Muhammad Subhan 19p01977 Section C

Branding and Advertising

Assignment

Dove

1) With the help of exhibit 1, 2 and 3, explain why Dove felt the urgency to launch ‘The
Campaign for Real Beauty’. Also, find support from the case study where it elaborates
on ‘The Functional Benefits Era’. Moreover, devise a three-word brand mantra for
Dove’s Real Beauty Campaign. (10)

Emotional Modifier: Rejuvenating

Descriptive Modifier: Natural

Brand Function: Skin & Body care

Brand Mantra: Rejuvenating Natural Skin & Body care.

The functional era and the “Real Beauty” campaign Dove began with a unique strategy: it is a soap that
contains a cleansing cream that will help nourish the face. The advertisements in exhibits 1,2 and 3
demonstrate Dove soap being compared to other soaps. They show how the time for old fashioned soap
has ended, and not the new Dove toilet bar is better at moisturizing skin than other soap brands. It's
also one of the main features of their cleaning cream, according to them. All three exhibits focus on how
dove is made out of 1/4th cream, and hence it does not dry skin unlike other soaps. The idea behind real
beauty campaign was as most women didn’t consider them beautiful as they found out in a study. Dove
started to focus on redefining beauty and helping women in embracing their true selves. They held a
survey which revealed that only 2 in 10 women thought they were beautiful. Hence, they wanted to
make more women feel beautiful, instead of making women feel more beautiful. The functional benefits
era was when brands would use their functional benefits in advertising, but as a Masterbrand, Dove
needed to do something different as functionality would mean different things for different product
categories.

2) Critically analyse the pros and cons of ‘The Real Beauty campaign’. Just consider
information available in exhibit 4 and propose an alternative advertising strategy to
Dove. (Note: Make use of information available in study highlights- Exhibit 4 to
propose a different interpretation) (10)

The advantages of the campaign were that the campaign, which centered around redefining
attractiveness and people feeling at ease with their own skin, created a lot of hype. The “Real Beauty”
initiative presented the brand in a very socially conscious light. The advertisement gave the company a
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new identity. It was able to establish a positive customer relationship by encouraging people to accept
their natural beauty. The disadvantages were Dove management vigorously promoted the concept,
giving the impression that the company would be short on original material in the future. The promotion
was too focused on bringing the message out to consumers and the general public, and not enough on
the commodity [Link] Unilever is the parent brand of dove, it has other soaps that do not support the
image or real beauty and portray a different image this would get criticism.

Strategy: According to the evidence in Exhibit 4, women associate attractiveness with having a good
career and not being pretty with not having a successful career. Dove should have capitalized on this
topic by launching a campaign focusing on women who have attained success in life, whether by
appearance or not, as it would have aided the other 46% of women who are also hesitant to embrace
their true selves due to this opinion of their minds.

3) Explain the following and their significance in making a brand successful:

Dove's public relations approach was somewhat aggressive, as their mission was to redefine perfection,
which necessitated the creation of a diametrically opposed dialogue. Public relations help a business to
have a positive reputation with public and potential stakeholders through various paid and unpaid
communication strategies using the aid of traditional media, social media, and face to face interactions.
To deal with the crisis, Dove received backlash from Chicago Times Editorialist Richard Roeper for
showing plum girls in their ads. Dove reported the story more extensively and expressed concern in the
critique. For the activist group American Women in Radio and Television, they produced the Dove Real
Beauty Award. Unilever's Walk the Walk campaign resulted in the development of a fund for the self-
esteem of girls and women around the world. They have collaborated with the Girls Scouts of USA's
"Uniquely Me!" campaign. Dove also enlisted the assistance of social media influencers including The
Dove Two Dozen where they sent tailored interactive packages to women working in media and
entertainment industry. Via multiple paid and free marketing tactics using conventional media, social
media, and face-to-face encounters, public relations allow a company to have a good image with the
public and future stakeholders. The importance of public relations in terms of making a brand
competitive is that for emerging brands, it can help them establish an industry footprint, and for
established brands, it can help them maintain that presence. Contests tend to give a very positive retail
experience to customers. The idea behind giving away hundreds of dollars’ worth of merchandise and
advertising might seems very expensive at first but it is an effective way to acquire loyal customers.
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Dove they invited their customers to make their own commercials for Dove Cream Oil Body Wash in the
“Real Ads by Real Women” campaign. The winning contestants’ ads were supposed to be aired in the
commercial break of 79th Annual Academy Awards. This would generate buzz, and would get customers
on the same page as the brand category.

4) Make a marketing mix for Dove if they were to take a shift from the ‘Real beauty
campaign’ to another campaign with a contrastingly different marketing idea. Provide
justifications for the proposed marketing mix. (10)

A contrasting campaign can be targeted towards having a luxurious lifestyle and how beauty can be
achieved and appreciated through using beauty products of Dove.

Price: Eventually competitors will catch up to Dove, hence Dove cannot charge a premium price right
now and then change to being cost competitive. Hence, they need to maintain a cost leadership strategy
for in their categories, which are subsets of premium toiletries.

Product: A white packaging will reflect elegance. Black can also be added in some product categories to
reflect toughness while still maintaining the elegant aspect.

Promotion: The same technique should be used as it struck a nerve with a popular audience. With more
and more people getting politically correct, they are keen to respect differences and hence accept other
people for how they are. Hence, an ad campaign like this would be successful.

Placement: Dove should be present at eye level, and should be available to a wider audience. With its
cost leadership strategy in the premium product category lines, more people will be able to afford it. It
should not be mixed with soaps as people still won’t know the difference unless they have used it once.
It should be kept alongside moisturizers or other beauty care products.