Video courtesy of:YouTube
Dove Real Beauty Campaign
When I think of beauty products and the way they are marketed to women, my mind automatically thinks skinny model, with perfectly contoured cheek bones, and a photo shopped body that is not even close to being achievable. I usually feel awful about myself knowing I will never look like a super model, and wash my sorrows down in chocolate and wine. That is, until I watched a commercial that changed my perspective and possibly my outlook on myself. Could it be there was a company that actually cared about its consumers, and was trying to deliver a body positive message?
What started it all.
Women have been held to an unrealistic standard of beauty for decades, and in 2004 an American company Unilever, owner of personal care and toiletries brand Dove, set out to change how women looked at themselves. The Dove “Real Beauty” Campaign was the beginning of a long marketing journey, a domino effect of successful campaigns that all delivered the same body positive message. Dove wanted women to see themselves as beautiful-regardless of age, race or size.
The initial release of the Dove “Real Beauty” campaign was one that was three years in the making, and the exact same strategy was used for several other campaigns. Within a few years the idea of being consumer centric vs product centric, led the company to increase sales from $2 Billion to $4 Billion in only three years. The company used traditional media methods to spread their message, filling pages of magazines, posting on billboards, and spending millions on television ads.
Fast Forward
Once social platforms became mainstream, Dove quickly had a presence on YouTube, Facebook and Twitter. They quickly understood that by using these channels of new media they were able to tell a story to their audience and open dialogue to create relationships directly with their customers. Dove uses social media to engage with consumers, asked their target audience to review their products, answer questions people have about their products and to promote campaigns with hashtags. Even their website is interactive, with games and quizzes women can take to find their real beauty product and hashtags they can use on other platforms.
Photos courtesy of Facebook and Twitter.
While Dove does not post to all of their social platforms on a daily basis, they stay current to what is going on in the world and gear their posts to real life people and events. This creates a sense of integrity and trust for their audience because the brand is dealing with the same issues they are encountering.
Video courtesy of: Twitter
Dove has launched a series of campaigns, each focusing on real people and embracing their true beauty. They deliver a positive message to their audience while building relationship through personal interactions on their social media platforms. While their marketing strategy is not perfect and has raised concerns in the past, this brand has worked hard to portray an image of authenticity and trust.
Do you know of another company that focuses on the consumer rather than than their product with their marketing strategies? What about brands that reach out and engage with their target audiences? Drop your answer in the comment section below.
Algonquin College Social Media Certificate Program 
Great idea for your bio at the end. Love it!
There is no doubt that the concept of the Dove Real Beauty campaign is an excellent. There is no way that saying to women that they are beautiful no matter what is amazing. Unfortunately, there has been some criticism leveled at the campaign, particularly the “Real Beauty Sketches”, mainly because the majority of the women were white.