• by Phil Leggiere , February 28, 2005

What do Wilma Flintstone, Jane Jetson, Marge Simpson, and Velma Dinckley all have in common? According to the folks at Unilever, they all have imperfect hair. And from the tower of blue that Marge uses to store her family's savings, to Wilma and Jane's rigid style, these characters could use some help.

Breaking with tradition, Unilever's Dove brand and agencies Ogilvy, Chicago, and Mindshare, decided to make these cartoon characters figureheads for Dove's hair care line, "Dove Styling." Ads for women's hair care products have long been dominated by actresses, fashion models, and other idealized personalities. While these women may be objects of admiration, their beauty regimens don't necessarily speak to the bad hair day problems of real women.

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall "Our challenge was how to avoid what we call the mirror effect' that plagues so many beauty care campaigns," explains Josh Kemeny, senior copywriter at Ogilvy, Chicago, who oversaw the campaign. "Whenever you try to hold up a mirror to the viewer in a hair care ad and cast someone to represent them, you immediately run into a problem. The viewer sees a woman on TV and says, She's really skinny. She's blonde. I'm a brunette. How am I supposed to compare myself to her?'"

"But," Kemeny adds, "with cartoon characters it's a different equation. We all can relate to them because we all grew up with them. No one is going to look at Wilma Flintstone and feel inadequate by comparison." Kemeny says using animated characters let Dove cut straight to the message. "Fashion models come and go, but cartoon figures like Marge Simpson, Jane Jetson, and Wilma Flintstone span generations. They have a universal appeal."

The introduction of Dove Styling marks the first foray of the Dove hair care line beyond shampoos and conditioners. The new line includes five hairsprays, two mousses, two gels, pomade, as well as anti-frizz and straightening hair cream products.

In honing its message, Dove realized changes were necessary. First, the tone women were accustomed to hearing for decades needed to infuse product information with irreverence. "We felt like we had a product here that really does what women have been asking styling products to do for decades, which is style that moves naturally," recalls Andrew Gross, vice president of brand development for Unilever North America. "We felt it was a radical departure and that meant we needed to communicate it in a new way."

"Beauty care campaigns," Ogilvy's Kemeny adds, "have never really been fun before. So we wanted to offer people a chance to laugh, not just at, but with characters who shared their problems."

The other crucial departure, Kemeny recalls, was to more sharply focus the "division of labor" between specific media components. "Dove has worked with multiple media pieces before," he says, " but this time the task was more complex. We needed not only to reinforce the core message of brand quality Dove has always maintained with its shampoos, but also to rapidly build awareness for an entirely new line of products. And that meant getting people to see Dove in a new way. We felt that this time the message deserved a plan that truly enveloped the consumer."

Kemeny says that initially, Dove had a very print-focused campaign in mind but as important as print became to the campaign, ultimately, it was by itself too narrowly focused. "It made the message seem smaller," he says, adding, "We found after testing that we really needed to combine print with both the mass reach of TV and the local, person-to-person word of mouth intimacy that out of home, in-store, and other non-traditional venues provide."

"Unstick Your Style" The theme for the multimedia campaign was "Unstick Your Style." The TV spots began running in mid-January just after the new line became widely available in stores. The spots ran on top-rated network and cable shows popular with women 18 and older, ranging from dramas like "ER" and "Third Watch," to comedies and daytime talk shows. Dove geared the campaign to ensure maximum reach and frequency through March.

"The role of television was even more important than it traditionally is for Dove," Kemeny says. "It's still the premier medium to allow the brand to build awareness of the new line very quickly by reaching the broadest possible canvas of women across many demographics simultaneously," he adds.

The campaign's signature 30-second spot begins with Wilma Flintstone declaring: "My hair has been stuck in the Stone Age," cutting to Velma Dinckley saying "Jinky, my hair doesn't move." Finally, Jane Jetson exclaims, "My hair doesn't feel free. I don't feel free!" After washing her hair, and using the new Dove Styling products Wilma concludes, "Well, all that's changed. It's looser. It's lighter. Talk about Yabba Dabba Do." Jane: "My hair moves. Oh, I feel pretty." The spot concludes with Velma explaining, "I've been searching to find the mystery of beautiful hair. Mystery solved."

While mass reach via TV advertising was the central component of the campaign's first wave, print remained a key platform for educating the market about specific attributes of the new line. As Kemeny explains, "We saw print as extending and, most importantly, deepening the reach of our message by creating an environment in which to speak in detail to women who are looking for beauty advice and information."

Full-page ads ran prominently in the February issues of virtually all of the top 20 women's magazines. They focused on using the cartoon characters to provide more targeted information about specific Dove Styling products.

One ad for Dove "Volumizing Mousse" shows Wilma Flintstone letting down her trademark hairdo, unfurling a full head of red hair. "A new movement in hair is here," the copy begins. "Crunchy hairstyles are history. New Dove Volumizing Mousse with weightless moisturizers gives you the body you need with the natural movement you want. Talk about Yabba Dabba Do."

Another ad for Dove "Anti-Frizz Cream" features a blue-haired Marge Simpson as her massive beehive unfolds to reveal soft-flowing locks. "Turn unruly hair into foxy momma hair," the ad advises. "Welcome to Blue Heaven."

In an ad for Dove "Precision Spot Hair," Jane Jetson's hair is transformed from the stiffly rigid "helmet" hairstyle with which she's associated, to a gentler, freer, smoother look. The copy reads: "The future of hairsprays is here."

Bad Hair Day? Pop icons to the rescue Dove expects non-traditional media to play a key role in translating the awareness-building of the campaign's first wave into purchase intent, and ultimately, product loyalty. Of particular importance, is a rollout planned for spring that is a combination of out-of-home media and in-store promotions featuring the cartoon characters.

The goal of the non-traditional media is to promote the "made over" icons Wilma, Marge, Jane, and Velma via outdoor billboards and ads in subways and bus shelters in six major metropolitan areas. Dove also placed ads at retail outlets nationwide. "It's really exciting to have such icons to work with," Kemeny says. "Seeing Wilma or Marge Simpson all made over when you go shopping is a conversation piece and the kind of thing that we think will really generate lots of local attention and word of mouth," he notes.

Such an approach, Kemeny believes, is a crucial complement to the print and TV work, and one that will, if well-executed, deeply ingrain the message more than mass advertising alone.

Online advertising and promotion will have a low-key, but crucial support function. The Dove.com Web site has been revamped to feature the Dove Styling line. Interactive features include an "Unstick Your Style" sweepstakes with prizes including a weekend in New York City, a personal session with a celebrity stylist, and a $1,000 shopping spree. The site will also include the TV ads and more interactive features involving the cartoon icons and their makeovers.

While quantitative results and metrics weren't available at press time, early indicators show a pronounced increase in product awareness and interest. Perhaps more importantly, scarcely two weeks into the campaign Dove was already deluged with positive responses from women seeing the ads. This is as solid an indicator as any, Kemeny believes, and a sign that the campaign is resonating with its intended audience.

"We've been overwhelmed, far more so than in any campaign we can recall, by personal responses to this work," he says. "So many women are telling us how refreshing it is not to see a gorgeous model in these ads. That is exactly what we were hoping for. I find that when you respect the intelligence of consumers, they really reward you."