Marketing and Dove
Dove: Evolution of a brand
Case write up
Sources: Dove: Evolution of a brand, Harvard Business School case 9-508-047, 2008; Dove`s big ideal: from real curves to growth curves, 2009 (IPA); Social Media, Harvard Business School case 9-510-095, 2011
Question 1: How did Dove`s brand positioning change from the mid 2000`s?
Functional era
Prior to the establishment of Dove as a Masterbrand in February 2000, the brand was positioned differentiated in the health and beauty sector. The brand refused to call its product a soap for 40 years and insisted that it was something entirely new. This hints that it could have tried to be a pioneer in a new category of the health and beauty sector thus aiming for central positioning. Nevertheless, the brand was considered by the target market as soap with a unique value proposition, i.e. allowing oneself to clean the skin without drying out. Thus, it was positioned differentiated offering a unique benefit in an existing product category that allowed it to be distinguished from other brands.
Dove chose a product-as-hero positioning with regard to other brands. The marketing campaign pronounced the functional benefits of the product, illustrating how the attribute that differentiated Dove from other competitors (cleansing cream) was added to the soap.
The brand provided two main benefits to the consumer: cleaning and moisturizing. While cleaning is the primary benefit that triggers action by a consumer (“realizing dirtiness / need to clean”), moisturizing is a secondary benefit that sets Dove apart from competitors and addresses an existing problem in the sub-category of soap bars. The need to clean oneself while not drying out is deliverable by Dove as indicated in the marketing campaign due to the product attribute of 25% cleansing cream. Finally, the uniqueness of the brand is purely defined by the moisturizing effect.
The Dove campaign for its beauty bar put a strong focus on the benefit of its products. With
Case write up
Sources: Dove: Evolution of a brand, Harvard Business School case 9-508-047, 2008; Dove`s big ideal: from real curves to growth curves, 2009 (IPA); Social Media, Harvard Business School case 9-510-095, 2011
Question 1: How did Dove`s brand positioning change from the mid 2000`s?
Functional era
Prior to the establishment of Dove as a Masterbrand in February 2000, the brand was positioned differentiated in the health and beauty sector. The brand refused to call its product a soap for 40 years and insisted that it was something entirely new. This hints that it could have tried to be a pioneer in a new category of the health and beauty sector thus aiming for central positioning. Nevertheless, the brand was considered by the target market as soap with a unique value proposition, i.e. allowing oneself to clean the skin without drying out. Thus, it was positioned differentiated offering a unique benefit in an existing product category that allowed it to be distinguished from other brands.
Dove chose a product-as-hero positioning with regard to other brands. The marketing campaign pronounced the functional benefits of the product, illustrating how the attribute that differentiated Dove from other competitors (cleansing cream) was added to the soap.
The brand provided two main benefits to the consumer: cleaning and moisturizing. While cleaning is the primary benefit that triggers action by a consumer (“realizing dirtiness / need to clean”), moisturizing is a secondary benefit that sets Dove apart from competitors and addresses an existing problem in the sub-category of soap bars. The need to clean oneself while not drying out is deliverable by Dove as indicated in the marketing campaign due to the product attribute of 25% cleansing cream. Finally, the uniqueness of the brand is purely defined by the moisturizing effect.
The Dove campaign for its beauty bar put a strong focus on the benefit of its products. With