Dove Evolution of a Brand

1DOVE: EVOLUTION OF A BRAND

Dove Question#1

It is quite evident that a brand plays an important role in identifying one product and

services from other similar goods and services. It is quite evident that Dove has a well-structured

and established brand which is greatly defined by the various brand elements incorporated into

their products. From a close analysis it is quite evident that Dove brand have incorporated

several elements into their brands (Rhea, 2006). These elements are; name, logo, graphics,

shapes, colors as well as sounds to ensure that Dove Company has a well-defined global brand.

Based on color, Dove Company understands that color is a strong communicative element

towards their brand identity. The company has incorporated a culture that is dynamic as well as

bold that is seen to take its inspiration from the diversity and richness of their different customers

across the globe.

In addition to color, the company has incorporated several graphic to its chosen color.

Clearly, from the view of the various Dove products, the use of their complementary color

blends well with the chosen image. Evidently, dove products have colors that complement well

on the various photographs as well as backgrounds. The use of punctuation in several dove

brands adds emphasis to the product image. The other major brand element is displayed in the

name. The word Dove is largely used to identify with the Unilever Company and the dove

products (Rhea, 2006). The various distinctive shapes of the dove products ranging from body

lotions to soaps can be termed to be trademarked elements of the company brands. It is quite

evident that while choosing brand elements to build equity, Unilever through Dove has

incorporated on various criteria before choosing on their brand elements. These criteria’s are;

memorability, meaningfulness, likability, transferability, adaptability and finally, protectability.

Memorability, meaningfulness and likability is termed as marketer offensive strategy as well as


building of Dove brand equity whereas transferability, adaptability and protectability have a

defensive role for maintaining as well as leveraging Dove brand equity.

Dove Question #2

Unilever wanted fewer brands in order to achieve a unified global identity, control over

its brands and sales growth. At one time, they were one of the largest CPG companies (consumer

packaged goods companies) in the world, but they lacked a unified global identity. For example

they were producing ice cream under a dozen different brand names all over the world. Instead

they should have been focused on one brand of ice cream that was sold to all of those

geographical locations. Pushing one “Masterbrand” would have allowed them the larger global

presence and control that they were lacking due to having more than 1,600 brands. These 1,600

brands were all managed locally with brand managers in each location taking the brand in

different directions. Unilever also had a lack of a sound corporate strategy and numerous low-

volume brands that were bringing the company down. The company also had mediocre

performance in emerging markets most likely due to its lack of global brand awareness.

To turn things around Unilever started a five year strategic initiative called “Path to

Growth” in which they planned to narrow their brands down to 400 (from 1,600) and select a

small number of those brands to serve as their “Masterbrands”. Part of the plan also included

creating a global brand unit around the world for each brand; separating brand building from

brand development with teams focused on each. Unilever also chose to put more effort into

product innovation.


Dove Question #3

When we categorize Unilever’s Product Category Management, we can see the following

details:

Before 2000 Unilever was a company that managed its brand in a regionalized manner

where it focused mainly on regional success than having a centralized type of control over all its

brands. There were years of slow paced routine that lied behind Unilever, they were tactically

behind other giants like Procter & Gamble in their field of operations and brand equity. The

corporate strategy that Unilever managed with was not organized; there was a need of organized

management which would form the foundation of the brand. Many of the brands that Unilever

produced were low-volume brands because they weren’t that productive, thus the brand equity

was being affected. One of the main areas where Unilever trailed was emerging matters; they

didn’t seem to have the presence to make and differential change in their market share in these

markets. The brand Unilever lacked amalgamated global identity, without which people were

certainly not going to buy a new brand.

After 2000 Unilever tried to work on all the areas mentioned above and also focused on

reducing their portfolio to 400 brands and getting rid of all the low-volume brands which were

redundant. Main focus was on developing the brand on a whole and also tries to create a more

centralized mode of operation, along with added functions which would help the company

become profitable. There was a certain need of innovation because of globalization and Unilever

focused on this area which would boost the company’s core growth. Creating an umbrella brand

was imperative at this stage because that was the only way where Unilever as a brand would be

recognized globally.


When we categorize Unilever’s Brand management, we can see the following details:

Before 2000 Unilever didn’t have a distinguished type of marketing; it was almost similar

to the model used by Procter and Gamble, which was known as the brand management system.

There was no umbrella brand, and thus there were various product category types and these

categories offered several brands, led by a brand manager. There was no unified way of brand

management because all these separate categories were handled by individual brand managers.

These brand managers operated in separate businesses as well. Brand assistants were hired to

execute decisions made by brand managers. Customers were not involved in knowing the brands

image or products. Company solely relied on brand managers to make plans and execute them,

and eventually make profits for the company.

After 2000 Unilever sought guidance from Path to Growth initiative where they decided

to divide the responsibility of the brand amongst two groups, which was a very important choice

to be made from the brand management point of view. This meant that there was a centralized

control over brand management instead of the regionalized control that they had before.

Globalization was one of the scopes after 2000. Brand development was emphasized upon so

that they could make sure that every household would recognize the brand Unilever and its

products. Innovative ideas were born and both medium and long term goals were decided, so that

this becomes a more goal oriented procedure. Non-traditional advertising mediums were

explored where the brand had the strongest hold. Each of the brand managers were in charge of

giving the brand a new oomph in their marketplace. In all, the brand was reinvented and there

was a new abundance of energy which they lack through the past years.


Dove Question #4

Evidently, brand meaning of Dove toady is significant towards achieving a competitive

advantage ahead of its competitors. Dove as a brand that is largely differentiated from other

products that are design towards satisfying the customer with same needs offered by Dove. The

choice of brand displayed in Dove products creates numerous internal company benefits such as

retaining as well as attracting good employees and establishing a more cohesive company

culture. Being a global brand, Dove is able to enjoy quicker global identification, recognition as

well as integration of innovations thus preempting global competitors from entering most

renowned markets (Kunde, 2002).

It is quite evident that the www.dove.us website plays a significant role towards creating

brand awareness and is effectively contributing to the dove umbrella brand “movement”. The

major component of these sites is the various products that run with the name Dove. By

analyzing the various Dove products in the website, customers are able to develop an ability to

recall as well as recognize the Dove brand (Kunde, 2002). In addition to the various products

displayed, the website has contributed to Dove brand movement in that the site has define the

company vision and mission as well as different offers being presented thus engaging this

existing and potential customers in their numerous branding strategies ensuring maximum

customer satisfaction.

Dove Question #5

Unilever stirred up a lot of controversy with its “Campaign for Real Beauty” and it’s more recent

campaign “Movement for Self-Esteem”. The public and media seem to be split however as to


how they feel about the campaigns. Some people are praising Unilever/Dove for their efforts to

raise women’s self-esteem and others are harshly criticizing the campaign and calling

Unilever/Dove hypocrites. A scandal arose in 2008 when allegations broke that the women in the

campaign for real beauty ads had been “Photoshopped”. A story in the New Yorker ran claiming

that Pascal Dangin, the world's "premier retoucher of fashion photographs” may have done

Photoshop work on the Dove Campaign For Real Beauty. Unilever remained quiet about the

allegations but a spokeswoman for the campaign's creator, Ogilvy & Mather said: “We are

unsure right now what he did. He works with Annie Leibovitz, the photographer. And we don't

have any record of him actually working on any of the Dove campaign. There was no retouching

of the women. If there was a hair that was up in the air that might have been the kind of

retouching that was done. But until I know what he actually worked on, I can't comment on it.”

After this response AdAge wrote: “Well, someone needs to comment. We know Unilever has

been hypocritical in the past, but this is just ridiculous.”

Fiona Taylor from NY commented on the scandal by saying “This campaign has been

absurd from the beginning. You are beautiful just the way you are--but now let's sell you

moisturizer, anti-aging products and cellulite cream. It's complete hypocrisy. Dove will do

whatever it takes to sell more beauty products, and anyone who believes their motives are more

altruistic is naive. A sucker's born every minute!” And another blogger wrote “although it

purports to be honest, Dove's marketing is the reality of reality TV, not of everyday life. The

models—though not glamorous—have all been given the glamour treatment. This was most

evident in the first two campaigns to promote Dove's Masterbrand and firming products."

Not everyone was angry about the Photoshop scandal. People like Tracee from Texas wrote:

“You're also missing the point of Dove's Real Beauty campaign. The amount of Photoshop


retouching is irrelevant - the fact that the women chosen to be models are not CARICATURES

of ‘what women must look like to be beautiful’ - is what matters. I predict this will not affect

Dove's campaign at all. Women are tired of being condescended to and being held to a beauty

ideal - that's why Dove's campaign works.

Building on its initial campaign Unilever recently launched a new initiative called the

Dove Movement for Self-Esteem. The Dove Movement for Self-Esteem “invites all women to

join us in creating a world where beauty is a source of confidence, not anxiety.”

“Imagine a world:

…where every girl grows up with the self-esteem she needs to reach her full potential.

…where every woman enjoys feeling confident in her own beauty.

…where we all help to build self-esteem in the people we love most.

Dove is committed to building positive self-esteem and inspiring all women and girls to

reach their full potential by caring for themselves and each other — but we need your help.

We’re building a movement in which women everywhere have the tools to take action

and inspire each other and the girls in their lives. It could be as simple as sending a word of

encouragement to a girl in your life or supporting self-esteem education in your town. From

mentoring the next generation to celebrating real beauty in ourselves and others, we can open a

world of possibilities for women and girls everywhere.

Will you join us?”

Criticism of this campaign has also been harsh. People are criticizing the campaigns

message as well as the tactical way in which the campaign is handled. For example, there is


criticism of the calls to action and the website; “Also worth noting is that nowhere on the Dove

Movement website does it actually tell you WHAT the Dove Movement is/will do – the part

about how they will alert you when self-esteem issues arise in ‘your community’ is very

strange…and vague!” And another person wrote “I have signed up to see what they do with all

these ‘pledge signers’, but haven’t received any communication from the campaign. Not even an

automatic ‘thanks for signing up!’” And a third woman wrote “Aw man I had no idea that Dove

and Axe were both Unilever. That is just wrong! Hate hate hate Axe ads. And skin lighteners for

Asians. I think I just threw up a bit.”

All of this criticism of Dove’s campaigns leads to a weakening of the message. When

things like the Photoshop scandal happen, it undermines what a brand is trying to say by casting

doubt in consumers’ minds. People are not convinced that Dove has a true concern for women.

Many women still believe Dove is just trying to manipulate them in order to sell their product.

Dove Question #6

In modern times social networking is everywhere. We find all types of people on social

media networks. Little children to the elderly are scattered across the networks such as Twitter,

Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, and LinkedIn. These websites provide the tools and power to

customers that they didn’t have before. Hence each customer’s point of view has become

enormously effective. It could be seen as a technological boon, but for many companies it has

proven to be a bane and it continues to be a potential danger factor for all the companies who

rely on feedback from social media networks for the growth of their companies.

I visited Dove’s website yesterday and read the first feedback by a customer who replied

to Dove’s question, “The best way to see spring beauty? Just look in the mirror. When you do,


what beautiful feature you notice first?” the answer was, “That your new hairspray does terrible

things to my hair.” As a regular dove customer, this feedback will definitely leave a mark on my

mind about their hair care products, and I will definitely think twice before considering buying

their product. Although there were several good remarks about Dove’s products, this one

negative remark has still managed to linger in my mind, and the next time I visit a store to buy

hair care products, I will be cautious about buying Dove’s products.

Thus, I feel that it is always good to have customer feedback, but to post them directly on

the website and giving each and every customer the right, to make or break the brand image is

not a wise idea, because there might be rivals who would purposely post negative remarks,

which in turn would leave a bad impression on regular customers.


References

Rhea, D. (2006). Making Meaning: How Successful Businesses Deliver Meaningful Customer

Experiences. Berkeley, CA: New Riders

Kunde, J., (2002). Unique Now... or Never: the Brand Is the Company Driver in the New Value

Economy. London: Financial Times/Prentice Hall

Dove Evolution of a Brand

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