Dove Communication Audit. In 1957, Unilever, a multinational consumer goods corporation started a new business

Transcription

1 In 1957, Unilever, a multinational consumer goods corporation started a new business venture in the luxury personal care marketplace. The company began to distribute the Dove Beauty Bar, a revolutionary new product that was marketed as not just a soap but a "moisturizing bar", used to cleanse and hydrate the skin. The product was initially placed on shelves in local supermarkets and drugstores across the United Kingdom. Two decades after its initial introduction, Dove took on a wider audience by expanding its brand internationally. By 1996, Dove was sold in over 80 countries as a sensitive skin cleanser. Now, as the world's leading brand in luxury personal care products, Dove has expanded its product line offerings to include body wash, shampoo, conditioner, deodorant and styling products for both women and men (Unilever). Dove's website states their products mission statement as "Dove is committed to helping all women realize their personal beauty potential by creating products that deliver real care. Dove believes that beauty should be for everyone, because when you look and feel your best, you feel better about yourself" (Dove). When determining this product line's course of action, Dove chose to take on a philanthropic message and became an organization dedicated to empowering women through increasing self-acceptance. With this message, Dove took on the goal of empowering women to feel beautiful from the inside out. In 2004, the company launched a study to measure women's attitudes and perceptions of outward beauty. The findings determined "that only 2 % (sic) of women around the world would describe themselves as beautiful" (Unilever). Using these findings, Dove started "The Campaign for Real Beauty". This campaign demonstrated the use of natural beauty and promoted the idea that beauty should be

2 1 defined by each person as an individual rather than mandated by societal generalities. The positive response to this campaign resulted in further development of the initial ideas. The campaign was renamed to "the Dove Movement for Self-Esteem" (Unilever). Dove states that in promoting this movement they have helped nearly 9 million girls change their view on self-image "and set a global goal of reaching 15 million girls by 2015" (Dove). In response, Dove set a much smaller goal, as a stepping stone, of creating a marketable brand of beauty soap that is affordable to many different types of people. By using "natural" models, the brand ambassadors became more relatable to the clientele. Many consumers can visualize themselves as the models used in the advertisements because Dove chose to use models to portray everyday individuals, such as students, moms, and even co-workers. The effectiveness of these campaigns is proven by the dramatic increase in sales between 2004 and By 2010, nearly 50% of homes in the United States had at least one woman consistently using Dove products (Dove). Dove used many different advertising methods in order to promote their products goals. One strategy Dove used in their advertisements was to highlight the underlying pathos of the brand. Similarly stated above, Dove employs everyday individuals to model for their advertisements. This allows people to conclude that because they are "everyday individuals", just like the company's models, that this product will help them as well. Additionally, Dove uses many mediums to advertise their product. TV branding on shows, commercial ads, and billboards are all used to promote Dove as a whole. The most well-known advertisement used by Dove features a minute long short film showing the transformation of a model used in one of their billboards, done through time-lapsed photo editing. This allowed individuals to understand that even the people accepted as the "most beautiful" were not as idealistic as they were

3 2 portrayed. Additionally, one of the most successful strategies Dove employed proved to be the "renaming" of a seemingly simple item. By addressing the product as a moisturizing or beauty bar, rather than a cleanser or a soap, the company instantly differentiated itself from the competition and created a new category for its product. Through the use of different tactical choices, Dove has been able to maintain its place as one of the leading brands in the personal care product industry. Though the brand has successfully claimed the number one product spot among women, there are many groups not influenced by the Dove Beauty Bar campaign. Research shows the primary advertisement strategy does not appeal to men, babies, or allergen free homes. For example, when entering the brand page on Unilever.com, the mission changes to state "Dove is rooted in listening to women." By using this wording, the company is immediately targeting their outreach to females over the age of 18. This puts Dove in jeopardy of losing some of its possible clientele. In turn people look at other brands such as Aveeno and Johnsons & Johnsons due to their promotion of gender and age neutral products. A strong suggestion would be to place an emphasis on the connection between Dove beauty bars and Axe Body Spray. Because these companies are both owned by Unilever and appeal to a wide variety of people, placing the two together in an advertisement would allow for a stronger outreach. Another strategy that would allow for a stronger outreach to clients would be the creation of age friendly products. Similar to Johnson & Johnson, Dove would benefit from the creation of a "KIDS" line. This would include creating items such as detangler and "tear-free" hair care products to market into family homes. Another suggestion would be to emulate products created by Neutrogena, another competitor. By creating a beauty bar that treated acne the company

4 3 would have a stronger appeal to the teenage market. This could be easily achieved by partnering with an acne treatment product, such as proactive or X-Out. The two brands would be able to create a formula, or a "super brand", of moisturizing, cleansing acne remover. In return, the brands would build a connection and be strongly associated one with the other, shortening the gap in un-reached market.

5 4 Work Cited Dove. (2016, June 22). Dove USA. Retrieved September 8, 2016, from Dove, Unilever (2016). Dove. Retrieved September 8, 2016, from Unilever Consumer Goods Corp.,