Dove: SINGIN' IN THE RAIN

Credits & Description:

Category: Best Use of Social Media

Advertiser: UNILEVER - DOVE CANADA

Product/Service: DOVE NOURISHING OIL CARE

Agency: OGILVY PUBLIC RELATIONS

Chief Creative Officer: Janet Kestin (Ogilvy)

Chief Creative Officer: Nancy Vonk (Ogilvy)

Chief Creative Officer of Digital: Matt Hassell (Ogilvyone)

Senior Writer: Chris Dacyshyn (Ogilvy)

Senior Art Director: Julie Markle (Ogilvy)

Agency Producer: Ken Rodger (Ogilvy)

Account Team: Aviva Groll/Angela Hale (Ogilvy)

Senior Digital Art Director: Stephen Taubman (Ogilvyone)

Digital Art Director: Sebastian Barrotta (Ogilvyone)

Social Media Director: Terri Mcbay (Ogilvyone)

Account Director: Rachel Connell (Ogilvyone)

Managing Director: Nancy Madonik (Ogilvy Action)

Account Team: Heather Sheehan/Alison Kaiser (Ogilvy Action)

Media Planner: (Mindshare)

Public Relations: (Harbinger)

Integrated Marketing Services: (Capital C)

Marketing Director: Alison Leung (Unilever)

Brand Building Manager: Jessica Grigoriou (Unilever)

Vice-President Brand Building (Canada): Sharon Macleod (Unilever)

Media placement: Blogger Research, Identification And Recruitment - - 2 January 2011

Media placement: Video Shoot - - 22 February 2011

Media placement: Initial Social Media Activity - - 22 February 2011

Media placement: Video Development - - 22 February 2011

Media placement: Unique Blogger Posts - - 26 March 2011

Media placement: Blogger Product Giveaways - - 1 April 2011

Media placement: Social Media Activity And Outreach - - 1 March 2011



Summary of the Campaign



Dove’s 'real women' campaign was admired, but tired. The brand’s plain approach lacked the aspiration needed to sway our hair-obsessed target - women ages 25-49. And, although Dove is loved for its bar and body wash, it had little credibility in hair. We desperately needed a convincing way to demonstrate that our new Nourishing Oil Care line didn’t just promise smooth, frizz-free hair, it delivered.



We also needed to outsmart the category leader Pantene by getting our message out beyond traditional paid media. With under $1m to spend, we looked to social media as a driver for credible word of mouth to influence trial. Real women bloggers were recruited to experience the product in the ultimate torture test, the rain. Our approach was to create a 'Singin’ in the Rain' music video filled with real rain, re-record a contemporary version of 'Singin’ in the Rain' as the soundtrack for our video, and cast influential bloggers to take part. By using real women with significant influence and strong social networks, Dove was able to generate credible product recommendations from reliable sources, which were shared among these networks.



Dove Hair’s online share of conversation increased from 1% to 46% over the first 4 months of the campaign, drastically surpassing the goal. Most importantly, our new product line Nourishing Oil Care has over-delivered on business results by 67%. While the category grew 1%, Dove hair grew 4% in dollar volume, double our target. During this period, Pantene lost 2.8 share points.



The Situation

Dove’s 'real women' campaign was admired, but tired. The brand’s plain approach lacked the aspiration needed to sway our hair-obsessed target, women. Although Dove is loved for its soap bar, it had little credibility in hair. We desperately needed a convincing way to demonstrate that our new Nourishing Oil Care line didn’t just promise smooth, frizz-free hair, it delivered. We also needed to outsmart the category leader Pantene by getting our message out beyond traditional paid media, in a more credible way. With under $1m to spend, we looked to social media to get the word out and generate sales.



The Goal

We sought to establish Dove as the paramount brand for dry and damaged hair in Canada, by leveraging the new Dove Nourishing Oil Care product line via social media. Dove’s communications goal was to increase online conversation around Dove hair by 20% (from 1% to 21%) and move conversation sentiment from 100% neutral to 80% positive.



Business objectives were to increase total full-year Dove Hair market share by 0.2 share points to achieve 6.6% of dollar share and increase total Dove Hair dollar volume product sales by 24% versus 2010. Specifically, the new line had a market share objective of 0.3%.



The Strategy

Research told us that our target looked to “strangers with influence”, friends and stylists for advice on hair care. To demonstrate to real consumers how Dove Nourishing Oil Care could deliver soft, smooth, frizz-free hair in any environment or condition, we launched the product leveraging the influence of real women, but with a twist. Female bloggers were recruited and then experienced the ultimate torture test, while singing in the rain, literally. Our approach was to re-record a contemporary version of 'Singin’ in the Rain' that would become the soundtrack for our online video. By using real women with significant influence and a social media following, we were able to have them try the product firsthand in our 'Singin’ in the Rain' torture test, and share the results with their fans and followers. This would provide credible word-of-mouth around the effectiveness of our products to our target consumers.



Execution

Using Radian6, we identified and invited 14 women bloggers to participate in our 'Singin’ in the Rain' video production. To convince women our product worked, we created the ultimate torture test for the frizzies: a 'Singin’ In The Rain' music video, filled with real rain. A celeb stylist from 'Glee' did their hair, Usher’s choreographer taught the dance moves, and the group danced to the song under clear umbrellas. After the shoot, we posted the video and let the blogging and sharing begin. The team expanded the conversation through paid online media and a 'rainy day' partnership with the Weather Network.



The bloggers tweeted incessantly during filming, creating positive word-of-mouth thereafter and changed their Facebook profile photos to one from the shoot. When the video was posted, the blogging, sharing and social networking continued, allowing women to see with their own eyes that our product really worked, even in the rain.



Documented Results

Dove Hair’s online share of conversation increased from 1% to 46% over the first 4 months of this campaign, drastically surpassing our goal. 88% of conversation was positive, and the likelihood that a consumer would recommend this brand to a friend went from 0 in 10 to 8 in 10. Social media metrics were outstanding with a total of 259,000 views of the 'Singin’ in the Rain' video across all media channels. Our 'Hair tab' on the brand’s Facebook page has become the most visited tab for Dove Canada and for Dove Hair globally. Overall, activity on Facebook attributed to approximately 8m video impressions.



Most importantly, our new product line Nourishing Oil Care, has over-delivered on business results by 67%. While the category grew 1%, Dove hair grew 4% in dollar volume, double our target. During this period, Pantene lost 2.8 share points, suggesting we stole from the leader.