Harvard Business Case study Dove-Evolution of a brand

2. When we talk about Dove
We have to talk about Unilever.

3. Unilever was formed in 1930
when the U.K.-based Lever Brothers combined
with the Dutch Margarine Unie

4. Unilever operated on
every continent and had
particular strengths in
India, Africa,
Latin America, and
Southeast Asia.

5. Global decentralization brought strengths
through diversity,
but also
Problems of Control.

6. “Path to Growth” Initiative.
A 5 year strategic planning
February, 2000
So,
Unilever launched

7. Unilever’s “Path to Growth” Initiative
Brand managing
was decentralized.
2000
2005
1,600 brands
400 brands
MasterBrands
Global brand unit
for each Masterbrand

8. “Masterbrands” are the brands that are
mandated to serve as Umbrella Identities
over a range of product forms.
What are MasterBrands?

9. Entrusted with responsibility for
creating it’s Global vision
and charged with
inspiring cooperation from all
geographic markets
What are MasterBrands?

10. Dovewas selected as a
Masterbrand

11. Dove
Early Stages:
The first Dove product,
called a beauty bar, was launched in 1957
with the claim that it would not dry
out your skin the way soap did,
because it was not technically soap at all.

12. Marketing in those days:

13. Until 2000,
the brand mainly thrived on claims of
Functional superiority
backed by the product’s
moisturizing benefit

14. Masterbrand role called on to lend
Dove’s name to Unilever entries in
Personal Care categories beyond the
beauty bar category

15. Functional Superiority was no longer an option.
Unilever decided, instead, that Dove should stand
for a Point of view.

16. Why not?
May be Dove didn’t have Functional superiority in all categories
May be Competitors already had an advantage in those categories
Despite all these, Dove wanted to Succeed
May be that’s why, Point of view.
Thinking outside the box, Hmmmm…
Me

17. In 2002,Silvia Lagnado, Global
brand director for Dove, led a worldwide
Investigation into women’s responses to
the iconography of the Beauty Industry

18. “Young, white,
blonde and thin”
That’s what
he found
out !

19. For many women
these were unattainable
standards,
and they Felt Taunted.

20. For further Clarity, Unilever tapped two experts
Nancy Etcoff was a
Harvard University psychiatrist
and author
of the book, Survival of the Prettiest.
Suzy Orbach was a London-based
psychotherapist
and was the author of
the book, Fat is a Feminist Issue

21. ,
Then, came the Results,

23. “The Campaign for Real Beauty”
In Came the

24. To create a buzz,
The campaign used a range of paid media
Starting from Bill-boards to TV Shows.
Marketing Brilliance : The Campaign for Real Beauty

25. Marketing Brilliance : The Campaign for Real Beauty
They even build a framework to spark a
dialogue and debate about beauty that
would ultimately penetrate popular culture
to generate broad awareness for “The
Campaign for Real Beauty” and establish an
Emotional connection with women

26. But then,
Anti-Campaign arguments Started coming up
internally,

27. I would have had mixed thoughts.
Though we are Promoting Real beauty,
Aren’t we risking our positions by altering the ‘want’
we used to market?
May be we are sticking to basics of the ‘need’ of health
care products.
If I were in their shoes,

28. This could Probably imbibe Loyalty among the customers.
But What’s the use, if the market is on a down , as we are
demoting the beauty awareness?
Competitors are going to decrease though.
If I were in their shoes,

29. Dove’s mission is to make ‘more’
women feel beautiful
every day by broadening the narrow
definition of beauty and inspiring them
to take great care of themselves.
But then,
Dove came with this

30. They didn’t even mention a product in this Ad !!
Andthis,

31. The Ad created a
Spark
Whole media went crazy
over the message of the ad

32. “We knew we were well on our way to
achieving our goals when the media
began covering the
media covering the campaign”
-Stacie Bright,
Unilever Senior Communications
Marketing Manager
Marketing Brilliance : The Campaign for Real Beauty

33. When Controversies came,
They chose to fuel the debate
They risked their
Masterbrand, Dove’s
Image
Then, they went All Out !

35. Then it got even Bigger,
3 Million Hits on YouTube

36. Unilever established the global Dove Self-
Esteem Fund to raise the self-esteem of girls
and young women.
Now, It was time to Walk the talk

37. In September 2006, Landor Associates
identified Dove as one of 10 brands with the
greatest percentage gain in brand health
and business value in the past three years.

38. In 2007, Unilever’s Dove was the world’s
number-one “cleansing” brand in the health
and beauty sector, with sales of over $2.5
billion a year in more than 80 countries.

39. Why was it a Huge Success?
The way they connected with People
That was the pick of the lot

40. They used their Own Customers
to create ads rather than using
the so called Super Models
Thus, creating a
Image
Differentiation.
Why was it a Huge Success?

41. The other charged with
Buildingthe brand.
One for Developmentof the brand
And
Which was indeed attributed to,
Unilever’s “Path to Growth” Initiative
which split responsibility
for a brand
between two groups,

42. Brand Development took responsibility
for developing the idea behind a brand,
for innovation, and for
evolving the idea into the future.
Brand Development was centralized
and global in scope.
Developmentof the brand

43. Managers in the brand-building
chain of command were charged
with bringing the brand to life in
their marketplace.
Brand Building was decentralized in
major geographic regions in which
Unilever operated.
Buildingthe brand.

44. Created by Sadhique K
Kunhahamed,
IIITD&M-K, during an internship
by Prof. Sameer Mathur, IIM
Lucknow.
www.IIMInternship.com

45. Thank You