Over the past 15 years, Dove has established itself as one of the world’s most iconic and purpose-led brands. The Campaign for Real Beauty redefined beauty to be more inclusive and less rooted in conventional aesthetics. But over the past decade, many other beauty brands have encroached on our purpose-driven space ¬¬challenging beauty stereotypes. As a result, the Dove brand platform became less differentiated and culturally resonant. During the outbreak of COVID-19, Dove saw an opportunity to redefine beauty once again. With no vaccine in sight, soap was (and is) our first line of defense. As one of the world’s biggest soap brands, Dove had an obligation to help. So it wanted to announce its $7.5 million global commitment to supporting healthcare workers. Our challenge was to create a campaign that embodied this commitment yet staying true to Dove’s brand platform, whilst finding beauty in a time of heartache.

In times of crisis, beauty isn’t how you look, but what you do. And during the pandemic, frontline workers demonstrated the epitome of this beauty, reminding us there is no greater expression of yourself than the qualities of selflessness, compassion and bravery. After long hours and double shifts, they looked exhausted, with deep, skin-blistering marks across their faces left from protective masks. Despite their appearance, they were resilient, continuing to fight day after day to save lives. We saw beauty in this courage, and so we honoured them by featuring their powerful portraits in DOOH and films, thanking them directly for their selfless care while showing the world that Courage is Beautiful. Our PR campaign instantly touched the hearts of frontline workers featured in our campaign. Moreover, it struck a chord with doctors, nurses, and people around the world, reminding us that an image is truly worth a thousand words.

Our target audience was the global healthcare community on the frontline. Based on the striking selfies we found of nurses and doctors bearing the marks of the pandemic on their faces, we wanted to thank them personally for their selfless courage. So we did that, working with media outlets to turn each impersonal medium into a channel of personal gratitude. We aired films featuring them which ran across major TV networks in 15 countries. We then leveraged DOOH, programming billboards placed beside hospitals to broadcast our ads at the same times frontline workers started & ended their shifts, based on data collected from hospitals. On social media, we turned all our film and photographic content into shareable assets, furthering amplifying our campaign through influencer outreach, with influencers and people around the world joining our cause to admire the beauty of courage in a time of crisis.

We wanted to specifically honor the doctors and nurses who inspired our campaign. So instead of doing this the traditional way, we implemented the campaign over a one-month period at a more direct, local level through DOOH placed at bus shelters and hospitals in 4 countries. This eventually grew to become a global campaign, running in 15 different countries: Canada, US, Brazil, France, Spain, Russia, Bangladesh, Argentina, Uruguay, Mexico, Chile, Colombia, Peru, Costa Rica and South Africa. What began as a targeted direct campaign, went on to reach a worldwide audience with over 2 billion global impressions.

Following the success of the campaign in North America, it was quickly adapted and ran around the world in a total of 15 markets, with each country honoring healthcare workers from their local market. In social, the campaign has garnered unprecedented engagement rates in all markets. 349% increase in Facebook engagement. 1,599% increase in Twitter engagement. 99% positive sentiment on social and in the first 24 hours of launching, our hashtag was used 360,000 times.

In addition to paid support, the campaign has generated 2 Billion global impressions to date, and 275 news reports including coverage on CBS This Morning, NBC, Glamour, CNN and Today. Our campaign had a massive impact on brand awareness and brand equity. An Omnibus study in Canada has shown significant uplift on equity with a +15pt Brand affinity increase and a +8pts main equity attribute. A Brand Lift Study in the US has shown significant uplift on ad recall and message agreement. Independent research even found that Courage is Beautiful was the 4th most recalled COVID-19 campaign in the UK despite never airing in that market.

The campaign touched the hearts of healthcare workers around the world, deeply resonating with them and giving them reassurance that they’re not alone. The Brazilian nurse in our film (Amanda) was even featured by the New York Times on their front cover to our pleasant surprise. In the end, the campaign not only honoured the beautiful sacrifices made by frontline workers, it re-established Dove’s place in today’s cultural zeitgeist.