The Dove Campaign - Essay Example

number Campaign Analysis The dove company launched its campaign in 2004 for real beauty. This international effort aimed at making real change in the way young girls and women perceived beauty. Since then, the campaign has created many confidence and promoted massages and programs that deal with beauty definition. The company has enhanced much confidence in their customers through campaigns that aimed at marketing their products and promoting interests that would bring more customers to market. The particular product associated with the campaign was the beauty soap, and the dove deodorant that are both products of the company. In September 2004, the campaign for real beauty was officially launched for the rise of some consciousness of all issue associate with beauties. The campaign was purposely meant to challenge the stereotypes that had been set by the beauty industry. It had numerous intentions in making as many women as possible feel beautiful every day. The campaign led to the release of the global research that explored the relationship between women and beauty and what beauty links to their happiness all across the world. It was such an effective campaign and was accompanied with much advertising that inspires the society and more especially women to think differently about the definition of beauty. The campaign was also attached with some fundraising initiatives that were aimed at helping young girls who had low self-esteem related to their beauty. The DOVE SELF ESTEEM FUND supported the fund raising initiatives. According to the campaign, every woman was to possess something beautiful and unique. Sixty eight percent of all people believe that unrealistic standards of beauty exist within the advertising world and the media. Forty-seven percent has believed that only attractive women are portrayed in the well-known cultures while eighty-five percent agree that beauty can be achieved through spirit and personal attitude. This was critically analyzed throughout the campaign period that left many individuals convinced about the associated beauty with the dove products. The SWOT Analysis of the Dove Company (Doole et al 67) Strengths The associated strengths with the company include its broad market equipped with quality products. Their advertising is very much inspiring with much emotional appeal. This has created perfect public relations that give it enormous strengths compared to its competitors. The company has also a positive self-image. This act as a driving factor in motivates every undertaking within the company creates a motivating factor to all the stakeholders. They make broad definition of beauty stereotype and have an access to free publicity during their campaign. Weaknesses The particular weaknesses of Dove Company are highly identified in the soap product, and it has related many consumers. Other weakness includes the contradiction from the other products while there is still objectification. The company is associated with some criticism of hypocrisy and that many customers claim that it is naturally contradictory. Additionally, the company focuses many in real beauty than in their products. Opportunities The clear opportunity that the company can embark on is male customers. It finds an opportunity to produce male products that broadens their market an increase their income generation. Moreover, product promotion is another opportunity for the company. They found it much generative in promoting their products than waiting for customers from their premises. Their new slogans and innovations have also been categorized as their business opportunities. Threats Despite the strengths and opportunities, the Dove Company has some threats to consider; for example, copying of their products by their competitors. Many competitors around make copyright products that confuse the dove customers. The sustainability of their campaign is also a threat since the campaign requires a lot of money to make it successful. Dove is also threatened by increased completion. Many companies have been established in the beauty industry. This brings in a threat to the existing companies within the industry. Intended Audience The dove brand had been used target women of all ages, sizes, and shapes. For instance, their campaign targeted the older women who were fifty years and above. Their marketing campaign taped into the older women’s perception in that media have mostly ignored older females. The target was arrived at after the Dove Company countered that older women of ages fifty and above were the prime targets for the beauty and skin care markets as well as in the anti-aging and the cosmeceutical market. It stresses that the campaign marked a departure from the high claims of the anti-aging products but rather emphasized how its new channel of pro-age products could help in enhancing the appearance of older females (Roedl and Sara 66). The media and Communication Their first stage of the advertisement was centered on billboard. They displayed photos of women taken by the ads who invited people to vote whether a particular image was excellent or wrinkled among other features. Communicating channels later became very massive and included television and broadcast, posters, press advertising and online. Dove’s beauty campaign entered the viral video hall of popularity, captured more than one hundred million views, and became the most watched online video. Videos and picture of older women in their beautiful skins were posted on the web and was believed to pass much information about the Dove products. Advertisements were also integrated in television programs with smiling faces for aged women who seemed to celebrate their young-like faces. Dove also made it-self one of the only brands within the personal care field since it chose to integrate some digital efforts in support for their business strategy. The brand also performed email marketing and an SMS program that provided exclusive coupons and beauty tips that are believed to have reached more than ten million teens, as well as older women. Their executives encouraged people to share photos, videos and stories across all popular social networks with Twitter included (Doole et al. 34). Dove’s strategy was to extend their marketing efforts of their 2004 campaign. Before 2004, product benefits were the only thing that Dove had communicated. With the Real Beauty Campaign, they took an emotional position instead and aimed at conveying a more democratic image of attractiveness. Dove had initiated the strategy to make women feel beautiful at all ages through widening the stereotype views of beauty. Dove successively took the stand with their campaign for the Real Beauty and successfully engaged their target audience by giving them a valuable character of good self-esteem. In the same way, the brand enabled consumers to engage in not only the brand but also in the consumer’s social networks. During their campaign, real women were featured as models; thus, providing much inspiration to them. They also undertook the campaign to broaden the definition of the word “beauty”. They meant to let females know that beauty was not characterized by natural appearances but was brought out through their confidence in appearance. They aimed at encouraging older women to restore their self-esteem by making practice uses of their anti-aging products. The Dove campaign was different from the conventional style in the industry. This was meant to break the advertising business rule “it is only the beautiful models that sell”. The marketing role of the campaign was to bring the idea of enjoying simple things in life through the Dove brand. It was meant to capture the attention of many customers that it is only with Dove that women can put on everlasting smiling faces with much confidence in themselves. Critique of the Campaign The Dove campaign was successful. According to the sales report that was released by the Uniliver, the sales for the firming lotion rose by 600 % in UK. Sales in US were confirmed to have grown by 11.5 %. There was also significant improvement on revenues for the year 2005 with thirty nine billion and two hundred thousand employees. The total sales for Dove Brand also went up by six percent. The Silver Anvil Award for Edelman who handled the PR also suggested that the campaign was successful (Doole et al 45). As a consumer, I felt the reality as it was expressed in their videos. The Dove Real Beauty Campaign featured real situations that made me make a choice in embracing their stands. During the campaign, the Dove Brand was represented as been very natural and that it worked most effectively on natural skins. The protective power as demonstrated through their practical also moved my attitude towards their brands. The results of the campaign show how a good number of women were moved for a new conversion on beauty communication. A conversation that opposes the belief that people do not like the way they look (Roedl and Sara 78). Professionally, the Dove Campaign exploited women’s self esteem-with respect to beauty-for its own purpose. The fact is that, Dove cannot progress in making good sales if women disliked their looks. If the ads went on selling beauty products to women and at the same time advising them that they appeared more beautiful without the make-ups, then very little sales they would make. Companies that sale beauty products need to make women feel bad about their appearance and may be hate the way they look. These would give them a better opportunity to supply their beauty products likes the lipstick and deodorants among others. Although the campaign was successful, it has a stake in keeping women in between desperate hatred about their looks and fake self-esteem. They should have strategized to make women believe that they are beautiful and at the same time not beautiful so that they could make better consumers of the company and its products. However, the Dove brand has made women and young girls in America become more anxious than being confident. Instead of making a prey on their anxiety by offering solutions of beauty and using it for their marketing advantage, Dove is actually making efforts to get to the base of the problem by trying to boost women and girl’s confidence as well as their self-esteem. Work cited Doole, Isobel, and Robin Lowe. International Marketing Strategy: Analysis, Development and Implementation. London: Cengage Learning, 2008. Print. Roedl, Sara J. Campaigning for Real Beauty or Reinforcing Social Norms?: An Analysis of the Correlation of the Dove Campaign for Real Beauty and Advertisements in Fashion Magazines. 2010. Print. Read More