Campaign

Dove Ad Makeover

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the rundown

Dove’s mission is to make every woman in the world feel beautiful, but a study by Dove and the London School of Economics revealed only 4% of women describe themselves this way. We identified a major barrier to feeling beautiful, negative banner ads online that target women’s insecurities. Our goal was to reach 5 million women in a week, and ultimately, increase the number of women who describe themselves as beautiful.

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The Building Blocks

The idea of 'displacing negative ads' with ones designed to make women feel good about themselves, came to life by harnessing the closed Facebook Marketplace API. Rather than following traditional methods of the brand deciding on what the user should see we put the power of displacing negative advertising directly in the hands of women. They could decide what messages would make other women feel good in their country and in doing so directly control the media spend of a global company on-Facebook in a way that has never been seen before.
  •  
    None
  •   Social
    Facebook
    Facebook Polls
    Facebook Apps
  •   Video
    YouTube

The Votes

The Details

Agency
Brand
Dove
Targeted Regions
  • Global
Marketing Objective
Launch Date
April 20, 2012

The Team

  • Ogilvy & Mather www.ogilvy.com
  • Gerry Human, Executive Creative Director
  • Ivan Pols, Creative Director
  • Margo Young, Copywriter
  • Laura Rogers, Copywriter
  • Tryvallen Hall, Art Director
  • Stephane Orhan, Managing Partner Global Dove Skin
  • Craig Blagg, Creative Technologist
  • Sasha Dunn, Digital Producer
  • Emily Creek, Account Director
  • Stephanie Symonds, Art DIrector
  • Giles Rhys Jones, Global DIgital Strategy Director
  • Martin Robertson, Developer
  • Simone Zahradka, Designer
  • Anthony Butterfield, Information Architect
  • Fiona Renfrew, TV Producer
  • Lucy Luo, Account Manager
  • Unilever www.unilever.com
  • Steve Miles, SVP Global Dove
  • Fernando Machado, GBVP Global Dove Skin
  • Kathleen Ryan, Global Brand Manager Social Media
  • Stacie Bright, Global Director Marketing Communications
  • Dove
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The Stats

  • 253M project impressions
  • 200 total hours spent on this project
  • 75 total cups of coffee drunk

The Results

Users displaced 171 million banners with negative messages to reach 5.5 million unique women. Over 50% of the women who visited the app created a message, and 82% of the ads seen were created by friends of the viewer. Dove’s Facebook mentions increased by 71%, and most importantly, 71% of the women polled said they felt more beautiful after seeing the campaign. The campaign stood out because it made the paid ads on Facebook a social experience and empowered women to evolve the tone of the social web. For the first time, a brand erased the lines between paid, earned and owned media.

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