Abstract

This case is about Unilever’s “Campaign for Real Beauty” (CFRB) marketing campaign for its leading personal care brand ‘Dove’. CFRB was a multi-faceted campaign that sought to challenge the stereotypes set by the beauty industry. This campaign featured regular women (non-models) who were beautiful in their own way and did not fit in with the idealized images of models, super-models, and celebrities. Unilever developed the CFRB campaign based on a global study on the perceptions and attitudes of women with regard to their personal beauty and well-being. This campaign was a huge success as it was appreciated by many consumers and resulted in increased sales of Dove products. It also generated plenty of buzz and wide media coverage for the Dove brand. However, critics felt that this campaign could prove counter-productive as marketing messages in the beauty industry were largely aspirational and Dove could be perceived as a brand for fat and ugly girls. Some critics also felt that CFRB was a contradictory as it strived to sell Dove Firming Range of products in the guise of debunking beauty stereotypes.

Learning Objectives

The case is structured to achieve the following Learning Objectives:

• Understand the factors that contributed to the success of Unilever’s “Campaign for Real Beauty” for Dove Appreciate the importance of market research and application of consumer behavior insights in the development of a marketing strategy Understand the i

Keywords

Unilever, Dove Intensive Firming range, Campaign for Real Beauty, consumer research studies, Marketing Management, Branding and advertising, Public Relations , Dove Self-Esteem Fund, Societal Marketing, Women consumers, Beauty care industry, beauty stereotypes, Ogilvy & Mather, personal care brands, Buzz Marketing