“You Are More Beautiful Than You Think” – Dove

We see ads and commercials every day, whether they are in print, online, or on the television screen. They are something that people see every single day consciously or unconsciously. Advertising exists because there’s a product a company wants to sell and they want people to know about it so they can buy it. There are so many factors that contribute to successful marketing, and this paper will explain some of those factors. After watching the Dove “Real Beauty Sketches” commercial, the ability to identify the target market for the product came naturally and quickly. Within this writing we will analyze the information through core basic strategies that are currently used in the marketing industry such as a SWOT analysis, illustrating the steps to identify the target market, and this paper will also include the basic marketing strategies for the product Dove.

SWOT Analysis for Dove
For the brand Dove it was important to establish a strong understanding for internal an external strengths and weaknesses before the company created the commercial “Real Beauty Sketches”.  In the commercial Dove used the comparison of the more critiqued version what women viewed themselves as, and the more beautiful view of those who viewed them from the outside looking at them. This allowed for the brand to build a deep emotional connection with the viewer, and by using all different kinds of women in the video, it tied into reaching their target market. These are important areas in the SWOT chart below.

| Beneficial| Harmful|
Internal| Strengths * Promises not to leave any residue on the skin * Zero pH level * Strong brand awareness via advertising & branding * Tutorial Commercials show their proof * Strong emotional connection * Inexpensive| Weaknesses * Targets primarily the female segment * copied easily by the competitors * formulas often differ only by fragrance * bar cleansers present problems for skin| External| Opportunities * Reaching the male market * Being established as an umbrella brand * Expanding products * Targeting all women * Anti-aging moving towards “pro-age” | Threats * Risk of being a brand for a stereotypical overweight women * Stereotypical models|

Target Market for Dove
It is clear that the buyer characteristics the business looked at when targeting its market using the four segmentation categories geographic, demographic, psychographic, and behavioral characteristics for the commercial were on point. The company understood that they needed to market not only their product, but on a way to make women feel beautiful regardless of their age and size by using sciences like psychology and demographics to better understand consumers.

They understood that their target audience was all women, all ages and of all sizes. They did this by using different kinds of models in their commercial, expanding their demographics. They also tied in an extremely strong emotional connection with the women in their commercial through tears and visible emotion and showing multiple women with the same common behavioral denial.

Marketing Strategies for Dove
Dove uses multiple different strategies for gaining a strong stance in the market place. Dove aired many commercials to reach the target audience, and Dove has placed billboards in the majority of the major cities. These billboards challenged women’s views of beauty and encouraged them to cast votes online, and be engaged in the campaigning. Dove is also known for reeling in sales through their “Commercial Competitions” within their campaigning, and new initiatives to promote “pro-aging” vs the older way to view ageing as being something bad and referred to as “anti-aging”. The campaigning initiative has turned into a global communications campaign featuring images of real women who reveal their curves, grey hair, and aging facial spots and to uncover the basic facts they are trying to prove and that is that women are beautiful at any age shape and form.

Their messaging has been on target for their audience. The Unilever based company has shown there are other ways to market a beauty product that showing off a skinny made up model. The fact that the company is successful at selling a beauty product by increasing their consumer’s confidence in their existing beauty is priceless. The strategies they have used, and are still using, are emotionally bonding to women. Additionally, the company still has the ability to continue to expand in other markets in the future, to include the newly launched men’s line that is including cleansers, shaving gels, post-shave balms and moisturizers. With the research at hand, the company can only grow from here. Although the commercial watched doesn’t demonstrate all of the 4ps of marketing, actually it did not show the product itself at all, it did highlight the “promotion” aspect and included the “real people” in their advertisement. These were real normal people in front of the camera that were really able to demonstrate a feeling of self-satisfaction.

References

Tanner, J., Raymond, M. & Schuster, C. (2010). Principles of marketing (1st ed.). Irvington, NY: Flatworld Knowledgee “Dove’s ‘Real Beauty’ Campaign Isn’t Real!”. Dove’s ‘Real Beauty’ Campaign Isn’t Real!. NYMag. Retrieved 2 May 2013. Will Burns (April 23, 2013). “Dove, Your ‘Sketches’ Idea Is More Beautiful Than Your Critics Think”. Forbes. Retrieved April 23, 2013. (Dove, 2013)