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December 2007 - Strategy Magazine
Brands of the year

Overall brand of the year: Dove
Dove soars
The brand that made advertising history may now make Canada a world leader

by Carey Toane
page 52

Did you hear? Unilever took home two Grand Prix from Cannes this past summer. But Dove is strategy's overall brand of the year not because of the awards it's won, but because of the effectiveness of the Campaign for Real Beauty - in both brand-building and elevating Canada's role in global marketing campaigns. What started as an experiment has become a solid commitment to a new world order in consumer goods marketing, in which big brands take big risks and reap big rewards. What the Cannes Lions did was endorse the effort, and encourage more of it.

Cannes film jury president Bob Scarpelli, chair/CCO, DDB Worldwide, applauded Unilever for taking the lead among CPG companies. "We're seeing an evolution here," he said. "The bigger companies are realizing you have to engage people, and the way you need to reach the consumer has changed."

Geoff Craig, VP and general manager, brand-building at Toronto-based Unilever Canada, sees that as an opportunity for both Unilever Canada and Canadian CPG marketers in general. "I would like to see us on the radar more than we are, because of successes. I think Canada has a unique ability, as the world of marketing is changing, to be nimble, faster, quicker."

"Evolution"'s success has solidified Unilever Canada's role as a leading voice on the direction of the global brand. "I think there is an expectation that the work coming out of Canada will be very creative, it'll be excellent and it'll push some boundaries," says Craig. "Ultimately it has to translate into business results, and the business results we have in this country are pretty much superior, in terms of share, to any other country in the world."

ROI talks. And other parts of the company, such as Unilever U.S., are now listening to Canada's winning marketing formula of one-half social action and

one-half social media. Added together, they equal one big bang for the brand.

"Evolution" alone has brought in an estimated $190 million in PR to date, while market share grew 10% in 2006 (Unilever declined to give numbers for 2007, saying only that the current share has grown vs. last year, and continues to outpace market growth).

Dove is also no longer just a "beauty bar" - this year's CreamOil and Pro-Age lines, Energy Glow face moisturizer and various hair care line extensions are the latest additions to a product portfolio that has expanded exponentially under the Real Beauty banner since 2003.

The success of "Evolution" - which cost $135,000 to make and next to nothing to distribute - has cast a halo over two new films also created by Toronto's Ogilvy & Mather. While "Evolution" started from Canada and worked its way around the world, "Onslaught" and "Amy" launched globally on Oct. 11, a year later.

Craig says even that was risky. "On 'Evolution,' the local PR fed on itself as it went from country to country in a short time. This time around, [we did] it as one bang. Which way will be more effective? That will be answered one day." With around 700,000 views on YouTube in the first two weeks, "Onslaught" fell short of the two million Ogilvy says "Evolution" received in that time.

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