In April 2020, COVID-19 forced countries into lockdown, hospitals were over-whelmed, and soap became a weapon in a war against the virus. Dove committed $7.5m to support healthcare workers with products and PPE, our brief was to honour their incredible work. We had to do this whilst staying true to Dove’s platform of Real Beauty redefining it in the context of a pandemic without hijacking the pandemic for our own gain. With the situation escalating, we had 6 days to deliver a campaign. The objectives were to provide a platform for the world to honour the people saving our lives driving cultural engagement; whilst staying true to Dove’s purpose driving our real beauty equity metrics. Whilst commercial success wasn’t a primary objective, we wanted evidence that a small act of gratitude could deliver commercial success as proof that purpose pays.

Background and context

In April 2020, as the pandemic hit, hospitals were overwhelmed and we were forced into lockdown. Dove made a $7.5m commitment to support healthcare workers with products, donations and PPE. But we also wanted to honour their incredible work. We had to do this whilst staying true to Dove’s purpose platform of Real Beauty but with a fresh angle to be relevant to the pandemic.

The creative challenge

Beauty and a pandemic are unlikely bedfellows, not a time to be talking about looks. We couldn’t hijack the extraordinary work being done by real heroes nor be seen to be jumping on the pandemic-bandwagon to showcase Dove’s commitment. A practical challenge also presented itself: we were all in lockdown, working remotely, from different countries in different time zones. With events unfolding at pace, speed was of the essence.

So, we threw away the beauty playbook.

It was a heroic gesture by frontline staff that provided our breakthrough insight. Healthcare-workers started sharing pictures of their faces on social media, bruised and blistered from wearing heavy protective masks on 18 hour shifts, as a wake-up call that the pandemic was real and serious. There was anguish in their expressions, but resilience in their eyes. In that strength we saw what beauty looked like in the pandemic. Not defined by size, colour or looks, but by courage: everyday heroes fighting around the clock to save lives, taking courage to post their pictures on social media to protect us further.

This unlocked our strategic shift: Real Beauty in the pandemic was not about Confidence but Courage. [Fig. 1]

The solution

From these photos came our simple idea. We would honour healthcare workers by featuring their powerfully beautiful portraits as a way to thank them directly for their selfless actions, drawing attention to the serious message they were trying to send, while showing the world that their Courage is Beautiful.

The execution

As more images of exhausted healthcare heroes emerged on social media, we reached out to them directly asking if they’d feature in our campaign. Despite making unbelievable sacrifices they were glad we were highlighting their reality. [Fig 2, 3]

The work

6 days after the idea was conceived our campaign launched on major TV networks, Youtube, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. We turned film and photographic content into shareable assets, amplifying the campaign through influencer outreach. [Fig.4] People around the world joined in sending messages of thanks and admiring the beauty of courage in a time of crisis.

Launching in Canada and USA, as the pandemic spread across the globe other frontline-workers were coming under the same pressure with similar images emerging. We rolled out the campaign in 14 countries, each supported by equipment, product and monetary donations to healthcare professionals.