Direct Marketing: Dove brand

Direct Marketing project (product – Dove). Dove is a beauty and personal care brand, owned by Unilever. It operates in the FMCG sector.

DOVE AS A BRAND

Dove’s product line includes deodorants, body washes, beauty bars, lotions, moisturizers, hair care and other facial care products. They sell all their products by saying that deep moisturizing is the key to healthy skin.

All their products are quite natural and they are made vegetable oils and salts from animal fats.

They are not only for women care and women beauty but they also launched men care some years back and it got a lot of audience because of their strong brand reputation.

Slogan-You are more beautiful than you think.

This brand is all for purity as doves are commonly considered a symbol of motherhood because of their unique ability to produce their own milk historically, dove symbolism is associated with several mother figures: The Mother Mary in Christian legend (care, devotion, purity and peace).

Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC) of Dove

Integrated marketing communication has now been used by many successful corporations including Dove.

Over a decade ago, Dove released a radical television advertisement calling attention to how the beauty industry manipulates women and skews our very understanding of beauty known as the Dove Campaign for Real Beauty. This campaign quickly became a massive success and demonstrated the power of television advertising at that time.

Dove followed this television ad with many other successful commercials however this approach became stagnant after several years. Eventually, through the rise of Internet marketing and the development of social media, Dove realized that many Americans were no longer interacting or persuaded by only television ads.

To spread their message of positivity and self-acceptance, Dove realized that it was time to re-evaluate their approach to advertising. Dove instituted a new integrated marketing campaign that incorpated multiple elements of advertising such as print and TV ads, billboards, a web site, social media accounts, and select store promotions.

Through integrated marketing communication, Dove was able to create a consistent brand message and spread awareness of their brand while expanding their consumer basis.

Each element of Dove’s integrated marketing communication strategy is carefully coordinated and the entire campaign works together to support the brand message.

In a statement by marketing consultant Shirley Lichti, she explained, “A good integrated marketing communication strategy must ensure that each element supports and extends the same integrated and consistent message that is delivered by all the other elements in the campaign” (2006). Dove’s integrated marketing communication strategy was wildly successful due to the way they implemented this principle. They were able to convey that beauty comes from a sense of self-discovery and a newfound confidence in the way we view ourselves through a strong message and a series of continuous, consistent campaign elements.

Lichti elaborated and provided further explanation by saying, “Examine any of the Dove communications and it’s easy to see consistency with predominantly white backgrounds, simple designs and real women. The overriding message is ‘Be beautiful, be yourself’” (2006). Dove was able to solve their problem and connect with consumers moving past traditional television advertising in one of the most successful integrated marketing campaigns to date.

Dove’s competitors such as Dial, Olay, and Neutrogena are struggling to create a cohesive brand identity and integrated marketing communications strategy that resonates with consumers in the same way as Dove.

Dove found a way to use integrated marketing communications to impact millions of women, which translated into a massive media following and continued brand support, which sets them apart from their competitors.

Buyers and suppliers continue to invest in Dove due to their proven success and this trend will likely continue until their competitors can create a competitive campaign.

Potential entrants may be intimidated by Dove’s success, which would deter them from entering the market. Some aspects of IMC, such as social media, can make it possible for a new startup to enter the market due the affordability of digital marketing.

Dove’s integrated marketing could make their product apparent to a supplier who may be willing to bid to provide supplies for their business.

Overall, integrated marketing communication is essential to the success of any major organization. Companies such as Dove used integrated marketing communication or IMC to create an effective campaign and expand their consumer base. This plan allowed them to create an incredibly successful campaign that serves as a model and inspiration to other companies. In the future, hopefully more corporations will follow Dove’s example and create cohesive campaigns that motivate, resonate, and inspire potential customers to purchase their products.

Present Marketing Activities

BE REAL BODY IMAGE PLEDGE

According to Dove research, 7 in 10 women and 6 in 10 girls in the UK think the media and advertisers set an unrealistic standard of beauty that most women can’t ever achieve.

In fact, 8 in 10 British women and girls wish the media did a better job of portraying females with a diverse physical appearance, age, race, shape and size.

For nearly 60 years, Dove has stood for Real Beauty. We think it’s time society ditched outdated ideals and celebrated real beauty, in all its forms. This subtly changes the way they think about their own body and appearance, negatively impacts how they feel about themselves, and can stop them reaching their full potential.

That’s why they only use real women in their advertising and have a strict stance on airbrushing and photoshop. And that’s why they have committed to creating a world where beauty is a source of confidence, not anxiety, for the next generation of women.

By signing up to the pledge, Dove promises to continue to show reality and diversity in all its images. They promise to continue showing women’s bodies that are healthy and realistic without adding any pressure to conform.

No likes needed

The Dove Self-Esteem Project is the global sponsor of Women in the World and the exclusive sponsor of the new girl-focused platform ‘Generation Girl’.

This year’s summit in London on 8 and 9th October will see the launch of Dove’s #NoLikesNeeded campaign, an initiative aimed at motivating and encouraging girls to realise that the only ‘Like’ that counts is their own.

The event will provide a high profile platform to kick off and amplify the campaign through the authentic voices of extraordinary girls and young women from all over the world. Generation Girl – in exclusive partnership with Dove – will showcase real role models for real girls to inspire and encourage young women and girls to recognise their potential, pursue excellence and be undeniable.

In partnership with the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS), Dove will host 30 ambitious young women from around the globe – including 15 girls from Girl guiding UK – for three days of self-esteem building workshops and leadership development activities.

The Warrior women Project

No one should have insecurities about their body or the way they look. Instead dove wants every woman to let her beauty and confidence shine. That’s why they joined Natalie Lee and asked her to bring a group of inspirational bloggers together for this project and they asked them to pose in their innerwear without any editing or photoshop. This is what Dove does it empowers women to be strong, bold and beautiful in their own way.

Tick Box Campaign

In this campaign Billboards were erected and viewers were asked to phone 1-888-342 DOVE to vote on whether a woman was outsized or outstanding. A counter on the billboard showed the votes in real time.

How dove markets its product?

Facebook

• Facebook is a good platform to connect with large number of targeted customers for Dove.
• Facebook helps the Dove in sharing pictures and videos of the company advertisement and an individual’s experience from the brand.
• Furthermore, Facebook provides a facility to Dove of talking with its existing and potential customers that creates long term relationship with customers and sharing the information about products.

Twitter

• Twitter increases the level of customer satisfaction by helping the consumers to connect with the brand and providing different types of services such as providing the information about updates in Dove Company and information related to products and services of the brand .
• Along with this, Dove shares the videos and presentations related to product and brand that will help it in promoting its brand image.
• Furthermore, Twitter helps the Dove in offering different types of information related to special offers and events that capture its customer attention towards brand.
• Through the use of this strategy, Dove collects feedback from its existing and potential customers which helps in the identifying customer needs and wants.
• On the basis of collected feedback from Twitter activities, Dove monitors its performance and reputation of the brand.

Instagram

• Instagram helps Dove in connecting with customers that are active user base. In whole world user takes use Instagram at larger number in comparison of Facebook and Twitter.
• Dove have brand post 1487 images which have 7.1 m followers. So, Dove uses this strategy to connect with its customers which helps in creating positive brand image.
• On the Instagram Dove uploads pictures of its products and collects feedback about product and brand that helps the brand in achieving goals and objectives.

YouTube

• YouTube is an online tool that helps in share advertisements and other videos on lowest cost.
• Dove uses this strategy in showing the Real Beauty Sketches campaign that helps brand to introduce the women about beauty
• Along with this, Dove uploads its brand and products video on the YouTube that makes it popular in the world and collects the review about the product which brand offer.
• Through the use of this strategy Dove can share easily all the possible advertisement and campaign
• Furthermore, YouTube are being used worldwide that shows the videos which can also shared by this strategy.
• Thus advertising campaign and promotional video of Dove have the 12,634,926 views on “My Beauty My Say” campaign video on YouTube

Marketing mix

Dove is one of the most iconic beauty brands from the portfolio of Unilever. It started as a simple beauty soap and now the Dove brand sells a complete range of personal and skin care products including soaps, shampoos and other products. Dove’s beauty formula of mild cleansers made it a highly popular product among the female customers. However, Unilever reinvented the brand in 2013 after the launch of its new marketing strategy which was focused at real world beauties. This strategy proved a hit leading to higher customer loyalty and growth in popularity.

Have a look at the marketing mix of Dove including its four P’s – Product, Place, Price and Promotion.

Product

The core product of Dove is the beauty bar. However, Unilever extended the product line seeing the high degree of success Dove achieved. Now, Dove sells an entire range of skin care products including beauty bars, shampoos and face wash. These products come in varying sizes to cater to various consumer segments’ needs and usage. In the body care segment, Dove has brought soap and body wash and in the hair care segment, Shampoo, conditioners and more products. Apart from them, Dove has also brought deodorants and antiperspirants. Over time, Dove’s product range has kept growing larger and now also includes oils, body lotion and face wash.

Place

Dove is a brand from the portfolio of Unilever. Its products are sold in nearly all corners of the world. Apart from offline and traditional channels, Dove also uses online channels for the sales of its products. Unilever has a global sales, supply and distribution network that it uses to reach it customers. Dove products are sold in various corners of the world through its distribution network.

Price

Dove products are premium products. However, in terms of pricing strategy, Dove has priced them a bit affordably. These products are priced above the average soaps in the market. However, they are not meant to cater exclusively to the higher end segment of the market. So, the company has priced them so that they are accessible to both middle class and upper end consumers.

Promotion

Dove uses a unique promotion strategy for the promotion of its brand and products. The company instead of advertising it as a beauty bar and beauty brand of stars, has used a distinct promotional strategy that targets the real world people. As a part of Dove’s real beauty campaign, it included real world beauties for promoting its brand. The main focus of the campaign is to break the existing beauty stereotypes. However, the campaign has grown quite large since its launch and now extends to various more projects whose focus is women’s empowerment. This has helped Dove acquire a distinct image and apart from growing its sales worldwide has also helped it make its customer connection stringer. Its real beauty campaign was very popular and apart from higher popularity also led to higher sales.

Competitors of the Brand

Olay

Olay had a unique marketing campaign. It did not describe the product as a moisturizer or a beauty product in its packing. They had the slogan as “Share the secret of a younger looking you” and it mentioned about the beauty secret of using oil of Olay.

Nivea

Regarded as a top personal care brand.It is considered as one of the leading companies in the field of skin care. The products of Nivea cater to the needs of the customers.

Clinique

It is basically sold in high-end department stores in the USA.This brand is best suited for this having sensitive or problematic skin. It is considered as one of the biggest skin care and cosmetic brands in the world.

Himalaya

Since its formation, the company has been focused on developing safe, natural and advanced remedies. It helps people to lead a healthier life. The health and personal care products of Himalaya are recommended by almost 400,000 doctors worldwide and have consumers in about 90 countries.

Lux (Among soaps)

The bars of Lux get a plush lather and they are prepared from the finest ingredients. Every care is taken care that the skin is cleansed and moisturized. Due to the various products, Lux is considered as one of the top Dove competitors.

Johnson and Johnson (among baby products)

Every cosmetic product of Johnson has been designed to meet the strict safety standard. Johnson takes responsibility for ensuring safety in the products. Johnson conducts regular and specific tests for the products and their ingredients used. The safety information is shared with health authorities. The products are registered under US FDA. Due to their various available brands, Johnson is regarded as one of the top Dove competitors in the world.

SWOT Analysis

Dove soap’s SWOT analyses are as:

Strengths

• Brand wisdom and widespread distribution.
• Competitive Price.
• Growth in cascade product.
• Brand devotion.
• Adequate to encourage consumer to feel and look their best
• Wide range of crossroads that finish appeal to every last (predicate) ages.
• Effective advertising, free publicity.

Weaknesses

• High level of competition.
• High levels of expensive advertising needed and maintained
• Special offers counter vigorous on growth.
• Soap bars undergo from ageing image.
• Some products are seen as a compassion product not essential use.
• Widespread distribution and snitch loyalty means that market growth is difficult.
• Some consumers are let down on performance.

Opportunities

• Target markets not yet capitalized-teens.
• Continuous innovation.
• Eco-friendly market segment/natural products
• Target teen specific concerns (medicated flake off opportunities)
• Target male customers.
• Long pending opportunity of tapping into the market developing beauty products formen.
• Unified advertising technique used by Dove.

Threats

• New launch of other brands with similar products.
• Recent recession (less available income)
• Consumer allergies.
• Decline in Bath products.
• Environmental awareness
• Dove faces tough competition from Olay, Nivea, and Lux.

Database Development Technique

Developing a database for your customers is a very important technique which each and every brand has to learn so that they can keep their brand at a top level. There are some points which help the brand to develop a database for their customers. It helps the brand to build a deeper relationship with customers and also create additional selling opportunities.

Ways how Dove can develop its database:

1. Data collection
   • Dove should collect information about its brand
   • After collecting it convert it into blogs and post on news sites
   • Make sure that this information is available to your customers
2. Turning data into knowledge
   • Analyze the data and it communication worthy
   • Dove should use the information to segment customers and find their target
   • This will help them to send a proper marketing message
3. Evolving business strategies
   • After collecting this knowledge and knowing the target audience Dove can help to form strategies
   • Dove can pay attention on allocating the resources, improve its communications and decide the pricing which will help in earning profit.

Suggestions for Direct Marketing Plan

Some suggestions on how DOVE as a brand can do direct marketing for its customers.

• DOVE can use humour as a way to market its product because that catches the attention of the customers.
• They should launch their products or re-launch their new products so that customers don’t forget your brand.
• They should collaborate with sponsors and advertisers
• DOVE can form new campaign ideas so that their brand is visible in the market
• Post on social media and make a connection with the customers so that they relate with you and your brand and they know more about your brand.
• Personal marketing can be done as it engages the user and it can help Dove understand their target base better through feedbacks.
• Dove should Test every action of theirs and check the functioning of every new campaign because if something has worked in the past does not mean that the same thing will work in the future. This procedure will help them to identify what’s best for your product
• Dove’s direct mail strategy should be integrated with its email marketing and other digital strategies.
• If dove uses direct mail and 1 or more digital media then it will experience up to 118% lift in response rate compared to using direct mail only.
• They should look for patterns in customer activity and buying behaviour, and craft targeted messages that move customers to respond in ways that keep them active, loyal, and engaged.

Recommendation

There is no doubt that Dove has become the choice of customers for their personal care products. Dove should provide true information to customers about the features and functions of its beauty products and take feedbacks from the customers through social media channels. Apart from this, it should post more video and posters on facebook and Youtube. Dove shall create specific marketing campaigns for the social media marketing channels as facebook, Youtube, Instagram provide access to a large number of their targeted customers.

Conclusion

Dove is a world-famous personal care brand by Unilever. It is among the most popular skin care brands of the world. Apart from its composition which is distinct from the other soaps and beauty products in the market, its marketing strategy has also given it a distinct advantage. Its real beauty campaign has helped it grow its market share and its customer connection stronger. Dove has grown its range of products. However, its quality has remained the same and more and more people have become a part of its campaign targeted at breaking the beauty stereotypes.

This study of Dove has been incredibly insightful both as a marketing student as well as a customer of Dove. I can really appreciate the Dove’s mission and efforts to change the rhetoric around beauty ideals and gender standards.

That being said, I want to push Dove to be riskier; to be a bit more left-field, a bit more controversial.

They can do this by:

Representing transgender and gender-fluid women in their Real Beauty ads.

Representing “beauty” as more than skin deep—i.e. Real Beauty ads that show women giving speeches, graduating college, winning an olympic medal, etc. Also, expanding #SpeakBeautiful to any words of deprecation—target any twitter user that may use words like “I/he/she suck[s]” or “I’m/she’s/he’s stupid”, or “I’m/she’s/he’s a failure”.

Representing men in less stereotypical masculine/paternal roles—i.e. a father who takes gay son and son’s partner to prom, a father who plays with dolls with his son, a father who is supportive at his gay son’s wedding, a father who takes his son to a vocal recital, a father who takes his son to synchronized swimming lessons, etc.

Associating men+care with a term other than “strength” – like “support”, “care for” (“when you care about yourself, you’re better able to care about others, like your family!”), “love”, etc.

I say this not just for the sake of “being controversial”, but because I truly think Dove could use it’s plentiful resources to expand their campaigns outside of the relatively safe demographics they cater to. Expand the meaning of beauty. Expand the meaning of strength. Dove could have viral success with a ground breaking campaign that showed marginalized people as beautiful (for example).

The power is in your hands, Dove—how serious are you about your mission?

Bibliography

• www.dove.com
• www.dovedirect.com
• www.ducttapemarketing.com
• www.dovepress.cpm
• www.marketing91.com
• www.medium.com
• https://notesmatic.com/