From its origins as a humble bar of soap in the USA to a global powerhouse sold in over 150 countries, Dove celebrates 20 years of real beauty this year. For two decades now, Dove has supported the same mission: challenge the unrealistic beauty standards for women and protect the next generation from narrow beauty ideals.
The mainstream beauty market has undoubtedly faced its fair share of challenges in recent years. However, according to the latest Value of Beauty report from the British Beauty Council, the sector is finally overcoming the ‘triple hangovers’ of Brexit, COVID and the cost-of-living crisis. Sales reached £2.7 billion last year, a figure much closer to the pre-pandemic average. The beauty market has also become a more complex space, with an increasing number of celebrity skincare lines, viral social media trends and new, young audiences looking for brands that align with their values.
So, how has a brand like Dove endured? Dove’s success lies in the strength of its consumer connections. According to Kantar BrandSnapshot, a free brand equity assessment tool, Dove exemplifies three key traits common in strong brands:
- Meaningful: Dove delivers the functional qualities people need in beauty and personal care brands while connecting emotionally through a resonant positioning
- Different: Dove’s positioning is unique and differentiated, though it is a mainstream brand in this context
- Salient: The brand’s consistent marketing approach amplifies its core messaging, ensuring it remains top of mind
Dove’s ingredients for success
These strong consumer connections support Dove’s leadership in the female beauty and skincare category. When it comes to predisposition, Dove’s share of consumer demand is 11.4% compared with the category average of 6.7%. Much of this success can be attributed to the strength of Dove’s Real Beauty campaign, led by Joah Santos, who champions campaigns that enable important conversations: “The old model of building campaigns was built on broadcasting a message; it had to be a big idea to get attention. Today's model is built on conversation; this doesn't require a big idea but an agile idea”.
The Real Beauty campaign is grounded in an idea that facilitates diverse discussions about beauty standards, confidence and the importance of authenticity in the sector. Dove’s communications tap into prominent cultural issues, ensuring the brand stays relevant and evolving to meet changing consumer needs and concerns. The brand’s latest campaign tackles the dangers of AI and digital manipulation on beauty standards and champions real beauty in the digital world. Dove has mastered the art of changing while staying the same - adapting to tackle new, relevant cultural conversations, while keeping its consistently meaningful positioning at the heart of these communications.
Building Meaningful consumer connections
Dove’s brand equity has helped it navigate the recent inflationary pressure and reduced consumer spending. Like many competitors, Dove has increased its prices several times in recent years. Yet, in the context of female beauty and skincare, it remains one of the more affordable brands in the category, and the strength of its consumer relationships positions the brand not as a cheap commodity, but rather as a brand offering great value to consumers. Despite sitting at the cheaper end of the pricing spectrum, Dove’s consistent brand-building approach cues quality and innovation, steering consumers to choose it ahead of other mainstream brands and justifying a premium over own label alternatives.
But Dove’s positioning does not come without its challenges. The brand has recently come under scrutiny for its widespread plastic pollution, which has serious implications for the environment and the future of girls that its Real Beauty commitment aims to protect. Kantar BrandZ research shows that sustainability plays a crucial role in shaping a brand’s corporate reputation and is an increasingly important factor for consumers looking to make better choices every day. What’s more, sustainability perceptions represent a multi-million-dollar opportunity for businesses. Looking at the Global Top 100 Most Valuable Brands, sustainability perceptions contribute $193 billion to their collective value - a sizeable sum for brands that can balance what’s best for business and the planet.
Within beauty and skincare, few brands are truly known for their sustainability commitments and Dove is not the only brand that is lagging behind in this area. Currently, the Body Shop is the only leading brand in sustainability, but its recent financial difficulties highlight the importance of balancing sustainability with other factors that are important to beauty consumers, such as product effectiveness, user convenience, and overall shopping experience.
BrandSnapshot indicates Dove has the potential to grow even further in the future. Improving sustainability perceptions will help mitigate risks and strengthen consumer relationships. With its highly meaningful positioning and distinctive campaigns, Dove’s position as one of the UK’s most valuable brands is likely to remain strong for years to come.
Read more about the Kantar BrandZ Most Valuable UK Brands in the latest report, available at http://www.kantar.com/campaigns/brandz/uk.
Kantar BrandSnapshot is a free interactive tool powered by BrandZ’s wealth of data and validated Meaningful Different and Salient framework. Designed to give you a complete picture of brand equity in competitive context, BrandSnapshot delivers insights on over 14,000 brands in 40+ markets. Dive into the beauty of brand intelligence on Kantar Marketplace today!
