Dove threw open its doors to the Indian Blogosphere in May 2011; when they launched the biggest blogger contest seen yet in this part of the world with IndiBlogger.in. Dove has been in India for a long time now and one of the most recalled brand from the HUL stable.
It would be nice to do a small recap of the Brand Dove (worldwide and in India); and hence a little about them. It was launched worldwide in 1957; and was also positioned as a milder soap compared to the other ones in the market as being harsh on the soft and sensitive skin of women. It was launched in India in 1993 (as per the HUL website).
If one were to break down the Brand Identity it would essentially be left with four main points:
- Features – Even now, its marketed as a moisturizing bar and not a soap
- Attributes – Colors, unscented, calming, relaxing, 1/4 moisturizer
- Benefits – mild on the skin
- Performance – high satisfaction, softer skin for those especially with dry skin
The two main traits of the brand personality however have been the same throughout for the last 60 years, one of the reasons why Dove has come to symbolize the savior of all women wanting to look beautiful and feel it from inside.
- Femininity and Mildness
- Self esteem and confidence
Dove’s present campaign has broadly two highlights.
- Real Beauty
- Self Esteem
As one can see, they are clearly based on the brand traits. Dove even went to the extend of opening what they called a “Self Esteem Fund” for women. This campaign did not see the light of the day in India but was hugely popular in markets like the US and UK. This was mainly to change the concept that women look beautiful only if thin, and that even if one were fat, its how they feel from inside that really judges how pretty they really are. (Read the wiki here)
As the wiki also mentions, that Dove positioning is clearly against how HUL markets Fair and Lovely; a product which very clearly states that only fairness (exterior looks) makes a woman beautiful. But then again, HUL is not a brand or a megabrand or even a parent brand unlike Colgate or Nestle.
The India Campaign of Real Beauty, is ably supported by Yahoo! on their site (Yahoo! Real Beauty). The website has a lot of content by a few time authors and an editorial board from Yahoo! While its important how the average consumer perceives Dove as a brand; its very important for any brand to have its own share of brand ambassadors as well. The Blogger Engagement that Dove recently started is exactly a step in that direction. Clearly targeted towards women, so far it has seen over 270 blogs coming its way; that talk about various aspects of how one looks like beauty. Looking at the posts, one might want to argue that all blog posts talk about beauty being an inner voice and not something that one should go by, on exterior looks.
But the point is, that so many look at beauty this way, and that too real beauty is it not a testament to the brand Dove – that they have done a wonderful job over the past 18 years in building that brand message and positioning? The contest would eventually get over with over 300 entries which would talk about nothing but the brand message of Dove in unique ways.
Samit Malkani from Yahoo! earlier blogged about how Surrogate advertising is a template for digital creativity. (read post here) Although I would agree on certain aspects, the template for digital creativity especially blogger engagements is not surrogate in nature but works purely on brand concept and positioning. Surrogate would be when we sell the brand Kingfisher for water; and the brand Bacardi for music CDs. Surrogate marketing leads to brand dilution; but building on positioning reinforces the message. That’s smart and effective marketing through word of mouth (or world of mouth as Erik Qualman would call it!). Another aspect of blogger engagement compared to other means of social media or online media is – its earned media. Facebook, adwords, websites, microsites are all owned or paid media.
I hope Dove also launch the Self Esteem campaign in India. If we can have Shilpa Shetty shipped across to the UK for this, surely its time we did it. This activity comes at a time when other brands are vying for mindshare and after many failed attempts by other brands like Wella, Nokia, Samsung with the Indian Blogosphere which resulted in failed attempts to say the least having followed a typical PR approach compared to a digital media approach.
Links and Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dove_Campaign_for_Real_Beauty
http://www.dove.ca/en/default.aspx#/cfrb/
http://whatisaninsight.blogspot.com/2011/05/how-to-use-surrogate-advertising-as.html
http://www.adbrands.net/us/dove_us.htm
Press Releases
Press Release for Dove Real Beauty Blogger Contest
Interesting insights!!