Dove’s brand purpose is to ensure a positive experience of beauty that’s universally accessible. But for many Black men, women and children, euro-centric beauty ideals make hair discrimination a daily reality.

Dove research found that 51% of Black children have been sent home from school due to wearing their hair naturally or in a protective style and 25% of Black adults have been sent home from work for wearing their hair naturally. 41% reported they felt embarrassed, uncomfortable or discriminated against as a result, impacting how Black men and women show up in a professional or educational setting.

Dove aimed to raise awareness of this issue and their own activist work through a longform storytelling approach to provide further depth and visibility to the conversation. Dove also sought to bolster their brand equity and maintain their leading share of voice with the film.

In partnership with the UK’s leading Black female social historian and broadcaster Emma Dabiri, Dove collaborated with award-winning producers Pulse Films to turn her ground-breaking book “Don’t Touch My Hair” into a powerful documentary that would celebrate the beauty and individuality of Black hair in the UK.

The film would shine a light on natural Black hair pride and the beauty regimens that are a celebrated rite of passage. Additionally, it would explore taboo-busting topics such as Black hair fetishization, hair bias and discrimination based on natural Black hair textures and styles.

Due to the sensitive nature of the topic, Dove actively refrained from any branding in the film itself; instead creating custom sponsorship idents that featured key contributors from the documentary to go around the film, with other related off air assets to amplify the core messages.

With the film being a visual celebration of Blackness, diversity in the creative process was paramount. Dove worked closely with Pulse Films to cast a wide array of contributors on screen as well as rising Black British voices behind the camera. Award-winning theatre director Nicole Charles helmed the film and ensured the intimacy of the conversations connected to the audience.

Crucial to its success as entertainment content, the documentary needed a credible, mainstream platform for distribution. Following Channel 4’s pledge in 2020 to use its position as a public service broadcaster to educate its audience on anti-racism (and as the UK’s second biggest commercial channel) they were selected as the perfect partners to drive impact.

Dove’s sponsorship around the documentary featured contributors from the film, ensuring strong brand attribution. Co-branded assets ran across Channel 4 and Dove’s channels as part of a wider integrated promotional campaign.

Set against visually arresting backdrops, Hair Power depicts intimate interviews with contributors who reflect upon their personal experiences in British culture with Black hair and illuminating how it shaped their identities.

Presented and narrated by Emma Dabiri, Hair Power married these frank and challenging conversations with wider cultural insight into the impact Black hair has had on the world.

Pulse Films shot the documentary and additional custom assets for Dove in just 2 weeks, working within strict Covid-19 guidelines to ensure safety of all.

Hair Power: Me and My Afro launched in prime time on the 27th October as a special commission for Channel 4’s Black History Month, with another repeat on 2nd November. It is also available on the broadcaster’s VOD service ALL4 and was promoted across the network's social channels.

Hair Power was critically acclaimed by over 20 mainstream UK publications including The Guardian and Grazia.

- Hair Power reached 1.13M Individuals, 25.8% share among BAME audiences, +320% on its 10pm slot.

- Huge impact on awareness: with 73% of viewers talking about the topic of hair discrimination.

- Driving action and engagement: with 73% of viewers considering signing a petition to end hair discrimination and 85% of viewers agreeing it was great to see Dove working to end the issue.

- 60% felt more positive towards Dove, 53% more likely to consider using Dove in future.

- Earned Instagram posts about the film tagging Dove from Gwyneth Paltrow and Victoria Beckham.

Dove’s campaign reached 5.6M individuals, creating 33M impressions and outperformed engagement benchmarks. Films featuring cast stories doubled average benchmarks on view through rates at 16.8% (vs 5-8% benchmark) and CTR at 0.23% (vs. benchmark of 0.05% - 0.1%).