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Project Report
How has Dove evolved as a brand over the years and the consumer
perception regarding the brand
Institute: IIM Lucknow
Programme: PGP
Course: Consumer Behavior
Instructor: Prof. Anirban Chakraborty
Submitted by
Group 6 | Section A
Soumyakant Das - PGP30284
Augustus Martin - PGP30014
Abhisek Pattojoshi – PGP31004
Arunabh Agarwal - PGP31016
Sanjay Dudani - PGP31047
Siddharth Agarwal - PGP31054
Arpit Mohapatra - PGP31192
Submitted on
19th
Aug, 2016
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Contents
Introduction....................................................................................................................................................................... 3
Brand Evolution Story of Dove................................................................................................................................... 3
Application of Frameworks to analyze Dove’s evolution.................................................................................10
Logo evolution of Dove using JND and Color Personality Framework......................................................12
Findings and Analysis of the Research...................................................................................................................13
Conclusion........................................................................................................................................................................15
Opportunities for further research..........................................................................................................................16
References........................................................................................................................................................................16
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Introduction
Context and Motivation of the study: As time changes, consumers change. They may change their
lifestyle, their needs may get enhanced (to higher levels in Maslow’s hierarchy) and may perceive a brand
that does not evolve, as old and non-innovative. Thus, we see a necessity to study how a brand has
evolved over time and find the customers’ perception of the brand. The brand under study is Dove. As
part of this report, we have done a content analysis, to understand the journey Dove has taken through
these years, evolving of its communication messages, brand personality and/or brand positioning, and the
reason for undertaking this path. The next part of the report deals with a qualitative research (in-depth
interviews) and questionnaire survey analysis to determine consumers’ perception about the brand.
Scope and Limitation: Our target group is students of IIM Lucknow (age group of 20-35) who have used
Dove at least once and can have some perception about it. The respondents/interviewees have similar
lifestyles and in a narrow age bracket, and thus the results might not be representative of the entire
category.
Methodology: The content analysis is based on secondary research. We went through ads (media/print),
analyzed campaigns, did a literature review, and browsed through related researches. The qualitative
research and thus, determining consumers’ perception is limited to our target group. The research only
includes in-depth interviews. Surveys were carried out only for further re-affirmation and not to
quantitatively confirm any hypotheses generated.
About Dove Brand: Dove, a personal care brand of Unilever, was introduced initially in 1955. Its logo is
a silhouette profile of Dove bird. It has many product lines and some products include body washes,
deodorants, beauty bars, hair care, moisturizers, facial care products etc. It offers countries with products
unique to their culture, climate, and skin texture.
Brand Evolution Story of Dove
1957-67
When Unilevers’ novel Dove ‘beauty bar’ initially debuted the American marketplace in 1957, Ad
intention seized a considerably changed approach from the custom, concentrating on the belief that it was
‘far enhanced for your skin’ than soap because of its mildness and its constituents of ‘one-fourth
cleansing cream.’ The taglines like ‘Suddenly soap is old-fashioned!’ and ‘Dove creams your skin
while you wash’ pressed the soaps POD, with its innovative arched outline and modest gold and blue
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wrapping presenting the unique logo of the bird which appears still today.
Newspaper Ads were black and white and were communicated along with TV. Lot of the Ads
highlighted the appearance of cream flowing into the Dove soap to stress its moisturizing feature. In the
starting decade, Dove promotion concentrated mostly on the facial utility.
1967-77
Subsequent the feminist crusade of the 1960s, further females began to move in the labor force and
regulate domestic expenditure, compelling publicists to changeround the means they were exhausting to
spread a progressively significant marketplace division. Promotion to womenfolk was not constrained to
foodstuff, apparel and domestic goods. And as females progressively initiated to be depicted further in
proficient characters, numerous advertising anathemas began to be shattered.
During the late 1960s, Dove first initiated to practice ‘real women’ in its marketing. The endorsements,
apparently made before a veiled camera, sustained the tactical emphasis on the product’s non-drying
advantage into the 70s. This was an intermediate period in which females arose to mainstream from the
restraints of the kitchen to exhibit their new age dresses, though the necessity for male sanction still
remained, as revealed by a 1971 Dove Ad displaying a sad lady helping beverages to her get-together
invitees, vexing as her spouse talks cheerfully with an attractive young lady. The narration states:
‘Somewhere amid the vacuum cleaner and the kitchen sink you got mature, and it shows…You can
help your skin look younger. Change from soap to Dove.’
Alternative runs of adverts in America in 1976 highlighted an imaginary beauty expert, ‘Liz,’ who reveals
the influence of Dove to her clients. Also it was through the 1970s that O & M created the unique
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Canadian impression, ongoing with the ‘real women’ endorsement layout established in the States.
1977-87
The 70s labor force fairness crusade generated certain sexual protagonist reverse, and towards the decade
sunset the beauty trade’s customary object-of-desire/external approval-driven positioning also upturned,
to be substituted or amplified by additional self-fulfillment-centric positioning, highlighting youth,
prestige and imaginary.
Now Dove cream-pouring appearance sustained to be vital in the Ads, nonetheless the tagline transformed
from ‘one - fourth cleansing cream’ to ‘one - fourth moisturizing cream,’ in guardianship with ladies’
lotion reverence, and the foundation of multipurpose attributes. The packing was transformed marginally
through the initial ’80s to a mainly white packet with blue inscription and a gold dove icon.
In 1979, a report stated the Dove soap to be slighter mild than other principal soaps. This outcome was
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utilized in numerous copies and commercials, with communications such as: ‘Dermatologists have put
something remarkably robust in this skin cleanser. Their trust.’ This was the major period a scientific
verdict was used in Dove promotion, specifying a steady swing in the practice womenfolk were spoken.
1987-97
During this period, Dove began its worldwide expansion. By 1997 the product was retailing in over 70
nations and endorsements of non-believers transforming to Dove were interpreted keen on several lingos.
In the early 90s the confirmations evolved to the practice of only a single woman, mean a complementary
in depth interpretation of how Dove has upgraded her self-respect as glowing as her skin. The currently
famous ‘Litmus test’ adverts arose in 1991, compelling the product one phase yonder the derma Ads of
1979 by proposing graphic, methodical evidence of Dove’s dominance. The advertisements display
zooms of additional cleansers with litmus impressions of pH 9.9 equated to Dove’s pH 7, which is
neutral.
1997-2007
The Internet age unlocked up a total new ecosphere of promotion occasions with the inauguration of
beauty sites, e - selling and viral promotions. Dove propelled novel products in the Y2K era: deodorants,
body lotions, cleansers and shampoo. Hand- and face-care domain followed in 2003, captivating Dove
from a lone product to a full beauty brand.
The Real Beauty Campaign
In 2000, Unilever entitled on Dove to develop a Masterbrand since of its endless accomplishment as a
frontrunner in the soap business. Sideways with the Masterbrand name, Unilever sought to arrive into
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further personal care groups. Dove was the impeccable contender for this brand extension since of its
progressive brand equity and its reverberation with the market.
Dove had continually embodied natural looking females, so the brand grasped information and headed the
“Campaign for Real Beauty”. The Dove brand was surfacing from its functional daintiness bar to an
extension of personal care goods that intended natural beauty.
Proposition: To vend practicality, not illusory beauty prospects to its customers, by concentrating on and
involving with females to makes them feel authorized and self-confident
Belief: Dove bonds with its consumers and stresses on issues on more involving than the level of beauty.
They endorse self-esteem and encourage self-confidence.
Tonality: When a consumer selects Dove, they select an item which makes them feel together bodily and
sensitively optimistic. The campaign has fixed the population’s thoughtfulness by reveling women’s
beauty, concentrating on the customer, and changing their interpretation on their own attractiveness and
self-assurance.
"Evolution" was the inclining idea, spiraling the Campaign For Real Beauty into a family appellation. For
countless new females, "Evolution" hit a major chord, giving a reality check to the squeaky descriptions
of beauty they bred up with and the way metaphors were deployed to fit said standards.
Dove's initial act in the Campaign For Real Beauty encompassed "Tick Box" hoardings, which started in
Canada and went transversely across America and Britain. The open-air hoardings included descriptions
of ladies with two tick-box choices next to them such as "fat or fit?" and "grey or gorgeous?
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Refer Exhibit 1 for Brand Prism, which reflects the complete Brand Identity.
Dove Value Proposition
Dove is committed to helping women realize their personal potential for beauty by engaging them with
products that deliver real care. Dove tries to deliver products that improves the condition of skin and give
a pleasurable experience of care because when you look beautiful and feel beautiful it makes you feel
happier.
Perception about dove soap:
• ¼ moisturizing cream
• Does not make skin dry
• Less in chemicals
• Makes skin softer
• The white color of milk
• The symbol and name (DOVE)
All this leaves an enduring impression about the brand
New Generation Dove
In India only 20% women color their hair as compared to 90% in developed market. So Dove launched
Go play Campaign to promote hair coloring in women with tagline “Go play, dove would take care of the
rest!”
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Brand Personality
• Honest, straightforward and simple.
• More realistic.
• We know that we cannot change our hair so much! Thus dove shows more realistic image and
becomes trustworthy.
• Feeling beautiful in whatever color or texture of hair you have.
• Used real women, not models.
• Widen the definition of beauty- ‘Real Beauty campaign’
• Touching at the emotional side of women- their sensitivity towards how they feel about
themselves. Thus more caring brand.
Dove Latest Campaign
Dove’s latest ad campaign calls for women around the world to renounce the media’s narrow, unattainable
standards of beauty and replace them with a message of female empowerment. The new campaign centers
on a nearly four-minute video showing women in five global cities being offered the option to enter a
building through either of two doors: one labeled “beautiful,” the other “average.” Most women walk
through the “average” door. But soon, amid swelling keyboards, their gaits grow more confident and their
faces glow as a procession of them—the beaming woman with her daughter, the young woman in a
wheelchair—warm to the inspiring possibilities for those who #ChooseBeautiful.
“It’s quite a triumphant feeling,” one woman says. “It’s like telling the world, ‘I think I’m beautiful.’”
“Choose Beautiful” is the latest iteration of Dove’s polarizing yet phenomenally successful “Movement for
Self-Esteem” (called “Campaign for Real Beauty” until 2010). In 10 years, it has reportedly helped boost
Dove sales from $2.5 billion to $4 billion. Ad Age has named it the best advertising campaign of the 21st
century. Previous ads in the series include the 2005 “Tested on Real Curves” photos of non-models in white
underwear and the 2013 “Real Beauty Sketches” video, by some counts the most viral ad ever.
Already, “Choose Beautiful” has reached more than 5 million viewers on YouTube, and the search term
“Dove ‘choose beautiful’” yields more than a million entries on Google.
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Product Categories in India
Dove Washing & Bathing (Beauty bar, Body wash)
Skin Care (Moisturizing, Dry skin care, Body lotion, Face wash)
Antiperspirant/Deodorant (antiperspirant deodorant spray)
Hair Care (Shampoo, Conditioner, Hair oil, Dry hair treatment, Hair fall treatment, Anti-dandruff
treatment, Damager hair care)
Dove Collections (Dove go fresh, Purely pampering, Dove elixir oil, Dove oxygen moisture)
Application of Frameworks to analyze Dove’s evolution
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs
As per Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, we see Dove have evolved from satisfying safety needs in 1950s by
positioning itself as a cleansing agent which can save you from a dry skin or remove dryness of your skin,
to a beauty bar which can pamper one or make one feel prettier. As consumers’ esteem and self-
actualization needs came into recognition, Dove was quick to tap onto this need and with its Real Beauty
campaign made women feel beautiful within and feel confident when they use Dove products. Below
diagram captures the essence.
Fig: Mapping Maslow’s hierarchy of needs with Dove’s communication strategies- from bottom rung:
Physiological, Safety, Love and Belongingness, Esteem, Self-Actualization.
2000s
2000's - Real
Beauty
Campaign
1960's to 1990's- Pamper
yourself (Love), Feel
prettier
1950's- Safety from dry skin
---
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Customer Based Brand Equity (CBBE) Model
Dove, before “Real Beauty” campaign in 2000s, took the rational route in the CBBE model. But, after the
campaign, it started to focus more on the emotional route to achieving brand loyalty and repeat purchases
by customers.
Stages in CBBE Model: -
1. Identity- Dove has established an identity as the world’s leading soap brand in health and beauty
sector. It has developed strong brand equity owing to its high brand awareness and it being a top-
of-mind brand.
2. Meaning- Earlier Dove focused on functional performance aspects, like its moisturizing ability,
mildness, and ability to remove dryness. After the new campaign, it started to focus on emotional
aspects by showing its superior ability in protecting sensitive skin.
3. Response- Dove’s main target audience has remained women. The only difference is that before
the campaign, women loved and trusted the brand’s functional aspects, and post the campaign,
women developed self-esteem and self-respect owing to its new advertisements.
4. Relationship- Owing to the new campaign and series of advertisement campaigns, women
developed brand loyalty and affiliation for Dove, leading to repeat customers.
Social Learning Theory
Social learning theory is a combination of cognitive, environmental and observational learning. By
modeling certain behaviors, consumers are likely to observe, retain, acquire and perform those behaviors.
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OBSERVATIONAL LEARNING:
Dove has launched, besides soaps, hair and body care products in India. It has used concepts of
observational learning and has avoided using celebrities in the advertisements. Instead, it has used
testimonials from “real women”, with which consumers could easily identify themselves, and retain,
acquire and perform the behavior displayed in the advertisements. The women displayed in the
advertisements recommended Dove products and this led to women buying its products.
Positive Reinforcement
Consumers become loyal towards a brand and start patronizing it as long as the results of their purchases
are reward yielding and satisfying. When the consumer purchases a Dove product, he/she is rewarded in
terms of satisfaction that he/she receives, which increases the probability of repeat purchases by him/her.
This develops brand loyalty for Dove.
Logo evolution of Dove using JND and Color Personality Framework
Marketers use JND to make crucial decisions on price, quality or quantity to penetrate new markets and
remain competitive in existing ones. They can also use JND to update their existing packaging to stay
relevant to the evolving consumer habits. Consumers decode the information in two ways: the literal
meaning and the psychological meaning. Dove has evolved the color of its logo to communicate
meanings in line with its positioning and thus, achieved differential threshold over the years.
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Analysis of Dove’s logo
1955-1963
Dove was positioned to deliver functional benefits
such as moisturizer and cleansing agent. Thus, the
color selected was White because of the milky
appearance. It was in line with Dove’s positioning.
1969-2003
Dove’s positioning changed to conveying more of
emotional than functional benefits. The
advertisements communicated excessive indulgence,
softness etc. So, the color of the logo was changed to
golden. It radiated charisma, individuality, and
personality. Thus, it helped to strengthen Dove’s
positioning.
2003- till now
After Dove’s successful “Real Beauty” campaign in
2003, the brand has focused on “inner beauty”. The
color grey is widely perceived to be “neutral” and
accepted by all.
Findings and Analysis of the Research
Objective: To gauge the current perception of consumer regarding DOVE as a brand.
In-Depth Interview: A total of five in-depth interviews were conducted of which, four were female and
one was male, all of them pgp2 students of IIM-Lucknow. The questions asked in in-depth interview was
more on the lines of consumer perception of Dove as a brand. The projective techniques used were word-
sort and Brand personification. Please refer to Exhibit 2 for detailed in-depth interview questionnaire and
responses.
Of the five in-depth interview that was conducted, all five of them at some point of time used one or more
product of Dove. Dove beauty bar was the product that was predominantly used by all of them. Apart
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from the beauty bar, people also used face wash, hair care and lotion of Dove.
As far as product usage period is concerned, couple of them have been loyal customers of Dove as they
have been using it for last 5-6 years. Rest of them have been switching brands and are not frequent buyer
of Dove products.
When asked about the benefits they expect to get from the product, almost all of them were on the same
page that they expect Dove product to be soft, smooth, gentle and a quality product.
These five respondents, when first started using Dove product perceived Dove as a premium category
product and very soft to skin. But their perception regarding Dove as a brand has changed over time.
Some of the respondents, think that Dove as a brand is over hyped nowadays but for the majority it has
delivered as expected over the years.
These 5 respondents most recently used 4 different product of Dove namely, Beauty bar, Lotion, Hair
Care, Anti-Dandruff Shampoo which hints us regarding the diversity of the respondents.
Qualitative Techniques: As a part of word association exercise, each respondent was provided with 16
chits, each containing one characteristics that could be associated with Dove. They were told to associate
as many characteristics as possible to the various products of Dove. Once they have identified the
characteristics they can relate to Dove product category, they were told to rank these attributes to know
further which attribute according to them defines Dove the best. According to four out of five
respondents, moisturizing effect of Dove is the most obvious characteristics they could associate with
Dove products. Apart from that other important characteristics out of the 16 listed, according to them are
Freshness, Softness, removing dryness, feeling young, nurture and fragrance.
The other qualitative technique used is Brand Personification. For this we asked the respondents “If Dove
was a person, who do you think he/she be? And why??” Most of the respondents were of the opinion that,
if Dove was a person, he/she would be more likely to be sincere, honest, gentle, calm, confident, takes
good care of himself and a common man.
Online Survey: Based on the response we got from the in-depth interview, we framed hypothesis that
“Dove products are associated with Softness and moisturizing effect” and “Dove as a brand is perceived
as that of self-acceptance and Independent.” To test these 2 hypothesis we prepared survey questionnaire
keeping the target segment as students of IIM Lucknow. Please refer to Exhibit 3 for detailed analysis of
the survey questionnaire.
To test these 2 hypothesis questions that were asked in the survey was as follows
1. Rank the Characteristics below that you associate with Dove
a. Nurture
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b. Fresh
c. Fragrance
d. Removing Dryness
e. Softness
f. Feel young
g. Moisturizer
2. Rank your perception regarding Dove as a Brand
a. Independent
b. Self-acceptance
c. Luxury
d. Rebel
e. Glamour
f. Equality
The output of the 80 responses that we got from the online survey floated are as follows:
1. Most of the respondents use Beauty bar and Hair care product of Dove
2. Regarding the number of years they have been using Dove product, the response was sporadic. It
ranged from less than a year to more than five years.
3. Regarding the characteristics that respondents associated with Dove majority of them rated
softness, moisturizer and freshness as the characteristics that they more likely to associate with
Dove.
4. As far as Dove as a brand is concerned the respondents described Dove Brand as being that of
Equality, Independent, and self-acceptance.
Conclusion
The above content analysis highlights the journey taken up by Dove, the reasons for the same and the
successful evolution strategies surrounding it. From the applications of various frameworks, we learnt
how Dove used concepts of Observational Learning, JNDs, and development of brand loyalty using
Brand Equity Model and emotional routes to build its brand. Based on the research findings, we can infer
that our sampling unit is aware of various product lines of Dove, and perceive Dove as a brand
showcasing self-acceptance, equality and inner beauty, and thus, concur with the integrated marketing and
communication strategies of Dove.
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Opportunities for further research
Though the content analysis talks about the evolution of Dove, the research methodology to determine the
perception of consumers could be carried out at a much larger scale. Initially, during the initial in-depth
interview phase, Zaltman Metaphor Elicitation Technique (ZMET), which reveals the latent motives
surrounding a customer’s association with a brand/his perception/purchase behavior, could be employed
for better and more reliable hypotheses. These could then be tested by designing surveys for a larger
target group and employing quantitative techniques (like factor analysis, cluster analysis, discriminant
analysis etc.) using SPSS. This would validate the hypotheses generated during qualitative researches,
with some amount of statistical significance entrenched into it. Further, a perceptual map could be
generated using SPSS/Marketing Engineering add-in (using Positioning Analysis) to find out how the
product is viewed vis-à-vis competitors.
References
Pandey, Anuja. “Understanding Consumer Perception of Brand Personality.” All India Management
Association.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dove_(toiletries)
http://strategyonline.ca/2007/12/01/tributedove-20071201/
https://www.unilever.com/brands/our-brands/dove.html
https://www.marketingsociety.com/the-library/how-dove-changed-rules-beauty-game
http://www.peopledesign.com/brand-evolution
http://heavy.com/social/2013/08/evolution-logos-brands-companies-old/11/
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Annexures
Exhibit 1: Making Brand Dove “Shine through the prism” (Brand Positioning)
Exhibit 2: In-Depth Interview Responses
S.No Questions Responses
A B C D E
1 Age bracket 26 23 24 25 23
2 Gender M F F F F
3 Region Lucknow Goa Mumbai Chattisgarh Chennai
4 Have you ever used
Dove product?
Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
5 Of the below products,
which products of
Dove you use
regularly?
a) Body Wash
b) Beauty bar
c) Lotion
d) Deodorant
e) Face wash
B,e,f A,b,c,d,f B,c,f B B,c,f
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f) Hair care
6 For how many years
have you been using
this product?
5-6 years 1-2 Years Used it once
or twice
6 Years Not a
regular
user.
7 What benefits do you
expect from that
product?
Cream
(Smooth),
not acidic,
level of
quality of
hair care
Very Soft,
Smooth,
Feminism
Absorbed
easily, hair
becomes
freezy
Soft Skin Gentle,
Creamy
8 How have you
perceived Dove
product when you first
started using it?
Premium
category,
Smoothness
of skin
Very Soft Moisturizing Premium Incredibly
soft
9 What’s your
perception regarding
the product now?
Very Soft,
Mild
Over Hyped Very
soothing on
skin
Not really
ineffective,
Again and
again
10 When was the last
time you used Dove?
2 Days back 4-5 Months
back
3-4 years
back
2-3 Months
back
1 year
11 What Dove product
did you use?
Beauty Bar Lotion Hair Care Soap Anti-
Dandruff
Shampoo
12. Select all the words you associate with dove. (Preference)
S.No Characteristics A B C D E
1 Nurture 4 3 2 4
2 Self-
Acceptance
4 1 10
3 Sexy 2 8
4 Beautiful 4 2 9
5 Commoner 5 1 7
6 Fresh 2 2 2 1 6
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7 Fragrance 4 1 2
8 Expensive 3 3
9 Removing
Dryness
1 1 1 2
10 Moisturizer 3 1 1 1 1
11 Dermatologist
Recommended
4 4
12 Pampered 5 3 5
13 Softness 1 4 1 3
14 Value for
money
2 3 2
15 Antiseptic 0 5
16 Feel younger 2 2
13. If Dove was a person, who do you think would he/she be? Why?
What characteristics of that person do you think associates very well with Dove?
Sl No Characteristics A B C D E
1 Independent 2 3 2 3 3
2 Gentle 1 1 1 1 2
3 Takes good care of
himself
5 5 5 5 1
4 Common Man 6 7 7 7 6
5 Confident 3 4 4 4 4
6 Calm 4 2 3 2 5
7 Honest 7 6 6 6 7
8 Self-acceptance 8 8 8 9 8
9 Luxury 9 9 9 8 9
10 Rebel 10 10 10 10 10
11 Glamour 11 11 11 11 11
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Exhibit 3: Online Survey Response Summary
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Exhibit 4: Some other Dove Ads over the years
1950s (TV ad: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWD0co3qFpI ) Print Ad
1960s
1980s: TV Ad: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MGl7KovMKU
1970s
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1990s TV Ad: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gan7oFsK9Ec
2000s: TV Ad: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYhCn0jf46U
2013: TV Ad: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wvGssI-Sis
