We had no actors; our cast consisted of real doctors and nurses from different nationalities with visible marks on their faces from protective gear. Social media and the real world became our casting agency. So over a frantic 72 hours, we reached out to dozens of real frontline workers from around the world, across multiple social media platforms, eventually gaining their permission to use their photos. We wanted to specifically honour the doctors and nurses who inspired our campaign. So, we transformed the most impersonal outdoor medium, into something personal: we thanked them directly through strategically placed billboards right beside their hospitals and along their routes home. By identifying their commute and shift times, we programmed billboards to broadcast our tributes to them at the exact time their shifts started and ended. Through use of outdoor, we gave frontline workers a dose of encouragement to keep on saving lives.

Courage is beautiful

Early into the pandemic, Dove set out to celebrate the bravery of front-line healthcare workers. However, photographers and film crews were not being permitted into the impacted hospitals.

Many visual alternatives were considered. Ultimately, the lack of access to hospitals led to a powerful solution: to use the “selfie” photographs that front-line healthcare workers were sharing on their personal social media accounts. Their images conveyed the physical and mental toll of the pandemic with raw, unretouched authenticity.

Searching hashtags on various social platforms, we found healthcare workers’ images and DM’d them to invite them to participate. We then juxtaposed the images of their battle-worn faces in impactfully designed posters alongside three powerful words, “Courage is beautiful”.

This visually-driven campaign immediately connected with the global zeitgeist, achieving billions of earned views and went on to be the most iconic brand initiative of a seminal moment in history.