REVERSE SELFIE

Integrated Eurobest Award

Case Film

Presentation Image

TitleREVERSE SELFIE
BrandUNILEVER, DOVE
Product/ServiceDOVE MASTERBRAND
Entrant OGILVY London, UNITED KINGDOM
Idea Creation OGILVY London, UNITED KINGDOM
Media Placement MINDSHARE New York, USA
PR EDELMAN New York, USA
PR 2 HALPERN PR London, UNITED KINGDOM
Production INDEPENDENT London, UNITED KINGDOM
Post Production THE QUARRY London, UNITED KINGDOM
Post Production 2 ABSOLUTE POST London, UNITED KINGDOM
Post Production 3 GRAND CENTRAL RECORDING STUDIOS London, UNITED KINGDOM
Post Production 4 BIG SYNC MUSIC London, UNITED KINGDOM
Post Production 5 THE FORGE London, UNITED KINGDOM
Credits
Name Company Position
Alessandro Manfredi Unilever Global Dove, Executive Vice President
Sophie van Ettinger Unilever Global Brand Vice President - Dove Masterbrand
Leandro Barreto Unilever Brand Vice President
Edo Briola Unilever Global Brand Director. Dove Masterbrand
Hugo Rawlinson Global Brand Manager, Dove Masterbrand Global Brand Manager, Dove Masterbrand
Alix Colin Unilever Global Brand Manager, Dove Masterbrand
Daniel Fisher Ogiilvy Global Executive Creative Director Unilever
Juliana Paracencio Ogilvy Global Creative Director
Liam Bushby Ogilvy Art Director
Alison Steven Ogilvy Copywriter
Ollie Jarrott Ogilvy Head of Copy
Matt Nankivell Ogilvy Head of Art
Sian Hughes Ogilvy Design Lead Integrated
Jo Bacon Ogilvy Global Business Lead, WPP Unilever
Sam Pierce Ogilvy Global Managing Partner
Georgie Howard Ogilvy Global Business Director
Grace Boyle Ogilvy Account Manager
Zahra Mair Ogilvy Project Manager
James Brook-Partridge Ogilvy Head of Integrated Production
Sally Lipsius Ogilvy Film Producer
Sue Lee Stern Ogilvy Film Producer
Sarah Thomson Ogilvy Head of Art Production (Unilever)
Chloe Jahanshahi Ogilvy Art Producer
Ben Kay Ogilvy Chief Strategy Officer
Ila De Melloa Kamath Ogilvy Strategy Partner
Justin Jackson Ogilvy Senior Social Strategist
Benito Montorio Independent Director
Steve Annis Independent Director of Photography
Verity White Independent Executive Producer
Eakhurst Eakhurst Independent Producer
Sam Jones The Quarry Editor
Scott Crane The Quarry Editor
Phil Oldham Absolute VFX Supervisor and lead flame artist
Lucas Warren Absolute VFX Artist
Tom Clapp Absolute VFX Artist
Carl Godwin-Alvarez Absolute VFX Artist
Jonas McQuiggan Absolute Motion graphics and design
Sally Heath Absolute Executive Producer
Munzie Thind Grand Central Studios Engineer
Philip Klein Big Sync Composer/Arranger
Sophie Harris-Taylor Swerve Represents Photographer
Lucy Barbour Swerve Represents Stills Producer
Justin Shurmer The Forge Retoucher

Why is this work relevant for Integrated?

Integration was key to our campaign as we needed to speak to a wide range of people, firstly across America and then around the world. Through TV, OOH, print, PR, digital and social we ensured our campaign had multiple angles in order to deliver our message. TV, OOH and print allowed us to tell more of the narrative, whereas PR, digital and social allowed us to expose the dangers of social media on the platforms themselves. Integration was also key to the 6 billion global impressions and downloads of the ‘selfie talk’ confidence kit.

Background

Since the film Evolution, Dove have been fighting unrealistic beauty standards. Sadly, those same unrealistic beauty standards still exist today and it’s far worse: instead of the media distorting their images, the young girls are doing to themselves. A disturbing trend that has been exacerbated by social media pressures and phone time during the pandemic. In fact, 80% of girls are now using retouching apps by the age of 13. This level of distortion is causing selfie dysmorphia, a rise in cosmetic surgery and has even been cited as the lead cause for an increase in teen suicides.

Describe the creative idea

Through the experiences of real girls, we created a campaign that shined a light on the pressures of social media and the dangers of retouching apps to children around the world. “Reverse Selfie” follows the true story of Grace and the editing apps she uses to achieve the ‘ideal’ selfie. The same harmful and readily available editing apps that are in the hands of billions of girls. Every filter and retouched blemish were authentically recreated based on the tools Grace and the girls from our cast use to edit their selfies every day. Through film, print, social and body positive campaigner, Lizzo, our campaign called on parents and guardians to have the ‘selfie talk’ and educate a girl they know in the dangers of social media and editing apps.

Describe the strategy

The dangers of social media are widely documented, but the harm of apps and filters are just starting to emerge. The scale and impact of selfie dysmorphia and body dissatisfaction are often not taken seriously but it has become a public health emergency affecting millions of girls around the world. We wanted to start the debate and drive awareness of this important issue at a societal level, especially among parents who were not aware of the harm retouching apps and photo filters have on girls’ self-esteem. Our strategy to drive talkability around the issue was to create an emotional hook for parents that revealed the pressures of selfie culture on social media from the girls’ perspective.

Describe the execution

We launched the campaign on the 20th of April with the help of body positive campaigner and international superstar, Lizzo. We have since rolled this out in 15 different markets around the world across TV, digital, print and OOH. The premiere of ‘Reverse selfie’ at Dove submit had a reach of 78 million, driving over 20,000 Confident Kit downloads. So far, the campaign has earnt 6 billion global impressions.

List the results

Surpassing its predecessor, Evolution, our global campaign spanned 15 different countries, reaching billions of people. Launching with the help of Lizzo, we drove action calling on parents, guardians and teachers to have the Selfie Talk. Expanding the campaign on Tik-Tok through the hashtag #NoDigitalDistortion, we have reached 66M users. We are also proud to say the campaign is now being used as an educational tool to spread awareness. 6 billion impressions. 1.9 billion impressions in first two days. 20.6 million organic impressions in first 7 days.