Abstract

This case is about the foray of Unilever's global personal care brand Dove into the men's personal care market. Launched in 1957, Dove had been positioned as a beauty bar for women over the years. Building on the strength of its range of products for women, Dove decided to target a totally new segment of customers. The brand entered the men's grooming market by launching a new line for men - Dove Men+Care. The case discusses the launch of the brand and the promotional strategies that Unilever used to promote it. It then highlights the challenges faced by the brand in the men's personal care market. According to analysts, Dove was largely perceived as a feminine brand strongly rooted in women and one of the biggest challenges for Unilever would be to make the brand appeal to men as they generally avoided buying feminine products. While some experts felt that Dove's men range would be successful as the brand was known for its competence in skin cleansing, others labeled the move as risky saying that brands with a feminine association had failed to make significant inroads compared to exclusive men's brands. This case is aimed at MBA/MS level students as part of the Consumer Behavior/ Brand Management/ Marketing Communication curriculum.

Learning Objectives

The case is structured to achieve the following Learning Objectives:

• The case will help the students:
• Understand the issues and constraints in entering a new market segment
• Understand the reasons behind Dove's entry into the men's grooming market
• Study the promotional strategies adopted by Unilever in marketing the Dove brand to male consumers
• Study the issues involved in brand extensions

Keywords

Consumer behavior, Brand management, Target marketing, Marketing communication, Brand extensions, Brand Positioning, Product portfolio, Feminine brand, Brand personality, Personal care, Men’ grooming market, Unilever