Dove launches web channel for “real beauty”
Thursday, May 29th, 2008Dove is attempting to tie together their famous “Campaign for Real Beauty” with their product line through a new, MSN-hosted web site. Dove.msn.com highlights the beauty company’s product line, gives users access to special offers and free samples, health quizzes, and beauty tips and tricks. However, unlike other corporate websites, Dove’s new channel hopes to create a community around their products and their mission. They have made headlines and garnered support for showing real women, not airbrushed models, in their advertising. Now they hope to organize the women who are touched by their message in a social networking model, complete with plenty of product promotion. But can a combination of activism and advertising really reach the kind of customers Dove attracts?
As the Campaign for Real Beauty website explains, “Dove’s global Campaign for Real Beauty aims to change the status quo and offer in its place a broader, healthier, more democratic view of beauty. A view of beauty that all women can own and enjoy everyday.” This view, especially coming from a beauty products company, struck a chord with many women. Dove surprised consumers and competitors alike with ads showing regular women, and the market place was highly receptive to their message. However, as a recent Wall Street Journal article notes, “While Dove has received a blizzard of free publicity for the “Campaign for Real Beauty,” the marketing impact has been somewhat blunted by the fact that the social cause hasn’t been linked directly to specific Dove products.”
To further make the connection between the social change and the products, Dove’s new female-focused website is combining positive body-image messages with product promotion. Sections are broken down into top navigation tabs, and they include Products, Connections, Expertise, Features, Offers, and the Campaign for Real Beauty. Some sections are pure advertising, with professionally crafted messages about shampoos and lotions. Even on these pages, though, the models using the products are average-looking, and the photos do not appear to be enhanced or airbrushed.
Other pages feature articles, blogs, videos, and discussion forums for users. Customers can create individual profiles by filling in the answers to questions like “My best beauty secret is:”, “I’m beautiful because:”, or “Last movie that really inspired me:”. Of course, the profile wizard also asks you how often you purchase certain Dove products, your age, and your geographic location. The content focuses on beauty and health information, all through Dove’s lens of “real beauty”. One blogger writes about the danger of fashion magazines to young girl’s self-esteem, while another writes about the delicate balance between femininity and power in the work place.
Dove’s new channel also hosts a number of videos, many of which have been hits on YouTube. The most popular is called Evolution, which shows an average-looking woman being transformed into a supermodel through a combination of makeup and Photoshop effects. Another, aptly titled Onslaught, shows the effects of ads on young girls. The spot warns parents, “Talk to your daughter before the beauty industry does.”
Dove is innovative in their use of anti-beauty industry messages to sell beauty products, but they are not the first to reach out to women through online social networks. Proctor and Gamble, the force behind popular beauty brands like CoverGirl, Herbal Essences, and Olay, recently launched Capessa, a female-focused networking site. In their own words, “Capessa is a gathering place for real women to share their stories, offer their personal wisdom and practical advice, improve their lives and be inspired. It’s a place where experiences are the common thread, where advice comes from personal experiences. Capessa is you and women just like you.”
Is this heavy-handed marketing really going to make an impact. In the case of Capessa, I doubt it. Even though their site is not as laden with advertising, it doesn’t have a clear focus or culture. The key to a solid social network is creating a culture within the online framework, and people rarely unite over something as humdrum as shampoo or hand lotion. While many women (and men) are loyal to certain beauty products, I think the industry overestimates how many of us want to talk about our loyalty to certain beauty products. In Dove’s case, however, the web channel is about more than just a product line, despite the obvious marketing purposes. They have begun a discussion about the place of “fake” beauty in advertising, and continuing the conversation online is a natural next step. The key is not to drive away women with too many product promotions and special offers.
By Haley January Eckels
