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January 2007 - Strategy Magazine
Special report: Brand Diaries

Dove story
You know the name and some of the story. Here, we chronicle the almost-complete evolution of Dove from simple soap to unstoppable brand and how Canada led the way - and still does.

by Karen Mazurkewich
page 37

Prior to 2003, "Dove wasn't a beauty brand, it was a bar of soap," says Mark Wakefield, Unilever Canada's marketing director of skin care and deodorants. But within that year, NYC-based global brand director, Sylvia Lagnado decides to move the positioning from a product of one to an entire beauty brand.

Products in two categories, hand and face care, launch that year.

Today, Dove is the number-two beauty brand in Canada. A Dove product is found in one of four homes, says Wakefield, currently ranking as number one in body wash, number two in hair care in just three years, number seven in face care ("where we didn't exist before") and number three in female deodorant.

To get there, Lagnado decides the brand will stand for the real beauty of all women. Dove's new mission: to make women feel more beautiful every day by widening today's stereotypical view of beauty and inspiring them to take care of themselves.

Following a series of global brainstorming workshops asking brand managers and agency partners to find ways to communicate an inclusive definition of beauty, Canada's Erin Iles, the brand's then-masterbrand marketing manager, invites 67 female photographers to submit work that best reflects real beauty. It leads to a coffee table book and travelling exhibition, called the Dove Photo Tour, which garners much press. Canadian marketers realize they are on to something.

In 2004 the Dove Campaign for Real Beauty is launched globally with Canada the lead market. And, as time and ROI will tell, (market share grew 15% in every category in 2005 and over 10% in 2006) with the help of AOR Ogilvy & Mather, media agency PHD Canada and promo agency Capital C, Canada becomes the brand's pacesetter. Here's how.

June 2004

* Wakefield, recently named marketing director, decides to push The Dove Photo Tour to the next level. He attends a meeting where Unilever global creatives pitch their ideas for what becomes the Campaign for Real Beauty marketing concept. "I had an idea how to pioneer this new strategy, and I was willing to stick my neck out," he says.

October 2004

* Wakefield and his team pool $1 million from marketing budgets across the home and personal care business to launch the first Dove Campaign for Real Beauty ad campaign in the world.

This pooling of money - and the co-ordination of marketing across the categories - was a radical thing, says Aviva Groll, account director at Ogilvy Canada. "In other (territories) the brand is marketed in their different product categories, such as hair or personal wash. The marketing planning for Dove is conducted as 'one brand, one voice.' It seems so obvious but you have to realize it was monumental."

The effort kicked off with tick-box billboards, created by Ogilvy, rolled out in

high-impact locales in major cities across Canada including Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary and Montreal. The four ads feature provocative kickers including: "Fat/Fabulous?" "Withered/Wonderful?"

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