1. Evolution of a brand
Harvard Business School Case

2. DOVE
▣ A brand with its origin in the U.S in the post
World War - II era.
▣ Launched in 1957 with its strategic step to
create a strong brand position in health and
beauty sector by Unilever.

3. UNILEVER
▣ Leading global
manufacturer of packaged
consumer goods.
▣ Operates mainly in the
food,home,personal care
sectors of the economy.

5. PORTFOLIO OF UNILEVER

6. COMPETITORS
‣ P&G
‣ KRAFT FOODS
‣ NESTLE
And many more …

8. ‘’
1. In the February of 2000,
Unilever embarked on a
five year strategic initiative
called “Path - to - Growth”.
2. An important part of this
initiative was a plan to
winnow its more than 1600
brands to 400.

9. !?
What was the
need for fewer
brands...
Let’s find out
the reasons .

10. REASONS FOR A FEWER BRANDS
1. Global decentralization brought problems in
the control of the brands.
2. Lacked a unified global identity.
3. A small number of brands would be selected
as “Master Brands” and there would be a
global brand unit for each Master Brand.

11. EVOLUTION OF BRAND
“ DOVE ”

13. 1957:
THE LAUNCH OF
“DOVE”
Birth of the
brand “Dove” .

14. 1957 : THE LAUNCH OF “DOVE”
▣ The advertising campaign
for the launch of the brand
“Dove” was created by
Ogilvy and Mather
advertising agency.
▣ The message was “Dove
soap doesn’t dry your skin,
because it is one-quarter
cleansing cream.”

15. IN THE LATE 1970 ’s
The term “cleansing
cream” was replaced
with “moisturizing
cream” - But dove
stayed with the claim
not to dry the skin , the
refusal to call it a soap ,
for over 40 years .

17. 2000:
CAMPAIGN FOR
REAL BEAUTY
The turning
point to Dove’s
success . :)

18. ‘’
Silvia Lagnado , the global brand
director for “Dove” , lead a worldwide
investigation into women’s responses
to the iconography of the beauty
industry.

20. PRE-CAMPAIGN SURVEY
“ Young, white, blond and thin “
were almost the universal
characteristics of women
portrayed in advertising and
packaging.
But for many women, these
were unattainable standards ,
and far from being inspired,
they taunted !!!

21. ‘’
In search for an
alternative view of the
goal of personal care,
unilever tapped two
experts.

22. Dr.Nancy Etcoff
was a Harvard University
psychiatrist, working at the
Massachusetts General
Hospital, author of the book,
“Survival of the Prettiest”.
EXPERTS TAPPED BY UNILEVER
Dr. Suzy Orbach
was a London based
psychotherapist best known
for having treated Lady Diana
Spencer and was the author of
the book, “ Fat is a Feminist
Issue.”

23. STEP 1 :
Silvia hired British
photographer John Rankin
Waddell, an avant guarde
fashion photographer well-
known for using ordinary
people in supermodel contexts
and for books of nudes
featuring plain-looking models.

24. STEP 2 : Tick-Box Campaign
In this campaign, billboards
were erected and viewers were
asked to phone 1-888-342-
DOVE to vote on whether a
woman on the billboard was
“outsized” or “outstanding.” A
counter on the billboard
showed the votes in real time.

26. STEP 3: The “REAL” Beauty
They featured six “real”
women cheerfully
posing in plain white
underwear.

27. 2002:
SELF ESTEEM
PROJECT
DOVE-
Movement for
self-esteem !

29. ‘’
At a Dove leadership team
offsite meeting, an effort was
made to engage executives in
the idea behind The
“Campaign for Real Beauty”
by filming their own
daughters discussing their
self-esteem challenges.

31. DOVE : POP and POD
Point of Parity (POP) : Cleansing
Points of Difference (POD) :
● Trust
● Simple is beautiful
● Emotional bond with the customers

32. ‘’
DOVE emerged as a brand
with a Point of View.
Dove emphasized on more
women feeling beautiful
instead of woman feeling
more beautiful.

33. BRAND MANAGEMENT
● Unilever had organized the work of marketing in a manner
similar to its main competitor, Procter & Gamble, known as
the brand management system.
● Within a product category the firm often offered multiple
brands, each led by a brand manager.
● In effect, each brand operated as a separate business,
competing with its siblings as well as the products of other
firms.

34. REVENUE GROWTH
● In September 2006, Landor
Associates identified Dove
as one of 10 brands with
the greatest percentage
gain in brand health and
business value in the past
three years.
● It computed that the brand
had grown by $1.2 billion.

35. CONTROVERSIES FACED
Dove is a product of Unilever which produces AXE deodorant
and LYNX shower gel too. (which created a stir with their ads !)

36. SWOT
ANALYSIS
STRENGTHS , WEAKNESSES
OPPORTUNITIES and THREATS

37. STRENGTHS :
1. Positive social messaging.
2. Awakenes individual empowerment.
3. Helping girls to raise their self-esteem.

38. WEAKNESSES :
1. Ads are contradictory in nature.
2. Unilever used hotties in sexually suggestive
ads to promote its Axe brand.
3. Doves “Real Beauty” pics could be big
phonies.

39. OPPORTUNITIES :
1. Targets female customers at an emotional
level.
2. New opportunities to target male customers
too.

40. THREATS :
Risk of being brand for ‘ average girls ’

41. Thanks!

42. Credits
Special thanks to all the people who made and
released these awesome resources for free:
▣ Presentation template by SlidesCarnival
▣ Photographs by Unsplash
▣ Google Images

43. Presentation design
Designed By :
Praneeth Ponnekanti , IIITD&M Kancheepuram
Under an Internship By :
Prof. Sameer Mathur , IIM Lucknow
www.IIMinternship.com