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Dove: Changing the face of Beauty PR

Consumer_dove_changing The Marketing Society Awards - Best Marketing Communications (Winner)

Brief

Generate maximum media coverage for Dove's new range of 'firming' beauty products, based on the revolutionary philosophy that beauty comes in all body shapes and sizes, and the beauty of real women should be celebrated.

Solution

We needed to engage consumers in a way no other beauty brand had ever achieved – show Dove was 'on their side'; championing real beauty by using 'real women' in its advertising. The ads would generate the images for the campaign but PR would build the emotional connection and a sense of involvement for the core target audience. We commissioned research that proved many women have low body confidence as a direct result of advertising that uses flawless models. Women, we proved, want to see 'real' women in advertising whose beauty is aspirational yet attainable. We related it to recognisable celebrities, such as Renee Zellweger as Bridget Jones and enlisted psychologist and author of a forthcoming book on body image Dr Linda Papadopolous as an independent media spokesperson. We also launched a national hunt for a group of 'Real women to star in a follow-up ad campaign through a competition called 'Firm Friends'.

Results

We kick started the campaign with a 6 page exclusive in the Saturday Times magazine. This was the first time a personal care ad campaign had dominated the front page of a major national broadsheet newspaper magazine. The coverage elevated the campaign beyond the product message and started a national debate on Dove’s new beauty philosophy, which was followed up by every national UK newspaper.

Momentum was maintained by releasing the Body Image research on the day the poster advertising broke, an strategy which led to overwhelmingly positive coverage during launch week.

The Sun agreed to do an exclusive on the launch of our Firm Friends search, which was supported by an advertorial in Red magazine. The national winners’ stories subsequently appeared in The Sun, and other national newspapers followed – an unprecedented result for what was essentially a consumer competition.The PR campaign created one of the biggest national debates around an advertising campaign seen in recent years.