levels of natural skin moisturizers.

12. Dove soap
doesn’t dry
your skin
because it’s
Message by the ‘Ogilvy and
Mather’ advertising agency:

14. Endorsed by physicians for skin
care, dove became a ‘Masterbrand’
in 2000, extending into personal
care beyond beauty bar.

15. Need for
“The campaign
for real beauty”
?

16. ‘Dove’ became a Masterbrand in
2000, due to which it could no
longer communicate functional
superiority.
Need for ‘The campaign for
real beauty’ (1/2)

17. ‘Dove’ should stand for a
Point of view.
Need for ‘The campaign for
real beauty’ (2/2)

18. Analysis of the strategic
mix employed by ‘Dove’.1a.

19. Dove led a worldwide
investigation into women’s
responses to the iconography
used by the beauty industry.

20. “Young, white, blonde and thin”
were the universal characteristics
of women portrayed in beauty
advertisements, but for many
women these were unattainable
standards...

21. “Unilever went to 3,000 women in 10
countries and among the findings there
were only 2% of respondents worldwide
chose to describe themselves as
beautiful.”

22. ‘Dove’ launched
Tick-Box
campaign in
which billboards
were erected and
viewers were to
vote on whether a
woman on the
billboard was
“outsized” or
“outstanding.”

23. The next series of Dove ads ,in
June 2005, were known as the
‘Firming campaign’ ads because
they promoted a cream that firmed
the skin.

24. The company
wanted the ads to
“change the way
society views
beauty,” and
“provoke
discussion and
debate about real
beauty.”

25. But did the campaign talk about the
brand’s uniqueness and taking
beauty to a new level of
attractiveness??

26. ‘Dove’ engaged executives in the
idea behind The “Campaign for
Real Beauty” by filming their own
daughters discussing their self-
esteem challenges.

28. But how would the company earn
returns from investment in the media
when there is nothing mentioned
about the product in the ad??

29. ‘The main purpose was to expose the
false claims made by the beauty
industry that supermodel beauty
was in the grasp of everyone’

30. Next, the advertising agency
launched a 112 sec. Film to drive
the audience to self-esteem
workshops organised by ‘Dove’.

31. The digital film known as
‘Evolution’ was posted on
Youtube in 2006, and reached 3
million views in 3 months.

32. The mission behind all these
creative initiatives taken by
Dove?????

33. To unify ‘The campaign for real
beauty’
“ To make more women feel beautiful
every day by broadening the narrow
definition of beauty and inspiring
them to take great care of
themselves.”
Mission read

35. Evaluating the campaign’s
positives and negatives.
1b.

37. Dove launched a campaign called
“real ads by real women” inviting
customers to create their own ad .

38. This helped launching ‘Dove cream oil
body wash’ in a very creative way and
build a feeling of confidence among the
customers who would be featured in the
advertisement!!!

39. Unilever established the global
“Dove Self-Esteem Fund”
to raise the self-esteem of girls and
young women.

40. The survey by dove also proved the
point that beauty is now more about
confidence and self-esteem
rather than “Being young, white,
blonde and thin”

41. Even without using much of paid
media, the campaign touched the
public:
Thousands of blogs and Internet chat
placed the brand in consumer hands.
There were declarations by fathers to
daughters on themes like self esteem.

42. BUT
There were certain negatives
of this campaign too!!!!!!

43. The self esteem ads did not mention any
product.
Debunking the beauty myth ultimately means
you are debunking the whole reason to
spend a little more money for your product.
Featuring ladies in white underwear
sometimes caused reaction from media
(Chicago Sun Times controversy).

44. Understanding
advertising decisions and
brand management
2.

45. ‘Dove’ bought Every billboard at
the grand central station to build a
buzz about the brand.

46. Evolution advertisement idea was
prepared to go forward without paid
media at all..
The ad was released to YouTube,
and never ran on television!!!!

47. The contest ‘Real ads by Real
women’ was a marketing strategy
involving low advertisement cost
and high customer gain!!

48. But the most important decision
was to advertise at
‘Super bowl’ !!

49. Were they out of their minds
advertising for
‘Hates her freckles’
at a place ideal for
‘Selling beers’??

50. But somehow, this was the
best way to tell
90 million Americans
that women suffer from
low self-esteem!

51. Instead of keeping away from the
‘Chicago sun times controversy’,
dove embraced the debate....Turning it
into an indirect branding strategy!

52. The team continued to build coverage
with more than 200 local news
programs and more than 60 national
broadcast and print outlets, which ran a
cover story on the campaign.

53. Dove launched the
“Dove Real Beauty Award”
and the
“Global Dove Self-
Esteem Fund”
which helped the brand
build value without spending
on advertisements!!!!

54. • The ‘Path to Growth’ initiative by
Unilever split the responsibility for a
brand between two groups:
Brand development
Brand building

55. This helped in effective brand
management by dividing and
controlling the two portfolios
independently.

56. Conclusion of
the case
analysis

58. Comments and suggestions:
• The campaign for real beauty shattered
the stereotype of “young, white, blonde
and thin” as beauty icon.
• Dove’s campaign not only helped in
selling and promoting the product, but
also created a valuable brand image in its
customers’ minds, that is concerned
about a social change.

59. Though the contribution of “The campaign
for real beauty” in the success of Dove is still
unrealized.....
Dove is recognised as one of 10 brands
with the Greatest percentage gain
in brand health and business value in the
past three years!!

61. “These slides were prepared by
‘Kartik Singla’
as a part of an internship done under
‘Prof. Sameer Mathur’
(www.IIMInternship.com).”
Disclaimer