Dove Onslaught - The Campaign for Real Beauty moves forward
Brand: Dove
Execution: Cause Marketing Viral Video
Target: Mothers with young daughters
Rating: ****
Reviewer: David Vinjamuri
Description:
On this viral video launched in the U.K., a series of rapid images from the fashion and beauty press and the media assaults the viewer. Intercut with these stills, we also see a woman on a scale gaining and losing weight rapidly and repeatedly. The spot concludes with a shot of schoolgirls walking across a street and a message saying, “Talk to your doctor before the beauty industry does.” The branding is for the Dove self-esteem fund.
What Works:
In some ways, we like Onslaught - the evolution of the Campaign for Real Beauty - better than the original. By graphically showing us the effect of glamorized representations of beauty on young girls, Dove and the Campaign for Real Beauty get to the heart of the problem with the beauty industry today - that it is based on a rejection of one’s one body and an acceptance of unrealistic standards as the beauty ideal. The results are well-documented, from low self-esteem to anorexia and bulimia. This issue has gained momentum in the time since the original Campaign for Real Beauty was launched as fashion runways in Spain and other countries have banned models who are unhealthily thin.
Dove does a very good job of stepping back to the front of the line with the Onslaught viral video. This U.K. viral execution of Onslaught is most likely being used to test the waters for a larger global launch of the new campaign. It fits perfectly with the original branding strategy behind the Campaign for Real Beauty and will help Dove continue to solidify its hold on the moral center of the cultural debate over beauty standards.
What Doesn’t:
Dove may sadly underestimate the overall effect of this campaign on its business strategy and its brands. While the specific Dove brands which sponsor the campaign for real beauty may mirror its philosophy, Dove is still indisputably a beauty company. Many of the products the company makes fall into the category that the Campaign for Real Beauty is implicitly criticizing. They are not the worst offenders, but products meant to make you look younger, firmer or healthier all capitalize on low self-esteem and rest on dubious scientific ground. Dove should consider selling off lines which don’t meet the criteria for this campaign, and dedicating the company to products which fit the new brand promise.
Branding Bottom Line:
Brilliant campaign could save the brand and kill the company.
October 10th, 2007 at 5:23 pm
Your review of the latest Dove ad glossed over one thing. You did not mention what I felt was the harshest set of images - depictions of mutilation by plastic surgery. This next level of their Real Beauty campaign goes too far by showing so much ugliness. In concept, it’s reminiscent of LBJ’s “Daisy” political campaign ad:
http://dir.salon.com/story/opinion/feature/2003/01/18/flower/index.html
Concerning testing the waters - is there such a thing as a little global vs a larger global launch? Isn’t that like being a little bit of a virgin. Once it’s out there, who knows how far an epidemic will spread.
Best of all is your recommendation that the ugly side of Dove’s beauty line could be sold off. Now that’s a powerful branding campaign - one that changes a business model instead of simply reinforcing it. More power to them.
October 11th, 2007 at 1:20 am
As much as I love the idea, I can still walk into the cosmetics section of any drugstore and find Dove firming, tanning, or anti-wrinkle cream. I think the interplay between the products and the toted philosophy of Dove is extremely interesting.
October 19th, 2007 at 8:54 am
not sure if i can agree with great for the brand, bad for the company. people understand that dove makes beauty products, it’s just they want you (the consumer is such an over used term) to think about in a different way. would you rather approach beauty from a position of strength or the traditional postion of please make me beautiful.
this blog is interesting in the sense that it highlights the extremely rational pathways that brand managers tend (no absolutes) to take. i’m wondering if this is where the problem resides? do consumers look at things in a rational fashion? ask yourself, how did you fall in love with your spouse?
January 28th, 2008 at 12:37 pm
Dove “real beauty” campaign is a classical case of insight-driven ad that explored how a brand can address a contradiction in order to establish meaning and trigger affinity.
I have always believed that a brand is a product which has earned a place in consumers’ lives by “massaging” consumers’ ego or sense of self until a mental relationship is built.
Douglas Holt captured it better in “How brands become icon” where he advocated that brands must deliver beliefs that the consumers can use to manage the exigencies of a world that increasingly threatens their identities. Brands must become a cultural activist and a social authority
“Exploiting” the research fact that ONLY 2% of women worldwide considered themselves beautiful is a great way to become the champion of the remaining 98% using a compelling philosophy that “Real beauty come from within
Great work of all times
April 12th, 2008 at 11:52 am
I thought it said “Talk to your daughter…” not talk to you doctor.
September 19th, 2008 at 3:41 am
The Campaign for Real Beauty is great, it gets at the key idea of how beauty lies within but have you all seen the Pantene You Can Shine film created by Grey Thailand? Check out this link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Um9KsrH377A
It’s an amazing commercial that is incredibly moving and touching. Dove is still talking about beauty, this commercial is about realizing your true potential and overcoming obstacles, which is every woman’s journey. There are no product shots or pretentious photoshopping. It’s about you and your story. Check it out and tell me how it doesn’t reach out to you?