Dove

Unilever is a leading global manufacturer of packaged consumer goods, with annual revenues of $50 billion. Dove is a Unilever brand launched in 1957 and is one of America’s most recognizable brand icons.   Dove accounts for about $2.5 billion of Unilever total annual revenue.   In 2007, Dove was the world’s number-one “cleansing” brand in the health and beauty sector.
      By 2002, during the “Point of View” era, Dove began the “Campaign for Real Beauty” under the mission statement; “Dove’s mission is to make more women feel beautiful every day by broadening the narrow definition of beauty and inspiring them to take great care of themselves.”   The positioning of the brand was to be unconventional when it came to the definition of women’s beauty and beauty care.
      During its “Functional Benefits” era, Dove differentiated itself by asserting that the Dove beauty bar was not technically soap. The Dove beauty bar contained high levels of natural skin moisturizers and dermatological studies found it milder than soap-based bars.   Dove further differentiated itself by backing its “Campaign for Real Beauty” with scientific proof.   Through the exploration of psychological studies on women, the brand was out to debunk the dream that most women can attain the elusive supermodel beauty.
      Prior to 2000, Unilever typically managed brands in a decentralized fashion.   Each brand acted as a separate business, and it competed with its sibling company brands as well as the competitions’.   Post 2000, responsibilities were split into Brand Development and Brand Building. Brand development was centralized in scope.   Brand building was decentralized in scope according to major geographic regions in which Unilever operated.     Brand managers were charged with bringing the brand to life and building brand equity.
      If I were Unilever, I would continue with Silvia Lagnado and Philippe Harousseau direction with their campaign, with a few exceptions. Scientific backing gives...