2016 Silver FMCG

Agency Havas helia

Client Dove Men+Care

Campaign summary Men find out they’re pregnant

Campaign overview

Dove had two campaign objectives. Firstly to drive awareness of Dove Men+Care and further establish the evolution of its positioning, ‘real strength takes care’, to drive growth.

Secondly to emphasise commitment to an evolved vision of masculinity where strength also embraces caring for one’s self and another.

Strategy

The brand’s primary audience is dads. For this campaign, a new group of dads emerged, both new and expecting.

The starting point was the insight that 82% of men globally believe that having a child changes the way they think about what it means to be a man.

So Dove found a digitally cultured way to show the exact moment of change, with online behavioural insights acting as the central inspiration for the creative idea.

Video was chosen to best represent men’s powerful personal stories to emphasize Dove Men+Care’s commitment to authentically celebrating the modern man and reinforcing that the brand truly understands and relates to this consumer segment.

Creativity

You’re going to be a Dad’.

This unforgettable moment is typically shared privately between partners, and is when a man accepts the challenge of showing care as man’s real strength.

Telling this story with real dads, and focusing on the moment they become fathers, created an authenticity to the video content.

Reflective of the increase in ‘dad content’ online today, the film compiles personal clips from the lives of real men to show the range of emotions that dads express upon receiving the news.

With 12 weeks to identify, shortlist and select the YouTube source films, Dove already gained a following by taking a unique point of view on modern masculinity, and this video represented the next step: using powerful personal stories to highlight Dove Men+Care’s commitment to understanding - and celebrating - the modern man.

Results

The plan was to drive reach through emotional resonance, and it worked.

The film moved the hosts of Good Morning America to tears, and grabbed headlines in high profile media outlets such as the Washington Post, The Huffington Post, The Daily Mail and Mashable.

During the first month the video launched it reached #1 on Buzzfeed’s organic ‘Trending’ list, #2 on Adweek’s ‘10 Most Watched Ads’ and #2 most viewed on YouTube’s Leaderboard.

The creative thinking behind the campaign helped the film achieve wide recognition for the brand as modern and forward thinking. This proved successful both for engaging the creative target, the ‘evolved man’, as well as with society at large.

Through the power, relevance and authenticity of this film, Dove Men+Care had finally cut through in a way it had not been able to before.

Team

Steven Bennett - Day (Executive Creative Director) • Mark Whelan (Chief Creative Officer) • Aaron Howard (Creative Director) • Dan Gibson (Managing Partner) • Victoria Herrick (Planning Director) • Lauren Mcilroy (Planner) • Michelle Hartmann (Senior Account Director) • Andy Buist (Global Brand Director)