Dove Strategic Brand Management - Essay Example

? Dove Strategic Brand Management Dove Strategic Brand Management A brand refers to a term, symbol, or any other attribute that distinguishes one seller’s services or goods as distinct from those of other vendors. The legal term for referring to a brand is trademark. Because brands are now acknowledged as part of a business capital, they must be exploited. This is the province of strategic brand management: that is how to generate value through proper brand management (Keller 1992, pp. 20). Building a strong brand can lead to the generation of numerous financial returns to firms, and has thus become a top concern for many businesses. The Customer-Based Brand Equity (CBBE) framework has been intended to assist management during the process of brand-building. According to this model, building strong brands entails four steps, including: (1) ascertaining the proper brand identity, in terms of depth and breadth brand awareness, (2) crafting suitable brand meaning through unique, favorable, and strong brand associations, (3) obtaining positive and accessible brand reactions, and (4) fashioning brand relationships with clients which are characterized by passionate and active loyalty. Achieving the four steps, further involves the establishment of six brand-structuring blocks— brand salience, imagery, judgments, feelings, and resonance. The CBBE model offers a yardstick through which brands can evaluate their progress in their brand-crafting efforts plus acting as a steer for marketing research programs. This report seeks to expound the concept of strategic brand management with special reference to the personal nurturing brand “Dove” and the “Real Beauty Campaign” (Keller 2007). Corporate entity Dove is owned by a conglomerate company known as Unilever – one of the world’s largest corporations dealing with FMCG. Unilever was set up in the 1920s as an outcome of a merger deal between a British soap manufacturer and A Dutch margarine business. Today Unilever has matured into a multibillion business with a worldwide return of €40.5 billion in the year 2008. Unilever supplies brands which are sold to over 170 countries globally. The company thus contributes to our daily lives i.e. home care brands, food brands, as well as personal care brands. The most well-known brands in terms of earnings include thirteen €1billion brands: Knorr, Axe/Lynx, Becel/ Flora, Lipton, Hellmann's, Omo, Lux, Surf, Dove, Blue Sunsilk, Band/Rama, Rexona as well as Heartbrand ice creams (Jakobsen 2010). The brands are marketed under the corporation vision of bringing vitality to peoples’ lives. Unilever aims at improving the lives of people in a sustainable manner by investing in worldwide community initiatives including, carbon dioxide gas reduction, lessening water pollution, and promoting sustainable practices throughout Unilever’s supply chain. In regard to this, Unilever spend about €91 million on society projects globally in the year 2008. The company also boasts of approximately 270 manufacturing plants across the six continents in the world. All these strive to register better performance with regards to issues of safety, efficiency, quality as well as environmental impacts (Simon 2000, pp. 79). Dove and the Campaign for Real Beauty This report focuses on the Dove brand and the Real Beauty campaign which was at first unveiled in 2004 and still subsists today. Even though the Dove brand has been present in the market since 1950s, it was not until the already mentioned campaign got launched that the brand achieved a strong standing in the minds of customers (Aaker & Keller 1990). The study for the campaign was founded upon quantitative data that had been collected from a global survey of about 3,200 women picked from ten countries including: Argentina, Canada, Brazil, France, Japan, Italy, Netherlands, the UK, Portugal, and the US. The findings validated Dove’s hypothesis which stated that the definition of the term beauty was both limiting and unattainable, by putting more emphasis on the aspects of thinness, blond and young age as the hall mark of beauty (Roberts 2005). The most significant findings included the following: only 12 % of the women who participated stated they were very contented with their physical beauty; Only 2 % of them described themselves as beautiful; about 68 % strongly concurred that the media places an unrealistic benchmark of beauty; while the another 75 % wished the media would do a better job of portraying the diversity of women attractiveness, including shape, size, and across all ages. With these findings in mind, Dove prepared a confident as well as an alternative beauty promotion which included the online viral videos ‘Amy’, ‘Evolution’, ‘Mothers and Daughters’, together with ‘Under Pressure’. According to company, the controversial promotion has hit the target with female customers across its global markets. Thus, Dove is currently the number one purification brand in the whole world with sales reports of over € 2.5 billion in 80 different countries (Jakobsen 2010). Based on these findings, Dove made a conclusion to the effect that women are not at all satisfied with their physical beauty and also most agreed that the media usually sets very unrealistic beauty benchmarks. Hence, Dove discovered a gap between what was depicted as beautiful in the media on one hand and what most women thought of their individual beauty. Therefore, the objective of the campaign was to challenge the orthodox concept of beauty-plus body images through the provision of an alternative for those women who recognizes beauty comes in all sizes and shapes. This was achieved by featuring “real” women in their ads (Azaoulay & Kapferer 2003). In stark distinction to other brands in the market for beauty products which focus on enhancing the beauty of women, Dove’s Real Beauty campaign does not center on promoting the business’ product line. Instead, the company focuses on a societal phenomenon, that is, our acuity of beauty, with the purpose of initiating a debate on the real issue and transforming society’s comprehension of beauty (Jakobsen 2010). Other initiatives which aim boosting Dove's brand image. Along with its adverts plus website, Dove has initiated several projects as part of its campaign on Real Beauty. This include: a self-esteem endowment, an academic research on beauty, and a touring photography show. These are aimed at helping the brand gain an extra positive image in the consumer’s mind (Barwise 1993). Branding of the product The term branding was derived from the selling of livestock. In earlier, centuries livestock owners started branding their animals in order to differentiate them from those of other individuals after bringing them to the market for sale. At the turn of the century, branding was exaggerated by the change of production approaches, retailing and retail of goods (Ehrenberg, Barnard, Kennedy & Bloom 2002). Investigating Procter & Gamble (P&G) ads for the Ivory soap from early 1900s, Van (2003, pp.23) demonstrates how three ideas specifically characterize the comprehension of a brand: (a) The brand reputable ownership plus visibility using trademarks and symbols that identify the brand; (b) The brand was understood as adding some value to the core product by emphasizing specific product-related traits considered to be beneficial and valuable to the consumer; lastly, (c) the brand was considered of as creating a particular image which differentiated it from the rest. Branding within online environments Jakobsen (2010) refer to the idea of ‘brand communities’ is defined as a specific, non-geographically obligated community, which is based on a controlled set of social relationships among admirers of a particular brand. Brand communities are stuck in a passion for a specific brand and thus, factors such as sex, age, and nationality are less significant for marketers as they define their target audience. Instead, affiliates of brand communities are frequently characterized by sharing a communal identity, cultural responsibility, as well as several rituals and traditions that bind the society together giving it meaning. They repeatedly identify themselves with a particular brand and henceforth share the similar values communed by the brand (Farquhar 1994, pp. 14). Park, Javorskey & MacInnis (1986, pp. 142) research on a variety of types of brand relationships illuminates why consumers slot in brand communities. He centers on brands which are respected, trusted and loved by customers and defines them as “lovemarks”. A lovemark is defined as a brand that adds emotional worth to it and hence has an intimate, passionate and committed connection with the customer. For the company to launch a sustainable customer-brand relationship within an online setting, the following key aspects must be considered: (1) know your consumers; (2) listen to them; (3) understand their values, attitudes and needs; (4) communicate through engaging in dialogue, plus cooperation with the customers; (5) establish the relationship on the foundation of loyalty commitment, trust, and honesty. Analysis of the Dove brand website The first thing that crosses the consumer’s mind when they enter this is that, it is not a business oriented site which tries to sell its wares to its visitors. On the contrary, it is a site which focuses on being true to the Dove campaign for Real Beauty. This it has achieved by displaying pictures of teenage girls on their homepage who, in their individual words, have posted sentiments about how they describe beauty. By allowing these girls to post comments as well as upload their pictures, the company has made its website a very interactive experience. This is because, the site is not only a place where Dove to communicates with the customer, but also somewhere people can articulate their feelings as well as thoughts regarding social issues including beauty stereotypes plus self-esteem (Jakobsen 2010). Analysis of the company’s viral videos The Dove’s ‘Evolution’ viral video. This was posted on YouTube.com in October 6th 2006 by the director of the agency which created. The film depicts to viewers an evolution, that is, the change in the innate traits of a populace of organisms via successive generations. The video is all about changing the reality and making others believe that what they are actually seeing is real. The video raises an extremely critical discussion vis-a-vis how the beauty business, which Dove belongs to, sets unrealistic beauty, benchmarks for ‘average’ people to follow. It shows that any person can be beautiful so long as they have software applications that can make them artificially beautiful. Having established that many women globally did perceive themselves as not being beautiful, the video is seen as the company’s first step to alter our perception regarding beauty by critically depicting to the world that our view of beauty is actually distorted. According to Dove, the society’s perception on matters regarding beauty is fuzzy because the beauty business is setting unrealistic values for how women should look, to be termed beautiful (Jakobsen 2010). The Dove’s Beauty Pressure viral video. This is a one minute and nineteen second video posted on YouTube by “tipper”, on the 2nd of October 2007. This video depicts young girls being exposed to massive amounts of commercials concerning twisted looks and beauty on a day-to-day basis. This exposure surely has some psychological effect on the way these girls perceive themselves and others in terms of beauty (Jakobsen 2010). The Dove’s Pro Age viral video. This video was posted on the YouTube site on February 20th 2007 since it had been banned from U.S TV on allegations of showing too much skin. Like the prior two ads, the Pro Age ad is clearly provocative clip that aims at changing the way the society and the media set beauty standards. This is achieved by having older women posturing nude in the video. The message – ‘this is not anti-age but pro age’ – then follows the advert. In this case, Dove is trying to project other beauty brands as claiming to ‘prevent’ the user from aging, or at most that is exactly what they are trying to persuade the consumer into thinking. Instead of following in these footsteps, the Dove brand has decided to chart its own path by stating that it is alright to be and to look natural. Whereas ‘Beauty Pressure’ and ‘Evolution’ were targeted at women plus their youthful daughters, the ‘Pro age’ ad is targeted at women who see their bodies and skin starting to change because of aging (Trout & Ries 1981, pp. 47). The Dove’s Amy viral video. This is one of Doves more recent videos. The video was posted on YouTube on the 14th of February 2008. Compared to the previous three ads already analysed, “Amy” is the only ad that incorporates a male thereby making it unique. It is distinctive given that that Dove has ventured into a new market territory by having a male included in their advertisement. Since, Dove is a largely women thing, the young male comes to symbolize what it entails to be a boyfriend to some girl full of insecurities regarding her looks as well as her self-confidence (Wansink & Ray 1996, pp.33). Deductions concerning the above analyses It terms of perceiving who your clients are, we observe that Dove has based the Real Beauty campaign on a worldwide study of women concerning their self-images and established that only 2% of them can describe themselves as beautiful. Thus, instead of concentrating on a traditional way of doing marketing, the Dove brand takes a different approach, by focusing on societal prejudice that influences the way their consumers think concerning themselves (Thomassen, Lincoln & Aconis 2006, pp. 68). By learning how their clients feel, the company has discovered an excellent chance of challenging the way the beauty industry as well as the media have dictated beauty benchmarks. Therefore, the company joined forces with the consumers in order to change these biased standards by emphasizing that the Dove brand is really about true beauty. Considering how Dove listens to, as well as understands its’ customers, I have established that Dove’s website is founded upon a communal feeling of being in it mutually. This is premised on the finding that their website is highly interactive with both editors and consumers making contributions with regards to the contents of the site. Consequently, it is observed that Dove is surrendering control by making clients co-creators of the company’s website content, thereby adding worth to the online customer-brand relationship (Laurent, Kapferer & Roussel 1995, pp. 176). Regarding communication and on the basis of the exploration of Dove’s videos, it is established that the company uses the knowledge of global study on women to craft ads which cohere with the study findings. In the place of TV ads, the company has initiated online strategies, which target sites such as the YouTube with the aim of promoting the Real Beauty campaign (Bottomley & Holden 2001). By designing provocative and unique videos, the company has been able to make the consumers of their products ‘co-marketers’ of the Dove brand, by letting them take control of Dove’s messages. This has been achieved by allowing consumers to comment on the videos and allow them the chance to pass the said video on to other customers. As pointed out in the analysis of the videos, this strategy aims at ensuring that Dove’s messages end up reaching millions of people around the world (Swaminathan, Fox & Reddy 2001, pp. 12). From a customers’ viewpoint, it actually seems that the company is serious about the Real Beauty campaign through making efforts regarding the perception of the society with regards to beauty and helping both women and girls lift their self-esteem, instead of just being out there, to mint more money and selling more of their products (Kapferer 2001). Instead, Dove campaigns for their products on the assurance that the selling of the company’s products supports the grounds of changing beauty stereotypes. In addition, through the Self-esteem Fund, the company has shown it that it concerned about young girls and their challenging issues regarding low self-esteem (Brown, Kozinets & Sherry 2003). To further augment Dove’s trustworthiness, the company is collaborating with other stakeholder entities in offering seminars, which aim at improving the lives of the less privileged children. This in essence leads to a feeling of contentment and satisfaction on the part of the consumers who buy Dove product. In other words, customers are intended to experience some sort of accomplishment when purchasing Dove products because they obtain the feeling of lending support to a good cause (Levy 1999). The fact that Dove centers on a social issue instead of product features has been confirmed to have some positive outcome on Dove’s brand image. This is so given that people are currently correlating the perception of true beauty with Dove and its products. The campaign has eventually helped Dove increase market shares in all of its main beauty categories, ranging from body wash, bar soap, deodorant, to hair care (Murphy 1990). Recommendations Dove has fashioned holistic and integrated marketing campaign which intentionally seeks to institute online consumer-brand associations characterized by the metaphor of best friendship. This relationship is founded upon a cherished issue concerning the cultural and social phenomenon of girls and women who feel bad about themselves (Schmitt 2003, pp. 56). This happens given that the media working hand in hand with the beauty industry have set a very high bar regarding beauty standards for average people to pursue. Instead, Dove heaps praises on females for being beautiful just as they are. However, the question lingers as to how the company’s efforts are ‘paying off’ regarding the generation of a positive image of Dove brand and eventually the selling of more products? (Riezebos 2003). Regardless of Dove’s communication, as well as economical success of having altered the brand strategy into crafting corporative associations with consumers by means of interaction and dialogue, following such a strategy has its own repercussions. The consequences may include ultimate termination of the association and subsequent tarnishing of the brand’s image (Steenkamp, Batra & Alden 2002, pp. 38). Dove brand SWOT analysis This report winds up by giving an analysis of Dove’s strengths and weaknesses; vis a vis, opportunities and threats that will have a major bearing on the company’s growth and survival. Strengths: Dove has founded its campaign on the knowledge and comprehension of consumer needs, that is, through the global survey on women and how they perceive beauty; the company has a website that promotes consumer communication and involvement and thus connoting a feeling of ‘we are in it together’; the campaign has a powerful emotional touch amongst customers and this has resulted to the creation of a consumer-brand meaning; the Real Beauty campaign breaks away from the traditional product marketing approach to a customer oriented one given the continual interactions and value meeting clients’ expectations (Schmitt 1999). Weaknesses. The campaign is somehow contradictory – the company is in the beauty industry; there is also a lack of interactivity on the website; not being in charge of the social sites; there is little emphasis on answering of questions; Dove products are not highly valued because of low commitment to the product; the women featured in the advertisements are comparatively slim, this shows lack of authenticity (Ries & Ries 2004). Opportunities. Targeting males as it has requested by customers; Dove should also target more ethnicities; maintaining improved standards of quality regarding the usability of the company’s website; take advantage of what is selling in the media as of present (Ries & Ries 2004). Threats. There is the risk of deflating some consumers’ aspirations; there is also the risk of other stakeholder entities influencing customer behavior negatively; there exists the risk of Dove graduating into being a brand for ugly and fat people; there is the risk of being restricted by Unilever decisions; finally there is the risk of maintaining sustainable customer-brand relationships in the long run (Laforet & Saunders 1994, pp. 66). References Aaker, D & Keller, KL 1990, ‘Consumer evaluations of brand extensions’, Journal of Marketing, vol. 54, no. 1, pp.27-41. Azaoulay, A & Kapferer, JN 2003, ‘Do brand personality scales really measure brand personality? Journal of Brand Management, vol. 11, no. 2, pp. 143-155. Barwise, P 1993, ‘Brand equity: snark or boojum’, International Journal of Research in Marketing, vol. 10, no. 2, pp. 93-104. 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