This case is about the brand Dove, a successful brand for last 40 year. In 1957 it was positioned as the beauty bar. So in which business they Dove is in? It is beauty. So how do we define beauty? Beauty can be described as natural, pure, clean, fresh, aspiration, dream etc. It is difficult to define beauty, so it is more difficult to describe real beauty. The present case scenario is of 2007 where Unilever wants to reduce its 1600 brands to 400 brands and Dove would be one of the master brands. Dove has launched its “Real Beauty” campaign. At this point of time it has positioned as number one cleansing brand, with sales of $2.5 billion and presence in 80 countries. It started with a product beauty bar and now extended to body wash, face care, hair care, deodorants, anti- perspirants and body lotion. Huge investment is done for the brand promotion in advertisements, films, campaigns, events etc. The purpose of these campaigns could be that it wants to move to real beauty from cleansing agent. But before, one should know the core identity and extended identity of Dove, and does it need to be changed with time. Dove 1957 Dove 2007

BM Case Write Up

Dove: Evolution of Brand

EI CI CI

EI

Basically Dove is known for moisturizing the skin. The customer value proposition is the non dry skin, which has given it a unique position in the market. They have never called themselves as soap; it is always as a beauty bar. But beauty is not its core identity, it could be the EI. As per the research (Exhibit 4) only 2% of the consumers are comfortable to describe themselves as beautiful and Dove want to capture that market. Is Dove doing the right thing? Can Beauty can be added as the CI of Dove. But the case clearly shows that the company is applying all possible

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By Rashmi Singh [PGDM 09, Acharya School of Management, Bangalore]

Dove: Evolution of a Brand
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