Unilever’s Dove beauty product has proven successful of its relaunch and repositioning strategy. Despite this success, Kerstin Dunleavy needs to determine how to maintain the brand’s momentum while staying ahead of the competition and continuing to redefine beauty by maintaining a sense of integrity in society. Kerstin Dunleavy is required to use different advertising, publicity and sales promotion strategies in order to...
Examines the evolution of Dove from functional brand to a brand with a point of view after Unilever designated it as a masterbrand, and expanded its portfolio to cover entries into a number of sectors beyond the original bath soap category. The development causes the brand team to take a fresh look at the cliches of the beauty industry. The result is the controversial Real Beauty campaign. As the campaign unfolds, Unilever learns to use the Internet, and particularly social network media like YouTube, to manage controversy.
... John Paul Mifsud- Introduction to Integrated Marketing Communications Dove: Evolution of a Brand 1. In February 2000 Uniliver embraced a five year strategy to downsize (re-organize) the 1,600 brand to 400. The elected brands were defined as 'Master brands', and were meant to serve as umbrella identities over a range of products. The company took the decision to reduce the number of brands to gain control over its products. In the case of Dove, the brand served as umbrella brand for a wide range of health and beauty products. To gain control, the company shifted from a decentralized branding strategy, led by brand managers, to a more centralized strategy. The company developed two major groups. One was responsible for brand development (idea behind the brand) which was centralized while another team was developed, responsible for brand building around the major regions in which Unilever operated. 2. The first product developed by Dove was called a beauty bar, launched in 1957. The message claimed by the company was "Dove soap doesn't dry your skin because it's one-quarter cleansing cream". Later they changed the slogan from "cleansing cream" to "moisturizing cream". By the 2000, the brand depended on the claims of functional superiority. In February 2000 the brand was tapped to become a Masterbrand. The brand had to endorse a different image to cap the whole range of products (personal care products) that were to fall under the Dove brand. The notion of communicating functional superiority had to change. Unilever decided that Dove should stand for a point of view. They conducted an exploratory market research and came up with the idea to market the Brand as "The Real Beauty" focusing on women. The Mission statement changed into a challenge to make more women aware of their beauty. 3. The campaign for real beauty meant that the company had to understand needs and desires of women. The company made use of market research by spreading 3000 surveys across 10 countries. The outcome of this research showed that only 2% valued themselves as beautiful. The company decided that the campaign for real beauty had to focus on transmitting the message that the 'average woman' is beautiful. This creative