Ok, if you haven’t seen it already, Dove’s “Real Beauty Sketches” campaign has completely gone viral: The YouTube video has over 9 million views at the time I wrote this, has attracted responses from several major media outlets, and been shared several thousand times on social media websites. Not only that but it has inspired a parody of the original version, which itself has gone viral.
In a nutshell, Dove recruited several women from a variety of ages, ethnicity and backgrounds to participate in a new campaign. The spot features an FBI forensic artist sketching these women, which he can not see, by the way in which they describe themselves physically. Then strangers were brought in to describe those same women who had been sketched earlier. The two sketches are then hung side by side, resulting in stark contrast. The concept is that women are simply too critical of themselves. Hence, the tagline: “YOU are more beautiful than you think!”
After viewing it, I for one am not surprised that it went viral so fast. It’s a perfect combination of true emotion and honest insight and really pulls at the heart of the consumer. I love seeing marketing efforts get honest buzz amongst the public that goes beyond traditional advertising trade publications! Kudos for taking such risks Dove.
Published on Apr 14, 2013
“Join the conversation at: #WeAreBeautiful
Watch the whole experience at: http://dove.com/realbeautysketches
Women are their own worst beauty critics. Only 4% of women around the world consider themselves beautiful. At Dove, we are committed to creating a world where beauty is a source of confidence, not anxiety. So, we decided to conduct a compelling social experiment that explores how women view their own beauty in contrast to what others see.
And don’t forget: YOU are more beautiful than you think!”
Have a look at the ad yourself, if you haven’t seen it already! Dove Real Beauty Sketches
We’d love to hear your thoughts on the spot.
As I have been helping my soon-to-be college freshman explore the incredible breadth of college majors focusing on marketing and public relations available to her, I have seen firsthand how diversified this industry is in the digital age we now operate in. Just 10 years ago, Public Relations was more of an add-on to the main strategy but now has top billing in any solid tactical plan with the inclusion of all forms of social media and search engine opportunities.
Interesting article on how we have moved from the “early days” of blog entries, to shorter Facebook posts, to even shorter Tweets, and now, basically no words with social media sites like Pinterest and Instagram. The question poses an interesting advertising conundrum of communicating a brand relying on the visual image rather than the written word. Curious to see how this evolves in the next few years.
