• by Adrienne W. Fawcett , January 2, 2007

Two years ago, Dove gave an old brand new life with a revolutionary marketing campaign that redefined the word beauty. Unilever continues to keep the initiative fresh, and to extend the brand by positioning it on the leading edge of cultural trends.

"The Campaign For Real Beauty" uses real women whose ages, waistlines, skin color, and hair texture deviate from the stereotypical size 2 supermodel.

The images of ordinary women on billboards, print ads, TV spots, and Web videos are remarkable--and remark-worthy. Two-and-a-half million people have visited CampaignForRealBeauty.com to judge the advertising, discuss the definition of beauty, and download educational programs since 2004.

The secret to Dove's 2006 marketing success is its trend-forwardness. Unilever and WPP Group's Ogilvy & Mather kept the brand aloft this year by immersing it in popular culture through viral marketing, social networking, consumer-generated ads, and talent searches. According to TNS Media Intelligence, Unilever spent $144 million on measured media in 2004, $153.6 million in 2005, and $128.4 million from January through September 2006.

Dove kept apace with popular culture despite turnover on the marketing team in June--when Silvia Lagnado, senior vice president of the global brand, became Unilever's group vice president for savory foods.

Dove's 2006 "Self Esteem" spot stood out like a fresh bar of soap on a sticky frat-room floor during Super Bowl XL in February, a non-traditional venue for a beauty brand. The one-time-only, 45-second commercial via Ogilvy & Mather focused on girls and the negative images they have of themselves, such as "Thinks she's fat" or "Hates her freckles." In the background, the Girl Scouts of Nassau County Chorus from Long Island, New York sang a version of "True Colors." The spot launched the Dove Self-Esteem Fund, which aims to build the self-confidence of 1 million young people by 2008.

"A lot of people said, 'Why are you going on the Super Bowl? Viewers just want to drink beer and eat popcorn--they don't want to think about these things,' "says Stacie Bright, senior communications marketing manager for Dove. "Well, there is the obvious reason--there are 90 million viewers, and half of them are women. It was successful because it was a jarring message that stopped people in their tracks. We got e-mails from fathers thanking us for that campaign, which was really amazing and surprising."

In the fourth quarter of 2006, Dove hit on another popular trend: viral marketing. When Spain banned overly thin models from its fashion runways in September, Dove responded with a short film called "Evolution" that shows a woman--in this case a Canadian cartoonist--being transformed into a billboard model by hair and makeup artists and photo-re-imaging technicians, who elongate her neck, among other things. The tagline: "No wonder our perception of beauty is distorted."

The fast-motion, 75-second film was created by Ogilvy & Mather, Toronto, and put up on CampaignForRealBeauty.com. People were driven to the site by PR via Edelman, and the film raced through the Internet. It was viewed by upwards of 2 million on YouTube, and generated an 8,000 percent increase in visits to Dove's Web site. "Our Webmasters thought someone was hacking into the system," says Bright.

In December, Dove hit on two other popular trends: consumer-generated media and TV talent searches. It issued a call for "real women" to create 30-second TV spots for a new product called Dove Cream Oil Body Wash. Consumers can use their own material or visit DoveCreamOil.com to access online tools, artwork, photos, and music to create ads. The winning spot will air during ABC's Academy Awards program in February.

"We're tapping into people's need to develop their own content. People want to be heard," Bright says.

They also want Dove products. According to Information Resources, Inc., sales of Dove soap brands grew 7% to $281.3 million from Jan. 1 to Nov. 5, 2006; Dove hair care products sales grew 13.3% to $102.5 million; and Dove skin care products and lotions grew 16.2% to $117 million in that time period. Unilever posits that one in every three households uses a Dove product.

The Campaign For Real Beauty works not just because of its trendability factor. It works because the message--that all women are beautiful--is authentic to the brand. "A lot of brand managers tell us, 'We want to have the next Dove campaign.' We tell them you have to find what your real essence is and be true to your brand," Bright says. "You have to have a clean voice, one that your brand has the authority and right to speak in."