OWN TARGET AND OWN AUDIENCE.

ON TARGET AND ON AUDIENCE.

I wonder how Dove became so successful with this campaign when the idea is simple and ordinary.

I have those days when I really cannot think of anything. I just stare into blank space for a few minutes. It happens, and there’s nothing really shoddy about it. Here’s where reality comes knocking at your door, and it’s time. Something that bothers me is the awful deadlines i have to meet sometimes. I really squeeze every ounce of idea that pops up somewhere in my head and try to use it sometimes…

IT DOESN’T WORK.

I learned that if you’re a person that takes longer time to come up with ideas that are strong, then you should not let time be a disadvantage to you. Worst thing you want, is your idea being thrown right back at you when you know it well that you did it last night.

Being on strategy is a simple way to make sure you use your time well. I think that it’s the perfect marriage with the idea you have in mind and developing it further with the appropriate tone. This basically means talking to your audience in a way that makes them listen. Not only that, the ad itself should stop people and make them ponder over what just hit them on the face.

Okay…. ouch! An ad like this obviously makes me cringe, but it certainly makes you wanna know what it’s about.

INTRUSIVE AND INTERRUPTIVE?

This was an ad campaign ran by Publicis, a Czech Republican agency. The campaign was to highlight the effects of cosmetic testing on animals. It was basically for the freedom from animal testing.

Such strong messages really stop people on their tracks which is a great way to give a lasting impression. However, this disruption must be realistic and has to be based on truth.

If anyone raises a notion that animal testing is bull, then obviously that’s not based on truth but pure ignorance to reality. Yet, a strong ad like the cosmetic testing on animals leaves an impact on people because we know that such things are still in practice.

That’s something I’ll remember whenever I try really hard to make my design look nice instead of concentrating on the message.

Another problem I always have is that whenever I get an idea, I try to tweak my audience instead of the idea. I ALWAYS WANT THAT IDEA TO WORK I DONT CARE.

Oh, c’mon everyone feels it sometimes. Anyway, being clear to the relevant audience about the key message is always important. That being said, never try to tweak the vital factors just cause that certain idea is so cool…(:<), ikr.

Targeting the specific and the right audience always helps in the creative process of coming with ideas. If the audience do not tie in with your idea, then I think it’s time for some changes. We would not target people in their 60s if we are trying to sell game stations or something. However, when the right idea reaches the right audience, it certainly does something to them.

An ad that has the capability to change the beliefs of consumers is certainly a good one. That can be achieved basically by being on strategy and on target. This maximises the reach you get and the impact you will give to the relevant target audience.

This are some advertisements (I personally find them really interesting and mind boggling to look at:] ) that really makes you open your eyes and stare.

In 2004, Dove launched the very successful Campaign for Real Beauty which features real women, not models, advertising Dove’s firming cream. The advertisements focus on promoting real, natural beauty, in an effort to offset the unrealistically thin and unhealthy images associated with modeling.

In 2004, Dove released a study that they used as a spring board to launch their Campaign for Real Beauty. They found that:

• Only 2% of women describe themselves as beautiful.

• 63% agree that society expects women to enhance their physical attractiveness.

• 45% of women feel women who are more beautiful have greater opportunities in life.

• More than 68% of women strongly agree that the media and advertising set an unrealistic standard of beauty that more women can’t ever achieve.

• 76% wish female beauty was portrayed in the media as being made up of more than just physical attractiveness.

• 75% went on to say that they wish the media did a better job of portraying women of diverse physical attractiveness, including age, shape and size.

Some advertising and PR

Dove used mobile billboards in major cities.  A featured interactive billboard, located in New York’s Times Square highlighted and kept a running tally of the votes submitted for a “Wrinkled? Wonderful?” ad. The Campaign for Real Beauty launched in New York City with a panel discussion about beauty. The kick-off was co-hosted by American Women in Radio and Television®, and featured Dr. Nancy Etcoff of Harvard University; Mindy Herman, former CEO, E! Entertainment Television; Andi Bernstein, Vice President, Special Projects, Oxygen Media and other media and beauty leaders

Dove established the Dove Self-Esteem Fund to raise awareness among young girls of the link between beauty and body-related self-esteem. Dove funds programs that raise self-esteem in girls and young women.

In many of the articles written about Campaign For Real Beauty, information and statistics on the campaign came directly from Dove, including the Dove Global Study. According to a blog written by PSU students, the publicity for Campaign For Real Beauty generated more than 650 million imprints during the summer of 2005 alone.Of the 22 articles collected for this project:

• 18 directly discussed some aspect of an ad made by Dove for the Campaign For Real Beauty.

• 10 had a direct quote from someone representing Dove or Unilever.

• 17 used some element of a press release to add to their story.

• 7 mentioned the Campaign For Real Beauty website

• 6 mentioned the Dove Global Study and/or used statistics from the study.

• 17 articles covered Campaign For Real Beauty positively, praising the campaign.

• Only 5 articles criticized the campaign.

The Newest Advertising Campaign

The newest advertising campaign features several women singing “Do your ears hang low?”. I think this commercial is very clever and grabs the audience’s attention. This campaign is a collaborative effort with Walmart for the Dove pro-age product. The ending tag is “Find real beauty, for less.” Here is the commercial.

Another initiative Dove has taken in the same light is to collaborate with Girls Inc., Girl Scouts and Boys & Girls Club of America. Dove is promoting the same values of beauty to the young girls in these groups. The hope is to create a new image for women and I think this is a great initiative that needs to continue.

 A lot of people will be aware of the Dove Campaign for Real Beauty or their Self-Esteem Fund. It’s an idea I fully agree with, and the video featured below is something everybody should watch, especially younger people but not solely younger people; in the age we live in it’s something that will niggle at people of all ages.

Okay, in case you didn’t bother watching the video, it basically depicts a girl arriving for a photo shoot for a beauty product. She looks like a perfectly normal girl, sweet and good looking but certainly not ‘perfect’. A team of makeup and hair artists work on her and you get to see the transformation in super-quick time before that image is photo-shopped to make it even more atttractive to their audience; the hair is fixed further still, the neck lengthened, the cheeks thinned and eventually the girl that appears on the billboard bears little resemblance to the girl who arrived for the initial shoot. The message is that it’s no wonder our perception of beauty is so flawed, and it’s a perfectly valid one regardless of who is putting the point across.

I love this video and I love the fact that this campaign is so public as it’s an intensely important issue. People need to realise, especially younger people to whom their appearance is more important perhaps than to the likes of myself – I’m a 30 year old guy – that they don’t NEED to try and compete with a manufactured image, they don’t NEED to compete with the idea of beauty that has been thrust upon us by various forms of media for decades now. Christ, they don’t even need to change, or alter their looks with any products, I just wish that people would accept their own beauty for what it is, and trust in other people to see it too. A smile is a gorgeous sight but it isn’t the upturned lips or baring of teeth that make it so, it’s the warmth of the person behind the smile, and you don’t need to make your eyes more attractive because they already are amazing to look at. It pains me to see people that are clearly beautiful, be it because of their clean skin, their warm eyes, their infectious smile, a dazzling sexy look, a ridiculously cute look, a quietly sweet look or even a so-called nerdy look, and to be able to see straight away that they don’t think they’re attractive. I just want to grab them and tell them how amazing they look, but of course that’d probably get me in trouble if I started to go around doing that kind of thing. But my message here is simple also – please, please believe in your own personal beauty and keep trust that no matter how conventional your beauty is, it WILL be noticed and you’ll be loved for it just as you will for your personality. It’s all a part of who you are and what makes you special.

Finally, I should say that I’m not encouraging anyone to go out and buy Dove products, as much as I love this campaign and the positivity they’re sending out, we have to bear in mind that their main aim is to sell their lines. It’s also worth bearing in mind that Dove are owned by Unilever who in turn market the Lynx/Axe range of deodorant for young men. If you’ve seen the marketing for Lynx or Axe then you’ll know that it’s basically suggesting that if you use Lynx bodyspray, you’ll be absolutely irresistable to the kind of wonderfully exotic creatures that the Dove adverts are telling you don’t actually exist. And if you’re an animal lover, Unilever have yet to fully commit to cutting animal testing from their product ranges.  So buy whatever products you like but remember that you don’t need them to be beautiful!

I used to really look up to the Ralph Lauren label.

90% of my high school wardrobe was from them – my shirts, my jeans, my perfume, my socks, my sneakers, and I even had both the Polo Country and Polo Sportsman moccasins for those special dates at TGIFriday’s and various Soph Nights.

(The old Chapsville in Shoppesville sure made a lot of money off of me.)

Yet despite the uproar over this tragically-mutated-through-the-demonic-powers-of-Photoshop print ad, it seems that their art directors just don’t have a clue when it comes to good taste.

Seriously. What is going on here?

Either they need to start hiring new art directors, or at the very least start paying their models with cheeseburgers and a good protein shake or two.

Did nobody learn anything from that wonderful classic “Campaign For Real Beauty” that Dove launched three years ago?

What is beauty?  Where does our idea of beauty come from?  For most of us, the media and the magazines give us our ideas about beauty and the standards that we can’t possibly measure up to.  The part they leave out if how important a part your inner beauty plays into the core of your very being.  Our beliefs about ourselves usually starts when we are young from our parents, our fathers in particular.  My father would tell me how pretty I was, but for whatever reason, I didn’t believe him. He spoke the words but it didn’t resonate in my soul. We didn’t have a good relationship, nothing improper, yet nothing uplifting either.  My mother and I weren’t so close either.  I found loving acceptance with my grandmother, who showed me what unconditional love looked like; she loved me no matter what, which was a important factor in my story.

Growing up I was a tomboy; I loved to climb trees and run through the woods off on adventures by myself.  I would find solace in standing by the rushing creek in the park I would ride my bike 5 miles to every week.  I didn’t wear dresses or skirts, shorts were more comfortable and conducive to all that tree climbing!  I liked to play dress up but didn’t see myself as pretty, so what was the point?  I loved playing with makeup and seeing how I could look different. My looks could be changed, but my soul remained empty.

By the time I entered 7th grade, it was no better.  I didn’t have creative control over my wardrobe since my mom was still footing the bill.  I got a job at the  mall at a candy store when I was 15 and that’s when I got in the fashion game. I started buying my own and clothes and took delight in putting together outfits.  My classmates started complimenting me and I liked how that felt.  Still, beauty wasn’t resonating in my soul.

I got married for the first time when I was 21.  I really can’t remember my husband telling me I was beautiful.  We argued a lot and didn’t have many tender moments.  We did have two beautiful girls which makes me grateful for that time in my life.  My second husband was very doting and affectionate but again, I can’t recall any moments were he told me I was beautiful.  After that divorce, I had another boyfriend who told me a lot that I thought a lot of myself.  He didn’t really know me and needless to say we didn’t last very long.  My last boyfriend would tell me that he wished I would see how beautiful I was. My belief had always been unconsciously that if I were to believe it, my head would get big.  I would become conceited. But I like seeing myself through his eyes.  This was different.  He really believed I was beautiful and told me so all the time.  Secretly I began to wonder if he was lying after awhile because he told me so much.   The problem wasn’t what if a man did or didn’t  tell me I was beautiful, the problem was that I didn’t believe it myself.

This is what happens when a girl who is struggling to own her womanhood, doesn’t believe in herself and her own unique beauty.  It can be disastrous! For me, it meant always striving to look beautiful and put together to hide the mess inside.  I thought that if I looked good, I could fake it til I made it so.  I looked to others, mostly men, to validate my beauty.  Funny thing is, people usually end up adopting the attitude that you have about yourself.  What I didn’t realize was that I had to own it, recognize it and believe it.

I started my business at 29 when I was still married to my second husband.  I developed a passion for helping others realize how unique they really are and how to translate that to their outer image.  It gives me such joy when a client looks in the mirror and really does see how beautiful they are. It is an experience that everyone deserves to live on a daily basis.

I am 37 now, and for the first time, I really believe that I am beautiful; inside and out.  Why? Because I discovered what was missing.  I was missing God’s view of my beauty.  After all, He created me, He knows me better than anyone else, even me.  Once I saw myself through His eyes, my eyes were opened.  I read a book this week called Captivating: Unveiling the Mystery of a Woman’s Soul, by Stasi Eldredge.  I highly, highly recommend this book for every woman.  I invite you to see yourself through God’s eyes.  It will change your life.  It certainly changed mine.

Captivating

The Ralph Lauren Diet

Shoot, just when marketing and glamor seemed to be embracing healthier, happier, more embraceable physiques (as in Dove’s Campaign for Real Beauty), Ralph Lifschitz presents us with this exemplar of feminine beauty.

It’s not just sad, but downright disturbing. The image is a scan from Lauren’s current Blue Label catalog. Let’s hope this is an aberration, and not the beginning of a new trend.

This is the first in a series of articles on establishing marketing leadership online. Over the past few years, I looked into how brands behave online and established a brand positioning model which takes into account the different types of strategies employed by different brands in the online space.

There are a number of different ways brands can establish leadership online, from providing a groundbreaking service like Amazon.com, to creating a strong brand position that completely resonates with a core customer base, which is what RedBull has done. To identify potential leadership strategies that a brand can adopt in any given category, I have created a 7 stage positioning chart.

Brand strategies for traditional and empowered consumers

Now the first 4 stages are the brand positions that have defined traditional marketing since the 1980’s. These are Stage 1: Generic or unbranded, Stage 2: Brand as reference, Stage 3: Brand as personality and Stage 4: Brand as icon.

Stage 1, or Generic Brands are often commodity products, such as oil or aspirin – products which, for the most part, are all pretty much the same. In generic brands, volume, price and accessibility determine sales. As you see in the chart, it occupies the bottom corner of our “differentiation versus consumer” matrix. Which basically mean’s that it’s a brand positioning that appeals mainly to value-oriented consumers. As such, loyalty is practically non-existent. The cheapest item typically rules. Marks & Spencer has used this positioning recently when it created its new low priced, value line of “Basics” as a way to keep their recession concerned shoppers from defecting to Tesco.

In Stage 2 we move to the Brand as Reference stage. This is when a brand becomes the category. Think Xerox or Gatorade, where your product name becomes synonymous with it’s benefit. Gatorade = sports drinks and Xerox = photocopying. Interestingly, Google has been trying hard to ensure that “googling” something, to mean they are searching the web, doesn’t appear in any dictionaries as a way to keep their brand out of this troublesome space – a strategy that has so far proven effective.

Stage 2 brands often live in areas of intense competition. Take Colgate for instance. It’s a toothpaste competing with Aquafresh and a number of other brands, which all, to varying degrees of success, do exactly the same thing – clean your teeth. So marketers of reference brands tend to focus on traditional value-based segmentation models to understand needs, “I need/want to look good,” so “white teeth is important”. Advertising then looks for hooks to find good ways of matching rational product benefits with these needs.

Because Stage 2 brands are often low involvement brands, loyalty is often based on “points and rewards” schemes, essentially turning loyalty into a commodity business that you can buy and sell. Naturally this is problematic because a challenger brand can always offer to “buy” up loyalty by purchasing points from customers who defect. Frequent flyer miles are a good example, where airlines have been known to purchase each other’s customer’s frequent flyer miles.

Stage 3 brands work hard to differentiate themselves by using personality as a point of difference. The UK softdrink Tango used this to brilliant effect in its advertising in the early 1990’s. Historically, the strategy was effective because it made brands more humanistic and appealing. It also created emotional reasons to purchase rather than rational ones. In markets where TV still dominates, personality can still work as a brand strategy. However, in the online world, its impact tends to be more limited. Once you start, you have to constantly reinvent the creative to keep it fresh, alive and interesting. And even then, consumers eventually grow bored or tired with the effects. Just track the rise and fall of Diesel Jeans. What was the last ad from them that you can remember? When was the last time you visited their website? And why would you anyway?

Much of the value-based segmentation that exist today came from the drive to give brands a personality that resonates with consumers. Loyalty for Personality Brands tends to be driven around brand experiences. This is why you have a lot of product trialling in supermarkets for instance. Or why brands like Kraft spend millions on creating recipes around its products to get you to try them in new dishes.

Most of today’s top global brands, from Nike to Nokia, are at Stage 4, the Brand as Icon stage. In this stage, the brand is part of the psychological make-up of the consumer. It becomes a way for people to identify themselves. So the 18 year-old football fanatic wears Nike and Quicksilver and drinks Red Bull because those brands help him define who he is. Loyalty among icon brands tends to be fairly strong, as it’s built on an emotional basis that is linked to the way the customer wants to be perceived.

As much of this brand ID creation is influenced by the brand behaviours of peers and tribes, the community, both online and off, plays a growing part in our brand preference list. If we extend this thinking further, we see an evolution where the brand itself becomes a type of community, one defined by common interest and preferences. This is why owners of Harley Davidson motorcycles often feel a bond or affinity with other owners. Or why drinking a can of RedBull is like being part of a club of hi-energy fanatics.

There is an interesting variant on this brand space which is quite strong among today’s prosumers, and that’s called the Brand as Activist/Philanthropist. Currently this is a highly attractive and powerful niche positioning that appeals heavily to prosumers. The more empowered a consumer is, the more cynical they become about corporate behaviour and blatant profiteering. By linking the brand to its social/CSR behaviour, the brand gains real meaning and impact online. The opportunity for customer involvement is also very high as you can make the customer part of your “giving back to society” activity.

With the exception of a few key brands such as Newman’s Own in the US, which is founded as a social enterprise, most brands utilise this not as a brand positioning, but rather as a tactical strategy. Which is a shame really, because as global problems increase, the opportunity for brands to stand out with this strategy are significant.

One could argue that the Brand as Activist/Philanthropist is not really an evolutionary step up from Brand as Icon stage, but rather a comparable strategy in itself. However, I have put it here simply because I believe that Iconic brands will have to align their brand values with their behaviours to survive. Prosumers are looking for brands with real meaning. Not just marketing fiction. And how the corporations and the people behind the brands behave determine that meaning. We have seen enough evidence of this in the last decade, between Shell, Nike and now Texaco, to know that a business and brand has to be more than its products and marketing. It has to be also its mission, beliefs, values and most importantly, its behaviours against the first three.

An equally powerful brand position to adopt online is Brand/Customer Partnership, our Stage 6. I see a lot of Iconic brands trying to move into this coveted online brand space with mixed results. The idea is that the brand becomes defined with the participation of it customers interacting within a community or conversational framework.

The power of this position is that it leverage’s the needs of prosumers to create deeper reasons to engage with brands beyond marketing fluff. Remember, most of society lives in a world beyond their control. Corporations and government seem to have all the power and generally are seen to exploit people. The Brand/Customer partnership strategy recognises this and helps empower customers more directly by allowing then a greater degree of control over key aspects of the business, from product creation using Customer Made strategies, to distribution and sales using social affiliate marketing. The customer becomes a virtual member of your business and hence is rewarded for contributing to the business. In a sense, the customer becomes a “brand owner” via their active involvement and participation. This sense of ownership offers them the psychological rewards of being more in “control over their lives” while also being able to contribute to something larger than themselves that they can believe it.

The last point it critical and is why many iconic brands continue to fail in this strategy. Most iconic brands were built up off the back of stellar marketing budgets over decades. If you have spent a billion dollars or more on building your brand, it can be very hard to suddenly start surrendering its development over the masses. The other problem is that Iconic brands typically see their CSR initiatives and marketing as completely separate entities. In fact, some see Brand and Corporation as separate entities as well. And this is where the positioning becomes hard to implement.

To work in true partnership with consumers, you not only have to be willing to surrender a degree of control over your brand development, you also have to give them a reason, that is larger than themselves, to want to become involved. So just letting customers create commercials for you or asking them to give ideas for new products simply isn’t enough. You have to have a goal, a mission that they can believe in and want to be part of. Think of Dove’s Campaign for Real Beauty. The effectiveness of the campaign was that it not only gave people a reason to believe, but it also empowered them to contribute to the debate and be part of a mass movement.

Which is why the Brand as Activist/Philanthropist sits before Brand/Customer Partnership. If you adopt the first strategy, you will have powerful motivators for customers to work in partnership with you to make it happen.

In this space, the community of like-minded buyers are key to thriving in this space. Suddenly the brand is no longer a brand of me, but a brand of we. As marketers, we need to look beyond the individual to also look at their networks.

The final positioning is Stage 7, Brand as Democracy, in which you literally use your brand as a platform for tackling global problems working in tandem with your customers. Brand as democracy enables the community to turn the power of the brand into direct social action in an effort to affect global change. Whether it is to use the brand as a media or to use the brand as a platform for doing good.

In essence, you allow them to decide what problems you should be addressing to solve. For instance, if you are Coca-Cola, your customers may dictate that you should be addressing the problems of global obesity and water shortage. Using democratic principles and digital platforms, you can empower your customers to vote, debate, propose and participate in finding solutions to these problems together with you. To make this work, you would need to align your agenda with that of the community and create a triple win alliance between you, the customer and NGOs. Here, the customer and society win through the community action; the NGO wins through greater reach, participation and finance; and you win through a level of loyalty that cannot be beat by any other brand or strategy.

The key to making this positioning model work is to know how to apply positioning strategies of this nature is to have a detailed understanding of your market, competitors, business trends and consumer behaviours. This is why I typically recommend starting with a quick internal and external audit that involves your marketing and sales staff, as well as anybody else with who may have a unique insight. I then work with you to define a number of likely brand positioning scenerios to find the one or ones that best fits the business needs and objectives. As it’s possible to be at different stages at the same time in different markets or for different consumer groups, it helps to look at your business holistically and understand which positions are the best for which markets.

Many of the more competitive brand strategies rely on new forms of online marketing, or even require the creation of new online services and products. In the later articles, I will explore some of the more popular methods being used today.

Dove’s Campaign for Real Beauty is incredible, right?  If you haven’t seen it take a look at these videos:

Finally, a company that standing up for women and disconnecting women’s value from their looks or sex appeal.  This is in stark contrast to the majority of horrific ad campaigns that teach us that women’s worth lies in their beauty and level of sexiness.  One of the worst offenders is Axe grooming products for men.  I have written about them before. In case you aren’t familiar, take a look at these ads:

Terrible, right?  I mean, it’s a good thing we have things like the Campaign for Real Beauty to help combat the awful messages embedded in those Axe ads.  It is easy to see the differences in these two campaigns.  However, can you tell what they have in common?  How about this…

You see Unilever, the makers of Axe, are also the makers of Dove.  Let me repeat that.  The makers of Axe are also the makers of Dove.  The same money that backs the horrific Axe advertising campaigns comes from the same pockets that created the Campaign for Real Beauty.  Ponder that for a moment.  I have been pondering it for quite some time.  I don’t want to believe it, but I have no choice.  Fact is fact whether I like it or not.  So…what does this all mean?

Well, to me it means that Unilever is playing all of us for fools.  They are also proving to me that they have no real interest in crumbling the beauty industry or increasing girls self esteem or making the world and equal place for women to live as the campaign would lead you to believe.  No.  They only care about making money.  The Campaign for Real Beauty, to Dove, is nothing more than an advertising campaign cleverly disguised as an attempt at bringing justice to the world.  Ah, Capitalism!

Now, don’t get me wrong.  I do believe that the Campaign for Real Beauty is wonderful and it should be blasted from every mountain top.  However, I feel that we as consumers cannot abide this sort of underhanded deception being doled out by Unilever.  We must demand that Unilever stop undermining the powerful and necessary work of their own campaign and start advertising Axe in a way that is consistent with the messaging in the Campaign for Real Beauty.  We should accept no less.  After all, it is our children that will live in the world we are creating today and it is ultimately our money that deepens the corporate pockets of irresponsible companies like Unilever who gladly profit at the expense of women.

Ultimately, we have no direct control over Unilever or any other corporation.  However, we can control our own behaviors and actions.  We can choose to let Unilever know we feel about their advertising practices.  We can also choose to not purchase any Unilever products until they change.  No more Wishbone salad dressing.  No more Vaseline products.  No more Skippy peanut butter.  No more Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream (yes, them too).  No more Unilever.  For a complete list of Unilever products visit http://www.unileverusa.com/ourbrands/.  Be sure to click around and do your homework.  Our actions dictate their actions.

We have the power to send a clear message.  We have the power to create a world where women’s bodies are no longer a commodity.  We have the power to create real change.  If we are willing to come together and take action.

Now THAT would be real beauty!

I’m not sure what to make of this “Dove Evolution” parody video that transforms an apparently fastidious (gay) boy into a (hetero) slob (NOTE:  That may be my reading).

While I applaud the artistry, attention to detail, and tremendous competency of the video, I am confused as to what message I am supposed to gain from it.  Is it a comment on modern, sedentary lifestyles?  Simply a reverse-”parody” without a punchline?  Why do I identify the model as gay, and is it meaningful that I do?  So, no one wants to look at ugly people?:  That doesn’t seem like a hugely plausible argument in favor of airbrushing.  If you have any observations or conclusions, please share. 

If you have not seen the original video, which was part of Dove’s “Campaign for Real Beauty,” it can be viewed here.   The original video was intended to illustrate the vast difference between the original, unaltered appearance of a model and the enhanced version the public views in an advertisement.

I love these videos Dove is making for their Campaign for Real Beauty:

Ever since Chris Brown was charged with beating, choking and biting Rihanna during their Feb. fight, it’s been rumored that Chris had hit her before but she kept coming back to him anyway.

That’s exactly the reason why so many people and society in general has turned their backs on abused women – because they keep going back for more.

Most reasonably well-adjusted people just wouldn’t do that, and they can’t understand – nor do they want to – why women would keep going back for more.

We have to teach women that it’s not a victim’s fault if someone hits her, but it IS the victim’s fault if she keeps going back for more.

Our nation needs to help millions of girls and women how to improve their self-esteem and quit settling for boys and men who physically, sexually or verbally abuse or demean them.

Tragically, so many girls and women accept this demeaning treatment from their boyfriends and husbands because they grew up being treated that way by their fathers, step-fathers, mothers and other family members. They either think that’s just the way it is for everybody, or they just don’t deserve any better.

Ladies, there are so many good men out there! Abuse is NOT the way it is for most people!

We applaud Dove soap for its fine Campaign for Real Beauty to help girls to build their self-esteem! More groups need to take such commendable actions!

In an environment where Web 2.0 rules and corporate brands are scrambling to add social media to their web marketing mix, brand teams must seek a balance between social media savvy and Web 2.0 overload.

Dove’s Campaign for Real Beauty is illustrative of the type of social media crusade that successfully accomplishes this Web 2.0 balancing act.  The Skittles brand, by comparison, falls flat.

So why does one mega brand excel while the other comes up short?

It’s simple.

The Dove brand utilizes social media to create meaningful dialogue around an issue millions of women struggle with every day.  The Skittles team is asking consumers to tweet, post photos, and send Facebook messages about candy.

See the difference?

The Dove brand’s marketing team conducted a global study of women’s definitions and perceptions of beauty and found that 81% of women surveyed in the U.S. strongly agree that “the media and advertising set an unrealistic standard of beauty that most women can’t ever achieve.”  It was this consumer research that enabled the brand team to facilitate a new social movement in the world of media.  And what better way to start a new social movement than to use the most innovative social media technologies available?

The campaign’s theme of challenging traditional stereotypes of beauty, exemplified through slogans such as “we see beauty all around us,” has reached millions of women through social media channels such as blogs, discussion forums, and viral web videos.  Each of these channels includes tools which facilitate and encourage dialogue between potential consumers and are free of traditional Web advertisements or product pitches.

One of Dove’s most successful social media efforts, the web video phenomenon “Dove Evolution,” has been viewed on YouTube over 9 million times (click here to see the video).  The video, like the blogs and discussion boards, is capable of creating an immediate reaction from a viewer.  You can almost picture women asking their friends – “What did you think of that new Dove video on YouTube?”

Further, the campaign’s discussion boards, which are available through the campaign Web site, require that users register before participating in the discussion, allowing Dove to collect valuable demographic (age) and contact (e-mail) information on every consumer who responds to the campaign.  Using this information, Dove is able to create stronger, more user-friendly social media networks.

By comparison, the Skittles brand falls on the opposite end of the social media spectrum in terms of effectiveness.

Upon visiting skittles.com, users are immediately asked to enter their date of birth and accept certain “terms and conditions” before entering the site.  While this may seem like standard operating procedure for adult users, it will likely appear intimidating or even confusing for tweens and kids.  And while the brand deserves points for developing an innovative and buzz-worthy marketing strategy, its lame theme (“Interweb the Rainbow”) and yawn-inducing use of social media, which includes posting pictures of Skittles on flickr, wreaks of a corporate brand trying too hard to be hip.

Unlike the Dove Evolution video, you find yourself asking – do I really want to tweet about candy?

Facebook, flickr, Twitter, Wikipedia, and YouTube are all featured prominently on the brand’s Web site, but because Skittles chose to incorporate so many social media Web sites into its own, the brand is diluted and even lost in the mix.

Ultimately, in evaluating the strength of any social media effort we must ask ourselves as consumers, what do I want to be blogging, tweeting or chatting about?  Challenging traditional stereotypes of beauty or debating the merits of Wildberry versus Double Sour?

I have to admit that when Dove first began its “Campaign for Real Beauty” a few years ago, I was pretty skeptical – especially because the campaign came just before Dove launched a new line of beauty products for women. Were they really trying to educate women about the beauty myth, or trying merely to sell products which perpetuate the unrealistic expectations faced by young women?

Originally I suspected it to be a marketing ploy, but in reality it may have been a smart PR move for the company, one which I personally support. As part of their Campaign for Real Beauty, they established the Dove Self-Esteem Fund. According to the Web site:

“The Dove Self-Esteem Fund (DSEF) was established as an agent of change to inspire and educate girls and young women about a wider definition of beauty. The DSEF is committed to help girls build positive self-esteem and a healthy body image, with a goal of reaching 5 million girls globally by 2010. The DSEF has already reached 2 million young women. Our definition of ‘reaching’ a girls is when she has gone through an educational program that lasts at least an hour of her life.”

I think educating young women about healthy body image and positive self-esteem is very important in today’s image-and-celebrity-obsessed society. As anyone who has read Naomi Wolf’s The Beauty Myth knows, women’s beauty expectations have served to negatively impact women in almost all aspects of life. To anyone who hasn’t read it, get your copy now.

Some time ago I published here a couple of posts on famous international celebrities who were hired to boost the image and value of some Polish brands. Actually, celebrity endorsement often proves to be a useful vehicle to build the brand awareness and create the desired brand image speedily. International brands that enter Polish market often face the problem of being perceived as distant, unknown, and more expensive than they really are by Polish consumers.  One of available remedies might be hiring a local Polish celebrity that is capable of creating proximity and linkage between the brand and the Polish target group. Let’s have a look at some examples of top international brands and their recent Polish ambassadors:

• Dove – this successful Unilever brand had in 2008 a local Polish extension of its “campaign for real beauty” with three popular Polish actresses of different age groups: Edyta Jungowska, Ewa Kasprzyk and Beata Tyszkiewicz - introducing Dove pro-age line. The headline for the campaign was: Beauty doesn’t ask about age.

Dove pro-age print ad with Ewa Kasprzyk, Beata Tyszkiewicz & Edyta Jungowska

It's not time, but me who decides how delicate my skin is - Edyta Jungowska in Dove pro-age print ad

Try to convince me that it's not time for bushy hair - Beata Tyszkiewicz in Dove pro-age print ad

agency: Los Mejores / photography: ShootMe

• Garnier – this mass market brand of haircare and skincare products that belongs to L’Oreal hired last year a successful Polish actress – Danuta Stenka – to be the Garnier brand ambassador in Poland.  Never before had Garnier employed a Polish celebrity in its campaign.

Garnier's UltraLift Pro-X print ad with Danuta Stenka - headline: Firm skin and less wrinkles in just 2 weeks time

This first campaign with Danuta Stenka was often criticized for the unnatural look of Stenka whose image in print ads seemed to be very photoshop-improved.  The campaign with Stenka was also aired on TV.

The follow-up was an outdoor campaign for Garnier Nutrisse hair colourant with Danuta Stenka who looks much nicer than in the anti-wrinkle cream ads. The headline: Nourished hair mean more beautiful colour.

Outdoor campaign for Garnier Nutrisse cream with Danuta Stenka

agency: Publicis Warsaw

• Pantene – another popular hair care brand owned by Procter & Gamble hired in 2008 Natasza Urbańska, a rising Polish singer, musical performer and TV star to promote its Pantene Pro-V Enhanced Layers line in both TV commercial and print ads.

Print ad for Pantene Pro-V Enhanced Layers with Natasza Urbańska

agency: Grey Warsaw

And so it begins again…..and  this morning, I’m thanking whoever was watching over me last night on my run.

I suspect – but dearly hope I am wrong- that we have entered yet another round of violence in the ghetto.

Not more than 1/2 an hour after I returned home from a run on the very same street and intersection last night, there was a  drive-by shooting.  If that’s not close enough, I don’t know what is. There doesn’t seem to be much in the press about it this morning but the RCMP media site has this press release : http://surrey.rcmp.ca/ViewPage.action?siteNodeId=79&contentId=8972&index=1&languageId=1

  Two men drove themselves to hospital, saving us at least the hassle of messing up an ambulance for those overworked and underpaid paramedics. But damn, enough already. Summers coming, the kids are out on the streets playing with the longer days and I’m seriously worried that with more people out, the risk to the public goes up. It makes me laugh when the police tell us we don’t have to worry because they are targeted hits – little comfort if you happen to be the car beside the gangsters getting shot, or walking on the street at that intersection.

It is interesting to note that there was an increased police presence visibly noticeable in the area last night, although it didn’t deter these shooters.

Which brings me to a particular blog post done by CKNW  personality  Jill Bennett that was recently brought to my attention by a regular reader who says in his email  to me that : “  Well, maybe Jill might try living in a neighbourhood near several gangsters  who like to shoot at each other and then see how she changes her lifestyle…” Well said, Neal.

Here is the link to Jill Bennett’s blog post.  http://www.cknw.com/jill_bennett/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10025983 

Read it and make up your own mind, but this is my take.   While I see the point she it trying to make,  and she is certainly entitled to her view,I think it’s coming from someone who obviously isn’t living in the thick of it.Maybe she really has no inkling what it is like to live among gangsters and why it  does actually does alter your behavior – as it has to myself and the neighbours around me who don’t let their kids go out bike-riding along the streets where the losers often cruise, where people no longer walk their dogs in the evening, after nearly getting shot a few weeks ago,’for sale ’signs litter the area since people have become aware of how many criminals are located in the area, and certain establishments where hoods are known to drink and dine are being avoided by those who are aware of who is inside.

Last nights incident makes 6 shootings in the immediate area in the last two months.Even Ms. Bennett might think twice about jogging outside if this is where she lived. But then again, it sounds like it doesn’t really matter to her.

While Dennis Karbovanec and the Bacon brothers might be under heavy surveillance, several hundred other gangsters and their associates are not, and these are the ones doing all the shooting around here. the sames ones doing the petty crime, the grow-op rips, the dealing. Police or not, the violence continues Ms. Bennett, so try living in our shoes for a while and see if you alter your behavior. Knowing where these people live and do business will enable us to make choices to ensure our safety as much as we can. If you knew a known criminal whose ass was on someone elses list was living right beside you, I hardly think you are going to let your kids play on the front lawn, nor are you going to be playing ball on the street in front.  Time to hang the naivety up and put some reality on.

Speaking of ignorance….did any of you catch king Gordo with Mi-Jung Lee on the CTV news at 6 last night? The interview ran at the end of a segment on poverty in BC, and she asked the premier if, since he had legislated targets for reducing greenhouse gases etc, would he create legislation targeting poverty reduction?  Good question, but the premier had this answer for her:

” Our goal is to have the lowest level of unemployment as we can, which reduces the poverty level…”

Then, possibly in an effort to make himself look like even more  of a fool than he just did with his response to her first question, he goes on and jabbers about eliminating costs government imposes on businesses and small businesses to help job creation and prevent job loss????? 

This link contains the CTV video player with the actual segment,titled ” B.C.’s Shame: One Womans Struggle to survive” – simply fast forward to the 3:43 minute mark to hear the premiers interview: http://www.ctvbc.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20090330/bc_bcshame02_090330/20090331/?hub=BritishColumbiaHome

Clearly, the premier has no inkling that much of the poverty in BC is among  the people who are sadly known as  ” THE WORKING POOR”. 

 You know, the percentage of the population working at or around minimum wage, the ones who never make enough to pay for all their expenses no matter how hard they try? The ones who don’t quite qualify for any other assistance or benefits?

I was disappointed Mi-Jung didn’t point this out to him and re-direct when he walked right around the issue, and find out how he intends to address this segment of our population.

Maybe I should try and secure an interview with the premier to ask him how he plans to address this, as well as other issues voters in my area are concerned about. Interestingly enough, the NDP has issued a report on the BC liberals /premiers performance during the spring session so far, accurately titles Arrogance Inc.: http://www.bcndpcaucus.ca/files/Spring2008sessionend.pdf or, if you prefer, you can watch the video : http://www.bcndpcaucus.ca/en/node/2069/play

When you are done, head on over the the Liberals website http://www.bcliberals.com/, and make a comparison of the two representations.

Then you decide which seems more accurate.

 My votes stands on the NDP’s representation, considering Gordon Campbell refuses to answer any of the questions I – and many other British Columbians have- about BC Rail, BC Hydro, BC ferries, The Olympics…when a government spends as much time and money as the Liberals have telling us repeatedly there is no story behind these deals…… rest assurred, there is a story. And if I have anything to say about it, it will be told.

Ask most women how they rate their looks and most will tell you average to below average -which speaks to the rigid norms we have in North America  that dictate what society is supposed to consider beautiful. It’’s quite sad! As a young girl, I was ridiculed and mocked for being ” The Ugly Girl”, and although as an adult I know beauty is subjective, to be honest I still battle the feelings deeply sowed by the hurtful words of others.  Those feelings can really affect the way women view themselves and the expectations they create for their own lives. Healthy self-esteem fosters success, while low self-esteem fosters failure.

 That is why I really applaud and support the efforts of Dove, in their campaign for real beauty. In addition to dispelling the notion that real beauty is not dictated by media and movie stars, Dove offers workshops and programs for mothers, mentors and educators to learn ways to foster strong self-esteem in young girls and women alike, so that they can fulfill all their hopes and dreams. Personally, I know that low self-esteem can also set young women up for abusive relationships and futures full of heartache- yet another reason to start this fostering self- acceptance at a young age. Strong girls have strong futures. Go over to www.dove.ca  and learn more about the campaign for real beauty.

Many of you know that I was once morbidly obese while in my late twenties and early thirties. I weighed in at over 340 lbs at my largest and lost over 140lbs the old fashioned way- healthy eating and lots of exercise. I worked my ass off ( literally!) without using any diet aids, surgery or spending money on a gym membership, choosing exercise equipment I could afford at home. That was three years ago, and I’ve kept it off with the exception of 20 lbs of baby weight I’ve been working on, so I think if  I can do it… well, anyone can. http://lailayuile.wordpress.com/2008/01/01/before-and-after-the-evolution-of-laila-yuile/

That’s why today we’ll finish off with two different links to inspire you to live long and healthy -for yourself and the people who love you.

The first link shows you 8 Amazing weight loss stories, courtesy of www.oddee.com

 Excerpt : ” This is an amazing weight loss success story of a former 630-pound man named David Smith. In 2003, David weighed over 600 pounds and decided to change his life only through carb cycling and exercise. After 4 years, he weighed a stunning 229 pounds, losing 401 pounds but still had excess skin on his body. He underwent several surgeries to remove the excess skin; since then, he looks just like any other guy, and became a certified personal trainer through ACE. “

See the rest of these amazing stories at http://oddee.com/item_96622.aspx

And if you have days like I do, where you just want to throw in the towel, the stories behind these very inspirational older seniors will put things in perspective….

People like the dearly departed Olive Riley….previously known as the worlds oldest blogger before her death last year.

 From www.odddee .com :  ” Believed to have been the world’s oldest blogger, australian woman Olive Rileybegan her blog The Life of Riley in February 2007 at the age of 107 and made her final post on 26 June 2008 from a nursinghome in Woy Woy, New South Wales, complaining of a cough about two weeks before she died at the age of 108. She had posted over 70 entries, as well as several video posts on YouTube. Her blog (or “blob” as she called it) was inspired by her experience with documentary filmmaker Michael Rubbo who, in 2005, made a documentary about her titled All About Olive.
NOTE: our reader Eric wrote us to explain an even older blogger was discovered after Olive’s death. “

See the rest of these amazing elders on the orignal post : http://oddee.com/item_96618.aspx 

That’s it for now, stay safe and live well – and hello to everyone from Accenture visiting the blog today- don’t spend too much company time slacking now…

So the title is a little dramatic, I’ll be the first to admit it – but I recently stumbled on very interesting post by tribalinsight that made the Twilight Zone’s theme song float in my head as I was reflecting about it.

What can I say; I have a *very* active mind.

Here are some of the things tribalinsight had to say:

The issue is not whether the Dove campaign is a good or bad marketing campaign, or whether it is good for promoting the actual cause around real beauty. What has created concern amongst consumer advocates, and some marketers, is the question of how Unilever can really be sincere about promoting self-esteem amongst women and girls through their Campaign for Real Beauty, when they also produce campaigns such as those for Lynx of the “Bom Chicka Wah Wah” advertisement, as well as other advertisements, such as the one for their Lynx “Touch“.

The Lynx “Touch” advertisement is replete with, barely hidden, sexual innuendo – a man fiddles with a radio dial (while nearby, the nipples of a woman can be seen hardening through her blouse), and, later he opens a book (resulting in a woman’s blouse opening, and an ample cleavage being displayed). (…)

Simply put, it is pure and blatant hypocrisy for Unilever to objectify women in its Lynx campaign, and then claim that we should protect our children from being objectified by the beauty industry, in its Dove campaign.

I agree: it is quite hypocritical that Unilever is, in short, sponsoring two campaigns that have very different objectives. It can even be argued that the Lynx Campaign undermines what the Dove campaign is trying to achieve. Not very smart… or perhaps, the most brilliant of moves by Unilever: by developing campaigns that are damaging to the self-esteem of young girls, it is making sure that there always will be an avid audience for the Dove Campaign.

Evil, isn’t it?

I agree with tribalinsight that this doesn’t mean the Dove Campaign won’t do any good; however, it does mean that, yet again, we need to look past our noses and see the bigger picture. We need to change the system, treat the root cause of all these problems rather than each of the symptoms.

Now only to figure out what the root cause is.

I like watching television commercials. There, I admitted it. Now I don’t mean to say that I like all television commercials. Zeus knows most of them are god-awful and are best casually observed with the mute button on. And I definitely hate commercials when watching television shows on the internet, though I can  accept them because they’re fewer in number. And I definitely hate seeing commercials for non-film related products in a movie theater before the show begins.

But every once and a while a creative commercial comes along that I like, pretty much regardless of what the product its selling is. And while I don’t wish to promote the Dove brand (though I do tend to buy Dove), I’m liking their Campaign For Real Beauty, particularly this commercial here:

And here’s a closer look at the Photoshop Effect:

Dove’s new campaign although inspiring and promotes a more realistic body image is still an advertisement trying to sell the  Dove product.  This article appeared in Business Week.

Remember the first ads for Dove’s Campaign for Real Beauty, when it flaunted its defiance of the beauty and fashion industries with images of love-handled and cellulite-prone “real” women? Turns out those photos, according to the May 12, 2008 issue of The New Yorker, were as digitally manipulated as any skinny model-festooned fashion spread. It’s mentioned in a Lauren Collins profile of the toucher-upper himself, Pascal Dangin, who works regularly for Vogue, Dior, Balenciaga, and many others. Hear what Dangin has to say about the Dove project on page 100:

“Do you know how much retouching was on that?” He asked. “But it was great to do, a challenge, to keep everyone’s skin and faces showing the mileage but not looking unattractive.”

Real Girls, Real Pressure: A National Report on the State of Self-Esteem, commissioned by the Dove® Self-Esteem Fund, reveals that there is a self-esteem crisis in this country that pervades every aspect of a girl’s life including her looks, performance in school and relationships with friends and family members

Seven in ten girls believe they are not good enough or do not measure up in some way, including their looks, performance in school and relationships with friends and family members
62% of all girls feel insecure or not sure of themselves
57% of all girls have a mother who criticizes her own looks
More than half (57%) of all girls say they don’t always tell their parents certain things about them because they don’t want them to think badly of them
The top wish among all girls is for their parents to communicate better with them which includes more frequent and more open conversations as well as discussions about what is happening in their own lives

The Campaign for Real Beauty lives online at www.campaignforrealbeauty.com. The site houses a variety of tools for improving self-esteem in girls. Visitors can make a donation to uniquely ME! (all donations will directly benefit its self-esteem programs) as well as access and share helpful how-to information. The contents include tips for encouraging self-esteem and a “self-check” quiz, articles by leading self-esteem experts, self-esteem discussion boards and a free downloadable self-esteem building mother-daughter workbook “True You.”

Please share your story here and two readers will win “You’re Beautiful Pass It On”” t-shirt and my favorite ““Life Doesn’’t Begin 5 Pounds From Now”” t-shirt by Jessica Weiner.

HeyDoYou is for the cute, clever and connected – Follow this blog!

Number: 2

When it all comes down to it you only need to do two things:

1. Stand for something

Your stance could be inspired by your Unique Selling Propostion (USP), your mission statement, or as Seth Godin puts it, that thing that makes you remarkable. What is it that sets you apart? Why should I come to you instead of the person down the street or in the next search result?

Do you stand for great service like Zappos? Do you stand great value day in and day out like Wal-Mart? Or do you stand for giving people a little style with their value like Target?

Dove decided to stand for Real Beauty as opposed to the Photoshopped, anorexic, self-esteem-deflating beauty that has always been sold to the public by the fashion/cosmetic industry. And through promotions built around that stance, conversations sparked by it, and media placements generated because of it, they were able to do more with a PR budget of $2,000,000 (as far as raising awareness and afinity of Dove) than $350,000,000 of advertising could do the year before.

That is the power of taking a stand that resonates and inspires your audience. More background info about the Dove campaign can be found here.

2. Be consistent

This is the easy one. Once you’ve decided to stand for something keep that stance at the center of all your communications and interactions with customers.

One last thing. If your stance is turning off customers it’s time for a new stance.

Dove’s Campaign for Real Beauty has been lauded for the creative approach its marketing and PR people have taken to alerting consumers, sorry citizens, to the quality of their products, sorry again, what they are really only interested in doing is alerting you to the concept of real beauty which, after all, we know is ‘within’.

Check out the first vid titled Dove Onslaught where the company appeals to the ‘beauty within’ concept and warns us of the power of advertising over the young.

Greenpeace obviously decided to take a look at this vid also, scratched their heads in wonder and came up with some research on Dove’s products which tells us a somewhat different story.

Check out the second vid – the Greenpeace produced Dove Onslaught(er)