Launched in September 2004, Dove’s Marketing campaign for Actual Magnificence challenged conventional magnificence requirements and promoted self-acceptance, that includes pictures of actual ladies of various ages, shapes, sizes and ethnicities that bucked the traits of earlier campaigns within the sector.
It was primarily based on the perception that solely 2% of girls globally thought of themselves to be stunning, largely due to the idealized pictures of girls they had been bombarded with in promoting, media and well-liked tradition. And bear in mind, this was earlier than the daybreak of smartphones and social media which have piled on the stress much more.
It resonated a lot that the important philosophy behind the marketing campaign remains to be being utilized in Dove’s communications and advertising and marketing to this present day, as evidenced by the #TurnYourBack activation that gained Marketing campaign of the Yr at March’s 25th anniversary PRWeek Awards.
#TurnYourBack pushed again on the Daring Glamour generative AI filter pattern that swept social media final yr. The filter airbrushed customers to a single magnificence normal, altering individuals’s faces a lot that some thought it ought to be banned for its potential psychological well being results. Inside 72 hours of the filter’s launch, Dove partnered with 68 influential creators asking them to #TurnYourBack on the filter.
It was a basic extension of Dove’s No Digital Distortion motion and Self-Esteem Venture, which had been themselves constructed on the Marketing campaign for Actual Magnificence idea.
These days you see ladies of all ages, shapes, sizes and ethnicities on the entrance of magazines, on style present runways and past. This isn’t solely all the way down to Dove’s marketing campaign, however it positive contributed a hell of quite a bit to the revolution.
Originated by Ogilvy & Mather and activated in partnership with Edelman, the marketing campaign was named better of the final 20 years at PRWeek’s 20th anniversary awards again in 2019. It was the final word proof of the worth of performing purposefully by way of constructing a model and producing revenue for an organization, displaying that the 2 will not be mutually unique.
I bear in mind being on the launch of the Marketing campaign for Actual Magnificence in London in September 2004. Curiously, the lead presenter was a person, Ogilvy’s legendary artistic strategist Rory Sutherland, which I’m positive wouldn’t have been the case immediately.
However Sutherland’s distinctive tackle advertising and marketing and branding actually fitted the temper of the night time, as the good and the great of the British promoting business gathered to have a good time what was instantly clear could be an iconic piece of labor.
Sutherland’s mantra has all the time been to do issues backwards. In different phrases, begin with the buyer and make the most of bottom-up technique to work towards the enterprise case on the high of the funnel. And that was actually the philosophy of the Marketing campaign for Actual Magnificence. As Dove’s CMO Alessandro Manfredi stated this week: “We’ve got demonstrated there isn’t a tradeoff between goal and revenue.”
Kathryn Fernandez, senior director, Dove goal and engagement North America, and the remainder of the Dove group rang the opening bell on the NYSE earlier this week, noting on LinkedIn: “This long-standing marketing campaign continues immediately with its unwavering dedication to illustration, confidence and empowerment.”
Dove additionally marked the milestone by recommitting to the philosophy behind Actual Magnificence and pledging it could by no means use AI to characterize actual ladies in its promoting.
It launched a world magnificence examine that estimated as much as 90% of what we see on our screens would be the product of generative AI by 2025. Virtually eight out of 10 ladies (73%) really feel extra stress to be stunning than eight years in the past, and practically 9 out of 10 ladies and women (85%) say they’ve been uncovered to dangerous magnificence content material on-line.
So, the work is not at all completed but. I’m wanting ahead to seeing how the Dove group and different model entrepreneurs use creativity to deal with vital points similar to these over the subsequent few years, whereas persevering with to promote extra merchandise and make revenue for his or her corporations.
