BRANDING

The American Marketing Association defines brand as a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that identifies one seller’s good or service as distinct from those of other sellers.

According to Philip Kotler, “a brand is a sellers promise to deliver a specific set of features, benefits and services to the buyer.”

A brand

• indicates quality delivered by the product.
• indicates ownership and identity of the product.
• indicates how the product differentiates itself from others in the market.
• indicates the value addition by the product.
• indicates confidence.
  

  

  Evolution of Dove as a brand

History: 

Since its launch in the year 1940 Dove has been intricately positioned at different points of time. Dove by Unilever has evolved itself from a just any other brand to one of the most trusted beauty brands around the world. In 1940s when soaps were marketed mainly for cleaning the skin Dove was marketed as a gentler and softer alternate for the skin. It was in fact not just soap, it was a product manufactured specially for the skin after careful military research at that time.

Growth: 

However, the company was slow to take off because of low global popularity. The product offering was decentralized and the corporate strategy was poor. The company offered a limited variety of products which were not so popular as compared to its competitors. Price was also one of the factors why Dove took time to take off as a brand in the market.

By 1970s, Dove popularity as a gentle bathing bar started gaining momentum. It was marketed as a bathing bar with 25% moisturizing lotion which is gentle and soft for the skin as compared to the other bathing bar alternatives present in the market.

By 1980, Dove’s popularity attained a good height and it was the most recommended brand by physicians at that time. With the passage of time the company launched other products in skin care category like- body lotions, deodorants, face wash, body wash, hair care products etc. The question that still remains unanswered is how did Dove reached the positioning that it has today in the market.

New Positioning:

Gender-Specific positioning

In 2003, after careful market research and surveys Dove targeted working women and positioned itself as a beauty brand. Dove knew that the growing trend of working women would provide it a gender-specific positioning thus, launching the brand in a whole new way in the market. These women are conscious about their beauty and have awareness about every available product in the market.

As per the market research Dove found out that 78% of the women believed that they do not want the product to tell them how to look pretty and younger. Instead they want a quality product for their skin and per skin type oily-normal-dry skin.

Dove launched many ad campaigns, but none of these campaigns had any celebrities. The campaigns had real women of all ages, shape and size. It showcased older women, young women, curvy women, skinny women and spread the message of loving your skin the way it is. It is all about feeling good and happy about your own skin. Dove’s key message to every women was to feel happy and good about yourself.

Dove got maximum eyeballs due to such a positioning in the market. An emotional touch was delivered along with the objectives set by the brand for the new positioning in the market. Even the product print ads and banners show real women who do not fall under the thin, blonde and toned stereotype thus, showing them feeling free and high on self esteem in their own body.

One of the most famous ad campaigns by Dove, Dove Real Beauty Sketches has over 55 million. It showcases sketches of different women based on the interpretation of how they see themselves and how the world sees them. The message conveyed through the campaign is to feel beautiful the way you are.

The brand lowered their original amount of offerings from 1600 to just 400. They basically made different categories and put their most popular offerings in each of the categories. Less popular products were taken off the market. Dove’s story of making profits and increasing consumer sales is a clear example of how changing the brand strategy can lead to exponential sales. One thing however, which has not changed over time is the premium image that the brand enjoys over all these years.