The Dove Campaign for Real Beauty was conceived in 2004 after market research indicated that only 4% of women consider themselves beautiful. The campaign’s mission is “to create a world where beauty is a source of confidence and not anxiety.” It was created by Ogilvy & Mather Düsseldorf and London.
In 2006, Ogilvy & Mather were seeking to extend the campaign further, by creating one or more viral videos to host on the Campaign for Real Beauty website. The first of these, Daughters, was an interview-style piece intended to show how mothers and daughters related to issues surrounding the modern perception of beauty and the beauty industry.
It was during the production of Daughters that a series of short films entitled “Beauty Crackdown” was pitched to Unilever as an “activation idea.” The concept was one that art director Tim Piper, who proposed to create Evolution with the budget left over from Daughters (C$135,000), pushed. It was originally intended to get people to the Campaign for Real Beauty website to see Daughters, and to participate in the workshops featured on the site. After Evolution, Ogilvy produced Onslaught and Amy.
2 days ago Dove implemented one of the biggest conceptual ad campaigns of the decade grew out of a photography exhibit in a retail building in Toronto.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DdM-4siaQw
In this short documentary video from ad agency Ogilvy & Mather Chicago, the brand visited Delhi, Sao Paulo, London, San Francisco, and London, asking women to choose to walk between two doors: “Beautiful,” or “Average.”
The Dove Campaign for Real Beauty is a worldwide marketing campaign launched by Unilever in 2004 that includes advertisements, video, workshops, sleepover events and the publication of a book and the production of a play.
The aim of the campaign is to celebrate the natural physical variation embodied by all women and inspire them to have the confidence to be comfortable with themselves. Dove’s partners in the effort include such marketing and communications agencies as Ogilvy & Mather, Edelman Public Relations, and Harbinger Communications (in Canada). Part of the overall project was the “Evolution” campaign.