COURAGE IS BEAUTIFUL

Short List
TitleCOURAGE IS BEAUTIFUL
BrandDOVE
Product/ServiceGLOBAL PERSONAL CARE BRAND
Category B03. Use of Print / Outdoor
Entrant OGILVY London, UNITED KINGDOM
Idea Creation OGILVY London, UNITED KINGDOM
Idea Creation 2 OGILVY Toronto, CANADA
Media Placement MINDSHARE New York, USA
Production OGILVY London, UNITED KINGDOM
Production 2 OGILVY Toronto, CANADA
Production 3 KEVIN SARGENT MUSIC London, UNITED KINGDOM
Post Production OGILVY London, UNITED KINGDOM
Post Production 2 OGILVY Toronto, CANADA
Post Production 3 OUTSIDER EDITORIAL Toronto, CANADA
Post Production 4 TENTHREE EDITING London, UNITED KINGDOM
Credits
Name Company Position
Daniel Fisher Ogilvy (London) Global Executive Creative Director (Unilever)
Brian Murray Ogilvy (Toronto) Chief Creative Officer
Juliana Paracencio Ogilvy (London) Global Creative Director
Christian Horsfall Ogilvy (Toronto) Grouop Creative Director
Pam Danowski Ogilvy (Toronto) Associate Creative Director

Why is this work relevant for Media?

During the grip of the pandemic, healthcare and frontline heroes were working round the clock, rarely having the time to tune into TV or scroll through social media. As part of their overall $7.5m global commitment to COVID relief, Dove wanted to honour these brave people in a heartfelt way. We transformed the most impersonal outdoor medium, into something personal. Thanking them directly through strategically placed billboards outside their hospitals and along their routes home. By identifying commute and shift times, we programmed our DOOH to broadcast our tributes to them as their shifts started and ended.

Background

Over the past 15 years, Dove have established itself as one of the world’s most iconic and purpose-led brands. The Real Beauty campaign redefined beauty to be more inclusive and less rooted in conventional aesthetics. But over the past decade, many other beauty brands have adopted similar, purpose-led marketing. As a result, the Dove brand platform became less differentiated and culturally resonant. During the outbreak of COVID-19, Dove saw an opportunity to redefine beauty once again. With no vaccine in sight, soap was (and is) our first line of defense. As one of the world’s biggest soap brands, Dove had an obligation to help. So it wanted to announce its $7.5 million global commitment to supporting healthcare workers. Our challenge was to create an outdoor campaign that embodied this commitment yet staying true to Dove’s brand platform, whilst finding beauty in a time of heartache.

Describe the creative idea / insights (30% of vote)

In times of crisis we are reminded that beauty isn’t about how you look, but what you do. And during the pandemic, frontline workers demonstrated the epitome of this beauty, showing us there is no greater expression of yourself than the qualities of selflessness, compassion and bravery. After long hours and double shifts, they looked exhausted, with deep, skin-blistering marks across their faces left from protective masks. Despite their appearance, they were resilient, continuing to fight day after day to save lives. We saw beauty in this courage. Our idea was simply to honour them by featuring their powerfully beautiful portraits in DOOH, thanking them directly for their selfless care while showing the world that Courage is Beautiful.

Describe the strategy (20% of vote)

As the images of exhausted healthcare heroes emerged, we reached out to them directly and obtained their permission to feature these brave selfies in our campaign film. Alongside celebrating them, our call to action was directed at thanking these people personally. Working with various hospitals, we collected data on key workers’ shift patterns and commute times, revealing that they were working astonishing 16-18 hour shifts. Based on this data, we bought media sites adjacent to the most overwhelmed hospitals in major cities, programming them to broadcast our ads at the exact time healthcare workers started or ended their shifts, letting them see our gratitude. As the pandemic spread, this targeted DOOH model was rolled out at hospital sites across the US, Russia, Spain and South Africa. Furthermore, as part of the overall donation, Dove also made personal contributions to every featured nurse, doctor and hospital where they worked.

Describe the execution (20% of vote)

We wanted to specifically honor the doctors and nurses who inspired our campaign. So instead of doing this the traditional way, we implemented the campaign over a one-month period at a more direct, local level through DOOH placed at bus shelters and hospitals in 4 countries. This eventually grew to become a global media campaign, running in 15 different countries: Canada, US Brazil, France, Spain, Russia, Bangladesh, Argentina, Uruguay, Mexico, Chile, Colombia, Peru, Costa Rica and South Africa. What began as a targeted media campaign, went on to reach a worldwide audience with over 2 billion global impressions.

List the results (30% of vote)

This successful campaign was quickly adapted and initiated globally in 15 markets, with each country honouring healthcare workers from their local market. It garnered unprecedented engagement rates in all markets, generating over 2 billion global impressions, 349% increase in Facebook engagement, 1,599% increase in Twitter engagement, 99% positive sentiment in social. It featured on major US news outlets including CBS, CNN and NBC Today. The campaign contributed to massive increases in brand power in key markets vs previous quarter: US Brand Power +10pp driven by increases in difference and salience; UK Brand Power +5pp. Spontaneous awareness also increased +7% (US), and +5% (UK). A Canadian Omnibus study showed significant uplift on equity with +15pt Brand affinity increase and +8pts main equity attribute, driving women to feel more positive about the way they look, vs non-exposed. A US Brand Lift Study showed significant uplift on ad recall and message agreement.