Dove case

By Gracie Lee (B94705011), Jennifer Huang (B94705035), Charles Virgile (97749!19), "ic#las
Valai$e (97749!!1), Vincen% &#n%'#reau an( )a*ien +al'er#,
Q1. Spend a little time searching blogs, using
Google Blog Search, Technorati, BlogRunner, or
any other blog search engines, to get a sense of
what people are saying about Doe today. !hat
does this discussion contribute to the meaning
of the brand"
Image building: Once we type the term "Dove", thousands of posts come out. No
matter the comment is good or bad, the more the posts are, the more impressive Dove
is! Maybe a post contains just a few sentences or accounts for a sma part of an
artice, but a of these sma pieces ma!e up the strong word"of"mouse power. #rom
different boggers, there are different point of views for this brand which provide
consumers a whoe scope of a product. $nd if they were famous boggers, their
neutra comments not ony impress consumers but aso even persuade them into
buying Dove%s products more.
Brand identification: &esides persuasive comments from famous boggers which
ma!e customers devote to it, most discussions are usuay customers' reviews based
on their persona e(periences and usuay foow a product page or a in! connected to
purchasing pages. )n fact, these !ind of reviews are amost good words, but even
though !nowing that the reviews are over e(aggerated, customers sti identify with
Dove unconsciousy and furthermore purchase instanty.
Q#. $ootnote 1 of the case leads you to a blogger
who as%s, with reference to the age of &ouTube
adertising, '(s mar%eting now cheap, fast and
out of control"' $ootnote # refers to Doe as
haing started a conersation 'that they don)t
hae control of.' (n '!hen Tush comes to Doe,'
Seth Steenson writes about the 'ris%y bet that
Doe is ma%ing.' Do you see ris%s for the Doe
brand today"
Dove is the word%s number one brand for heath and beauty product sector. )n
the past it has buit its success on innovating products such as its eary toiet bar with
moisturi*ing cream which was +uite a revoution on the soap mar!et at that time.
Dove%s mar!eting strategy since ,-./ and the aunch of the first 0ceansing bar1 was
to communicate on the functiona superiority of its product 2no dry sensation3 over
traditiona soap. )t was a great success that made the brand the eader on this mar!et.
&ut as we red it in the case, Dove became a 0masterbrand1 of 4niever in 5666, which
started to sae many heath and beauty product 2deodorants, body otions, hair care,
etc3 under the brand name of Dove. 7hat%s why Dove had to change its advertising
strategy. Mar!eting coud no onger base its strategy on the functiona superiority of
its 0soap1 but had to communicate on a wider message.
7hat%s when Dove started with its 08ampain for rea beauty1 and buids the
image of a brand with 0ideas1 and 0point of view1 on the society.
Dove had aways preferred natura"oo!ing women for its ads rather than
stereotypica modes but each time, it was ony to promote the benefits of Dove
products. )n this campaign, it was the first time they promote controversia message
against the common image of women%s beauty. 7hey communicated on the natura
beauty 2provided by Dove products3 instead of 0unreachabe1 and 0fa!e1 beauty that
you can see in the majority of advertisement.
7his controversia mar!eting campaign had a huge success in terms of media
coverage but some peope ta!ed about the ris!s ta!en by Dove in opening a socia
debate that they coudn%t contro and the fact that they might get the image of the 0fat
peope1 brand which coud put them in an uncomfortabe mar!eting position.
#irst of a, Dove made this range of ads to discuss about the common image of
beauty in our society. 7hey were ta!ing position as they present themseves as the
eader of a batte against non"natura and unreachabe beauty. )t is a good way to buid
the image of a brand that has a point of view and cares about women%s probems
beyond the need of the product itsef 2ac! of sef"esteem, etc3. 7hey made some 79
ads that to aunch the 0bu**1 and it wor!ed better than e(pected as the media started
to ta! about a new socia debate and some 79 shows mention it as cutura
phenomenon.
7hen they posted videos on :outube. $fter a +uic! and arge spread on the web,
the message too! another dimension as bogers and forum%s users start to ta! about it.
7hat%s where the ris!s begins. $s Dove%s message was diffused widey, it was getting
harder and harder to contro the content of it and the image it wanted to promote.
;very controversia message is dangerous if you can no onger contro it. <ome voices
started to see Dove as the brand for fat peope and saw the no"aspiration aspect in
Dove%s advertising. 7here were a ot of parodies done on the ads and some of them
were very critica about 4niever hypocrisy and rea motives. 7hough 4niever was
very carefu about pubic reations, there was a ris! with this campaign of osing the
power of deivering a cear image and message.
7o concude, we thin! that if we coud find some ris!s in this strategy, the
benefits of it are far more numerous.
7hey coud touch many peope in a very short time and, above a, besides the
first 79 and banner ads, this campaign grew up hugey without costing a thing. 79
shows and debate, as we as internet diffusion were doing the wor! for it. $fter a
Dove%s saes and financia resuts are eo+uent, that why we thin! their strategy is not
a big probem for the brand%s image.