UNILEVER (DOVE)

I.

Introduction

Unilever is a leading global manufacturer in Fast Moving Consumer

Goods (FMCG). With revenues over $2.5 billion a year in over 80 countries
(2007), the consumer goods giant also faced the problem of control because
of a huge number of brands it produces. In 2000, Unilever launched
Masterbrands campaign under the title of the Dove Campaign for Real
Beauty to improve its global identity. However, the success of this campaign
is the disagreement among global marketers. This report aims to analyse
Doves Campaign effects and focus on its brand management.

II.

Unilever brand management.

1. Company background
Unilever began with British soap-maker Company named Lever
Brothers, whose revolutionary action in business was by introducing the
Sunlight Soap in 1890s. In 1930, Unilever was established when Lever
Brother combined with Dutch Margarine Unie. After economic boom,
depression, world wars, changing consumer lifestyles and advances in
technology, Unilever has been developing more rapidly and sustainably to
adapt to the market across three centuries.

Unilevers products range from nutritionally balanced foods to

indulgent ice creams, affordable soaps, luxurious shampoos and everyday
household care products.

2. Unilever brand management

2.1 Brand definition
Each type of products or products line or range has
unique designs, sign, symbols, words, or a combination of these, employed in
creating an image that identifies a product and differentiates it from
its competitors. Overtime, this image becomes associated with a level of
credibility, quality, and satisfaction in the consumers mind.
Thus
brands
help
harried
consumers
in
crowded
and complex marketplace, by standing certain benefits and value. Legal
name for a brand is trademark and, when it identifies or represents a firm, it
is called a brand name.

2.2 The reason for limiting the number of brand

Unilever used to have 1600 brands until they decided to reduce down
to 400 due to because of many reasons. First, Global decentralization
brought problems of control. Companys brand portfolio had grown is a
relatively laissez-faire manne. Second, the large number of brand brings
diversity but causes the lack of a unified global identity. Moreover, Product
categories had checkered identities. Therefore, Unilever limited the number
of brands.
2.3. Product category management and brand management before
2000
Before 2000, Unilever Spread itself across a variety of product
categories within the general one of consumer packaged goods. As a result,
there are many brands in one product category. They compete with their
siblings and with the other products from other companies. Each brand was
operated as a seperate business in each country. The brand manager in one
country was in charged for everything about the brand, from the strategy to
the day-to-day marketing decisions, profit...
For example, in the ice cream category, Unilever has:
Italy
UK and
most parts
of Asia

Netherland
Brazil

Germany

In the United
States

2.4. Product category management and brand management after

2000
After 2000, Unilever concentrated on product innovation to promote
internal growth. Unilever implemented the Path to Growth innitiative,
narrowed the brands from 1600 to 400, selected the Masterbrands, which
were considered as an umbrella over a range of product forms.
After 2000, the product category management and brand management of
Unilerver can be summarized as :
From 2000 to 2004
- Product category : split into two seperate global units : 1. Food; 2. Home and Personal Care ( HPC)
- Brand management : reduce from 1600 brands to 400 brands

From 2004 to 2008

Brand portfolio of 400 brands was reduced to 40 Mega World Brands.
The retained ones would have sales in excess of billion dollars.

In 2008
Restructuring again
- Product category : combine the two global units : Food and HPC into the single one.
During the time implementing the Path to Growth Initiative, the most
-Brand
management
: focus
on personal
brands.
important decision
of Unilever
was
splitting
thecare
responsibility
for a brand
between two groups : Brand Development and Brand Building. Specifically,
Brand Development was in charged of developing the long term strategy for
the global brand while Brand Building was about building the brand in
specific markets.
2.5 Comparing the brand meaning control before 2000 and after
2000
2.5.1 Brand meaning
Generally, a brand that has an important meaning to the customers is
the brand that achieves high brand equity. In other word, brand meaning is
the value of the brand perceived by the customer. It is about the satisfaction
that a brand can provide the customer. The satisfaction can be classfied into
three kinds of values : functional value, social value and emotional value.
Brands that decide to focus on functional value are often called functional
brands, while brands that decide to focus on social value are referred to as
symbolic brands, and brands that decide to focus on emotional value are
often called experiential brands. Because experiential brand is normally
illustrated by brands in the service industry, so, in this case, Unilever as well
as Dove will be analized in terms of functional brands and symbolic brands.
2.5.2 Brand meaning control before 2000
Before 2000, Unilevers brand management strategy was highly
decentralized. Each brand manager compete with in-house brands. At that
time, Unilever just focused on selling its products across nations and didns
create the global image for each product category. Thats the reason why

Unilever had 1600 brands at that time. In other word, Unilever just
remembered about the term localization and forgot the important term
globalization as the multinational company. Unilever just provided the
customer with the functional benefits of its products; therefore, it could be
perceived at the functional brand at that time. Not excepting from the
strategy of Unilever before 2000, Dove only focused on communicate its
customers with the functional values that Dove would not dry out your skin
the way soap did. Specifically, Dove launch the advertising campaign with
the message : Dove soap doesnt dry your skin because its one quarter
cleansing dream.
2.5.3 Brand meaning control after 2000
After 2000, Unilever turns from the decentralized management to the
more centralized management. Unilever began to create the global brand
unit for the Masterbrands and decided that Dove should stand for a point
of view. Unilever wanted Dove to be the product that ensured the customers
for their beauty. Moreover, when the customers think about Dove, Dove
wanted to be reminded as pleasant experiences, luxury (Real Ads by Real
Women in the Campaign for Real Beauty. In other words, Dove used
emotional stimulus to implant the product deep in the customers minds.
Dove became a statement of who you are. At this stage, Dove shaped the
customers mind that by using Dove, a woman can be viewed as beautiful,
modern, and fashionable and luxury by the other people. Its when both
Unilever and Dove turn form the functional brand to the symbolic brand.
III.
Dove brand management
1. Doves market positioning in the 1950s: (product and brand
positioning)
It cant be denied that the first Dove product which was released in
1957 has prepared the ground for next Unilevers other toiletries brands
afterwards. Once initially introduced in the United States, the product was
described itself as a beauty bar which doesnt dry your skin because its
one-quarter cleansing cream as an outcome of the United States military
invention at that time. The resulting combination, part- cream and part-soap,
offered huge marketing opportunities and differentiated Dove from other
competitors soap bar. That is, Unilever sought to define its offerings in
customers minds by its product and the functionality of it. Specifically, Dove
emphasized the superiority of its toilet bar compared to soaps in the market

via the main focus on fact that the Dove bar was one-quarter cleansing
cream and would not dry the users skin.
Moreover, Dove was marketed through a mix of marketing
communication tools like the TV, print media and bill boards with the simple
not to dry skin proposition. Those can be listed in those advertisements in
the 1960s and 1970s such as "Dove creams your skin while you wash",
"Soap is suddenly old-fashioned" and so on. In addition, the advertisements
were depicted with natural looking women rather than models to convey the

benefits of the product, which not only enhances the products competitive
functionality but also expresses the honesty and authenticity. In 1980s, Dove
received a huge boost when an influential independent survey from the
University of Pennsylvania concluded that Dove dried and irritated skin
significantly less than other soaps. This encouraged Unilever to run an
extensive marketing campaign promoting the brand to dermatologists.
Thanks to medical specialists endorsement, Dove's sales soared once more.
In 1986, the brand became the best-selling soap brand in America.
Even though there were some changes in its slogan and product
formulation like moisturizing effect, Dove stayed with the claim not to dry
skin and the refusal to call itself a soap bar as its functional benefits for over

40 years, which proved hugely successful and quickly established Dove as

one of the most recognizable brand in the United States.
2. Doves market positioning in the 2000s: (product and brand
positioning)
In February 2000, Dove was chosen as a Masterbrand as a result of the
Unilever strategic initiative called Path to growth. The name Dove was lent
to serve as umbrella identities over Unilever other entries in personal care
categories such as facial cleansers, body lotions, deodorants, haircare and
hair styling products. Before 2000, Unilever realized that it could not rely on
its previous positioning of functionality alone as what the company did in the
1950s. Since functionality has many different meanings to different people
due to Doves extensive product categories, the company began to redefine
its market positioning for Dove brand based on the companys point of view.
Instead, it positioned itself as a company that cares about society; that is,
the brand Dove concerned both with how women take care of their beauty
and how women feel about themselves. By 2007, Doves positioning involved
more than just product functional benefits: activating self-esteem, redefining
beauty, and challenging stereotypes which the beauty industry bombarded
women daily.

The point of view which Unilever consider as crucial to share with the
society via Dove brand has been both translated and implemented in the
Campaign for Real Beauty. The overall strategy of this marketing campaign
was to invalidate the beauty myth and simply claim that Dove brought out
the real and natural beauty of women rather than the false impression which
the media and beauty industry were promoting for unattainable standards of
women appearances. The campaign comprised of four main stages: Tick-box
campaign, firming campaign, self-esteem campaign and a digital film
Evolution. Specifically, ordinary women and girls were used on
advertisements, interviewed about their self-esteem, and put through a
filmed beautification process to show the artificial transformation from plain
to glamorous.

In the first stage, the Tick-box campaign was launched in September of

2004 in order to do researches on the opinions of audiences as well as their
reactions to the campaign. The campaign aimed to target women and girls to
celebrate their natural beauty, which included: print ads, outdoor billboards,
and online websites. In this campaign, the photographs of ordinary women
are displayed on series of print ads and outdoor billboards. Those
advertisements were erected and included tick-box-style query encouraging
passers-by to vote on each side of the two opinions such as fat? or fit?,
40 and hot? or 40 and not? and so on. Viewers are instructed to give
their thoughts and debate the beauty issues via the hot line 1-888-342-DOVE
or the campaigns website (www.campaignforrealbeauty.com). As a result,
Dove received positive outcomes from its customers via the campaign: 1.5
million visits to the Campaign for Real Beauty website generated in 2005,
65% net recognition for print and outdoor.

Like the Tick box campaign, Doves firming campaign advertisement

has six women posing together in a very confident way. Those are posing in
their plain white underwear seem like they have high self-esteem about their
natural bodies.

This advertisement by Dove targets their viewers emotional appeals in

several ways. Firstly, there were no background colors or objects in

photograph so that the viewers focus is solely on the appearance of the six
women. Secondly, the only things which Dove has included in the
advertisement are their logo, their slogan, and a picture of the products
which provide several details of information about them. Furthermore, the
image was taken
from a long
distance in order
to show the whole
body image of
the
individuals
and
their
natural
curves, which evoked
the viewers to
think that their
curves could be
just as beautiful if
they try Doves
products.
Thirdly,
the
advertisement
includes
women
who came
from
all
different
ethnicities so that
the
audiences can see
that beauty
is universal and comes in all different forms rather than the young, white,
blonde and thin universal characteristics of women portraying in other
advertising. Dove products are trying to promote that women come in
different shapes, sizes, and skin colors are beautiful in their own ways.
Unilever has begun to think differently by using more realistic and average
women for their campaigns in order to create strong emotional connections
with customers, to deliver the self-acceptance and confidence to all women
and encourage them to celebrate their inner beauty.
At the third stage of the campaign, several advertisements focused on
the young little girl with the caption Hates her freckles or afraid she is fat
was broadcasted in social networks, which was even aired on the Super Bowl
event. In spite of the persuasive critiques of Doves 9-year old self-esteem
campaign, the most recent installation is clearly expressed and excellent
implemented from a branding perspective. Theres a lot to question in our
beauty-obsessed culture all over the world, and Dove has clearly, positively
differentiated itself in the beauty marketplace by relentlessly marketing a
single, overarching message: we should be content with who we are. Dove
also extended their Campaign for Real Beauty with the Dove Self-Esteem
Fund focusing attention on children and young adolescents who lack selfesteem to realize that beauty comes in many colors, shapes, and sizes, and
from inside.

The Dove Self Esteem Fund aim is to educate

and inspire young people on a wider definition of
beauty through a variety of activities and programs,
the main of which is BodyThink. The engagement
target for 2008 was to reach and teach 45,000
young people with BodyThink across Australia via
education to teachers, youth and community
workers. Internationally, through partnerships with
eating disorder, youth, and educational institutions in
more than 40 countries throughout Europe, North
America, Latin America, Asia and the Middle East, the Funds ambition is to
touch the lives of 5 million young people with its educational programs by
2010.

In 2006, Ogilvy & Mather Canada created the 75 second viral video
Evolution as part of Doves Campaign for Real Beauty. The films showed an
average-looking woman filmed altering to become a beautiful billboard
model thanks to the construction of make-up and image technology. The
short film is posted on Unilevers website. Also, it quickly went viral with over
8 million views on YouTube, which was the main discussion during popular
talk and entertainment shows. The Dove Evolution short film eventually
became a 60 second TV commercial, broadcasting in a number of countries
around the world. This short film again confirmed the messages that Dove
conveyed throughout the campaign. That is, the aim of the Dove Campaign
for Real Beauty continued to celebrate the natural physical differences
awared by all women and to encourage them to have the confidence with
themselves. . As part of this online initiative, Dove created a series of short

films promoting the self-esteem concept: Daughters (which also aired as a

75-second Super Bowl XL spot), Evolution, Onslaught, and Amy.

Overall, the Real Beauty Campaign has strengthened Doves

uniqueness and raised its profile in the beauty industry. With distinctive
advertisements and public relations efforts, Dove is gradually dominating in
the market and actively shaping its brand, or reputationan encouraging,
compassionate message that inspires women to feel beautiful inside rather
than self-critical.
3. Dove customer-based brand equity (CBBE)
Customer-based brand equity concept describes differential effects
that brand knowledge has on customer response to the marketing of that
brand. In this section, there is a deep analysis of that term thanks to
customers comments and feedbacks, then meaning of Dove brand can be
figured out.

Brand awareness
First of all, brand awareness prefer to how aware of a brands product
and business that consumers are. Due to the Real Beauty campaign,
together with variety of other marketing techniques, customers gradually
find Dove as a friendly and familiar product, especially with bar soap.
Customers also easily recognizes Dove symbol, thanks to the continuous
series of campaign and constant commercial and public advertisements.

Brand images
Next, brand image is anything connected to the customers memory
about the brand. A positive brand image often links strong, favourable, and
unique association to customers mind. Dove has done a great job of it. At
first, Dove famous for its functional products that help moisturize skin. More
importantly, by respond to the finding of global report that only 2% women
describe them as beautiful, Doves Real Beauty Campaign has left many
positive signs in customers. Dove tries to be the culture change agent by
rejecting beauty stereotype then convinces women should love their own
appearance and become happy, confident. As a result, individuals feel that
the company cares, sympathises to their concerns and desires. More and
more women recognize their real beauty value and appreciate what Dove
has done for them. A women name Piera Coppola types her comment on
Youtube: I wish every girl could see this video from the Dove campaign for

Real Beauty - no one should try to turn themselves into an unreal image of
"beauty". Please pass this video on and spread the word!
However, there were still some customers who give negative comment
about Dove campaign, especially the Real Beauty Sketch. In this video, a
male artist draw women based on their own and strangers description, then
they will make a comparison. While many women love this video, some
criticize it because all participants in this video are white, thin, blond hair and
blue eyes, which does not make any sense of real beauty as Dove said.
They also feel uncomfortable when ads blame on themselves, rather the
society for their own appearance critics. A women commented on Doves
Facebook fanpage: As for this particular ad campaign, implying that women
all hate themselves for stupid reasons that dont exist is not empowering or
comforting..Stop pseudo-psychoalalyzing us in attempt to make more
profit for your soap product.
Brand experience
Thanks to the effectiveness of marketing tools, sale volume of Dove
continuously increases.
Having searching reviews and feedbacks of
customers who already use Dove products, the researcher finds out some
interesting information of how people react after using Dove. Overall,
customers are satisfied with the moister function for soften, smoothen and
not filmy after rinsing. They also love the smell of product since it is very
gentle and relaxing.
There are some following illustrations
This is by far my favourite bar soap. I have sensitive skin and eyes,
and Dove does not both them. Love the smell and how it lathers. Wonderful
product!
I have very sensitive skin, and was a little skeptical about using a
scented soup, but I really like this one. Though it is scented it hasn't caused
any rashes, itching, or dryness. It has just enough moisturizer to make it not
drying, but not such much that it causes breakout if you use it on your face,
which I often do. Moreover, it helps you to remove makeup quite well. I've
found I like having this slightly scented soup.
Nevertheless, Dove product is still not suitable for some customers
who have special irritate and allergic skin.
Brand loyalty
Having been satisfied with product quality, many people decide to be
Doves loyal customers.

This bar soap does what it's supposed to do. Cleans and doesn't dry your
skin. Has a nice smell too. The best thing is to get it at a more reasonable
price. I have been using it forever and have never been disappointed.
Martin Yu Amazon.com
Beside the quality, the Real Beauty campaign is a key to raise number
of loyal customer based on the a fact that in 2006, two-thirds of Doves sales
were generated by customers who bought more than one Dove product,
which double the number from 2003, when the campaign was not conducted
yet (Neff, 2006). Buying Dove is also a way that customers connect with
millions of women over the world, who share the same perspective of real
beauty.
IV.
Conclusion
In summary, Dove in particular and Unilever in general have done
successfully in their brand building and brand development. Thanks to
continuous commercial marketing technique to impress the function of
moisturizing, Dove has become a good friend of many women all over the
word. Especially, the Real Beauty Campaign does not only help the company
in raising brand equity but also include humane and social meanings.
Hopefully, Dove and Unilever will plan and implement more marketing
campaigns like this. Other brands can also take this case as a good lesson in
their brand evolution.