4 days ago
How Dove's first creator-led campaign paves way forward for Unilever
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Just days after becoming CEO of Unilever in March, Fernando Fernandez made waves by discussing plans to move to a social-first advertising strategy, shifting 50% of ad spend to the channel and looking to work with 20 times as many influencers. Even as social media remains one of the fastest growing marketing channels across the industry this year, it was a bold statement.
'There are 19,000 zip codes in India. There are 5,764 municipalities in Brazil. I want one influencer in each of them,' Fernandez said in a fireside chat with Barclays analyst Warren Ackerman. 'This is one of the things I will drive like hell in the company in the next few years.'
Dove, Unilever's largest brand, was one of the first at the CPG giant to utilize influencer and creator marketing. For the brand's leadership, Fernandez's statement was 'music to our ears,' said Marcela Melero, chief growth officer for Dove Personal Care North America and Dove Masterbrand.
'It's reinforcing the path we're already going to,' Melero said. 'It's all about doubling down on efforts that we were already doing before.'
While Dove is an early focus of Unilever's big social media push, it is expected to extend to the company's other brands.
The expansive approach to social media is evident with Dove's #ShareTheFirst effort, the brand's first campaign made entirely from creator content without studios or added production. Developed with Edelman, #ShareTheFirst has scaled to 13 markets since launch, features content from global creators and sees the brand shifting from a broadcaster model to a many-to-many one.
'It's really our way of being closer [to] and deeper with the communities that we serve,' Melero said.
For more than two decades, Dove's 'Real Beauty' platform has looked to build self-confidence in women of all ages. Its evolving efforts have always been based in research, and #ShareTheFirst is no different. The brand found that nine in 10 women take up to 50 photos before posting one, and that six out of 10 don't post their happy moments on social media because they're not happy with their photos.
'Especially as a woman, it's very easy to take multiple photos, feel slightly self-conscious about your body — whatever that might be — and not share it,' said Sarah Potter, global Dove PR and social influencer director. 'How can we bring that joy back to capturing those real, spontaneous moments?'
Dove has worked to utilize creators as connectors to communities rather than just a media channel. #ShareTheFirst goes further: After conversations with Edelman, Dove decided to move from using creators as effort extenders to the be-all-end-all of campaign creation — a first for the brand.
'Basically, everything from the direction of how we were going to do it, the tone of voice, the execution, the content — everything came from creators. There was no [pre-production meeting], there was no production, each creator has their own stories… so what you get is so much more rich and valuable,' said Melero.
Dove began testing the campaign concept with U.K.-based creator Lucy Reeves before expanding to more than 100 influencers. The campaign includes an out-of-home takeover at London's Liverpool Street station that uses 64 digital screens to mimic a scrolling camera roll. The creator-led approach allowed the campaign to go from brief to live within 48 hours in some markets, enabling the brand to keep up with the speed and specificity of social media.
'If you give three creators the same brief, you're not going to get back the same content,' Potter said. 'They know what works for their community, they know what works for their followers.'
Dove has worked with some of its community of creators since 2017, so #ShareTheFirst worked as a natural extension of previous efforts and relied on years of built-in trust between brand and creator.
'We've moved beyond just working with creators as the amplifiers of the story. They're really co-creating with us,' Potter said. 'They've been part of our community for the long term. We're not looking at contracting someone within 24 hours to suddenly post about the brand.'
Dove's existing relationships allow the brand to find creators that are aligned with its values that have been established with platforms like 'No Digital Distortion' and pledges like its announcement last year that it would not use artificial intelligence to represent women in its advertising and communications.
'It's the creators that tell us, 'You need to do something with this,'' Melero said, citing a 2023 effort against a trending filter as an example. 'That's how these relationships are being built.'
With 'Real Beauty,' Dove has worked to make beauty a source of happiness — not anxiety — for women everywhere. That mantra remains the same, even as the platform evolves to be relevant and connected to cultural conversations. But despite an industry-wide retreat on purpose-driven marketing — and, in Unilever's case, activist investor actions — that is not happening at Dove.
'Purpose is the secret sauce of Dove, and purpose has been at the center of the growth trajectory of this brand,' Melero said. 'This is not being questioned at all: We stay true to our north star… It's not a question, and we are very committed to it.'
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