Dove
Campaign for Real Beauty
The Golden Thread
Problem: Beauty marketing makes women feel worse to sell more. If Dove makes women feel better, the brand earns permission and loyalty that competitors cannot match.
Tension: Exhausted realists want to feel confident in their own skin but are constantly told they are not enough.
Position: For women who want a kinder definition of beauty, Dove champions real bodies and real confidence.
Platform: Show real women. Invite participation. Let honesty be the differentiator.
Definer
The Brief: Create a more emotionally resonant proposition that could differentiate in a crowded market.
Problem Reframe: Beauty marketing makes women feel worse to sell more. If Dove makes women feel better, the brand earns permission and loyalty that competitors cannot match.
Category Convention: Beauty advertising sells aspiration through perfection, retouching and narrow ideals of what counts as beautiful.
Targeter
Audience: Exhausted Realists
Tension: They want to feel confident in their own skin but are constantly told they are not enough. They are tired of being judged by impossible standards.
Positioner
Position Statement: For women who want a kinder definition of beauty, Dove is the personal care brand that champions real bodies and real confidence.
We Are Not: Retouched fantasy. Exclusion. Shame. Fix yourself messaging.
Strategist
Direction: Show real women. Invite participation. Make the category conversation the campaign itself. Let honesty be the differentiator.
Forge: Territory Exploration
Truthful Portraits
Billboards, photo exhibits, simple questions about beauty.
Feel: Documentary, honest, conversational
Confidence Movement
Programmes, partnerships, tools for parents and girls.
Feel: Activist, purposeful, sustained
Unfiltered Critique
Behind-the-scenes films. Culture hacks. Social debate.
Feel: Provocative, journalistic, exposing
What The Creatives Made
Work that replaced idealised models with real women. The "Evolution" film exposed retouching. Billboards asked "Fat or Fab?" and invited votes. Participation and earned media became the engine.
"Real beauty."
Why It Worked
- Made the brand feel principled and useful, not just promotional
- Created a campaign system that could evolve into multiple chapters over years
- Turned controversy into earned media and cultural conversation
- Exclusions banned retouching and aspiration, forcing creative honesty