WORLD OVER, PEOPLE THINK OF DOVE AS REAL BEAUTY.

BUT THE 600 MILLION WOMEN IN INDIA, DON’T.

Not known by its purpose or values, Dove was a premium & aspirational brand, but also one of many. Albeit highly salient, a decline in meaningfulness and differentiation threatened its brand power.

The Covid-19 impact on the premium beauty segment doubled the threat as consumers began down-trading to mass brands, resulting in a decline in Dove’s sales & share.

For premium brands to sustain growth in a market of plenty and parity, it was imperative to build differentiation and desire by being more meaningful to the audience.

Communication Challenge: To make Indian women passionate fans of Dove and its philosophy on beauty by being culturally relevant & emotionally meaningful to them.

Insight: BEAUTY IS SOLD IN A MARKETPLACE CALLED MARRIAGE.

90% of Indian women have arranged marriages, where they’re treated like commodities and subjected to a cruel ‘beauty test’. Prospective grooms and their families visit the girl’s home where she is put on display examined from head-to-toe to evaluate if she meets beauty standards. If she doesn’t, she gets rejected. Her self-esteem diminishing with each rejection.

Execution: #STOP THE BEAUTY TEST

HOW CAN SOMETHING AS BEAUTIFUL AS FINDING A LIFE PARTNER, BECOME SO UGLY?

That’s the question the campaign provoked.

The bigger question was, how could Dove make a difference?

A. COMMUNICATING THE PHILOSOPHY:

A brand film kickstarted the movement to #StopTheBeautyTest, featuring five real women who faced rejection for not being ‘beautiful’ enough. It was aired on television, YouTube & social media.

On launch day, 3.7 million households woke up to full-page ads questioning ‘How much Beauty is enough?’

PR drove national visibility across television, print and online publications.

B. COLLABORATIONS & CONTENT PARTNERSHIPS

MAGAZINE COVERS – Real-life rejected brides were featured on the covers of leading women’s magazines Femina & Grazia.

‘SHE THE PEOPLE’ – Articles and provocative posts on beauty-biases were published on the platform and its social handles, supported by facts from the Dove survey.

HUMANS OF BOMBAY - A snowball campaign on Instagram, featured real-life stories.

INFLUENCER ENAGEMENT - India’s No.1 tennis player, Sania Mirza, lent her voice to the campaign, followed by influencers from beauty, travel, sports & entertainment.

TELETHON - A telethon was simulcast across the NDTV network with celebrities joining in to encourage viewers to take a pledge to #StopTheBeautyTest. This was followed by debates on NDTVs flagship show ‘We the People’.

FACEBOOK & INSTAGRAM – A ‘no filter’ filter was created for the audience to show their support on social media and was promoted by popular influencers.

C. IMPACTING CHANGE

SHAADI.COM - Dove partnered India’s biggest matrimonial platform – Shaadi.com, for deep integration and contextual messaging during the match-finding process on their website and app.

TIMES MATRIMONIAL – Dove offered the users of India’s biggest news publication the opportunity to re-write their matrimonial ads without bias and judgement.