An Overview of the Marketing Campaign
The campaign Dove Real Beauty Sketches seeks to raise self-awareness among individuals with regards to their physical appearance. The campaign is alive to the fact that many people have low self-esteem when it comes to appreciating their beauty or physical endowment. The message transmitted to consumers in the market indicates that natural beauty is the best. The campaign is sponsored by Dove, which is one of the companies dealing with beauty products in the world. The campaign promotes the message that Dove is concerned about the consumer’s natural beauty. The use of female models in the campaign helps to support this message in the market. The reason is that women are viewed as being more sensitive to beauty compared to men (Varey 2002, p. 75).
The advertisement campaign makes use of several models of the larger communication theory. For instance, the simple communications model is fronted as an ideal framework for marketing in this undertaking. According to Varey (2002, p. 75), this framework is used in promotional campaigns to enhance quick and easy comprehension of the message being passed across. As illustrated in the Dove Real Beauty Sketches marketing operation, women are made to believe that beauty is best when it is natural.
Innovativeness of Dove Beauty Campaign
An effective marketing strategy is characterized by innovativeness and creativity. A simple communication model makes it possible to adopt innovativeness to provide a brand with a competitive advantage. According to Ewing (2009, p. 104), effective IMC is potentially critical to organizational performance because it has the ability to provide a competitive advantage. With respect to Dove Real Beauty Sketches‘ marketing campaign, creativity and originality are made apparent through the use of a sketch artist to affirm the notion of natural beauty. The move introduces the multifaceted nature of a given communications theory. To this end, the artist and the female models interact to send the message that beauty is not man-made.
Dove Real Beauty Sketches: Brand Positioning
The effectiveness of a marketing campaign is realized once a given brand attains an elevated position in the market. Brand positioning ensures that a given product is preferred by consumers over a wide range of alternatives (Fill 2011, p. 88). To this end, Dove has positioned itself as a supporter of unadulterated beauty. The marketing campaign is crafted in such a way that it promotes the preference for pure physical appearance. The implication is that Dove will satisfy the needs of the clients by producing natural products. The move indicates the creativity of the team behind the campaign, given that many people are conscious of the benefits of consuming non-organic products.
An Analysis of the Message Promoted by the Campaign
Marketing campaigns are developed to ensure that a given message reaches the consumer. However, there is little consensus on how that should be carried out (Keller 2009, p. 139). The Dove Real Beauty Sketches promotional campaign is used to send out a message in support of natural beauty. Given the company’s role in the manufacture of beauty products, the consumer gets the impression that Dove is producing natural products only.
Market Target and Consumer Needs
A marketing campaign is developed with the intention of tapping into a specific segment in the market. According to Micu and Pentina (2012, p. 4), every industry has its own market. The implication is that companies have to compete for control of the said niche. Consequently, market segmentation arises. The segmentation entails the establishment of existing types of consumers and their needs and preferences. A communications model like the multiphase framework is used to ensure that a broad spectrum of the market is targeted in a campaign.
The Dove Real Beauty Sketches marketing strategy primarily targets women. Dove’s main market is made up of an urban woman. Most of these female consumers are fashion conscious. It is noted that beauty is a key component of fashion (Schultz & Schultz 2004, p. 51). Recent studies on fashion trends indicate that consumers are more inclined towards products that depict the natural essence of life compared to those that promote synthetic beauty. The campaign realizes this objective by supporting the notion of natural physical appearance.
A marketing campaign is deemed to have succeeded once it has effectively addressed the consumer needs of a specific market. Moriarty, Mitchell, and Wells (2012, p. 12) argue that addressing the preferences of clients is all about finding the elements of a product that guarantee satisfaction on behalf of the consumer. To this end, addressing these needs requires the clients to be assured by the product. The same is realized once the message comes directly from the company. Consequently, the single-step model is used in the development of a suitable marketing campaign.
The proposed model guarantees that a marketing message gets to the client directly from the firm. With respect to the Dove Real Beauty Sketches campaign, it is apparent that the organization is appealing directly to market needs by highlighting the essence of natural beauty. In most cases, the single-step framework makes use of opinion leaders to ensure the message reaches the market courtesy of brand decisions (Luck & Moffatt 2009, p. 311). In relation to Dove Real Beauty Sketches, the objective is realized through the use of an expert sketch artist who affirms the notion of natural beauty.
Dove’s Unique Selling Proposition
A marketing strategy and campaign ensures that the company promotes its products in the industry. Unique selling propositions (USP) are developed to ensure that consumers get the feeling that they deserve a given product (Solomon 2003, p. 88). Finne and Gronroos (2009, p. 183) suggest that marketing ensures that a product reaches a consumer. To this end, differentiation is most preferred in a marketing campaign. Differentiation entails coming up with a unique strategy to endear a product to the consumers. In the current undertaking, the use of women suffering from beauty-related esteem issues as opposed to models appeals to consumers. Such a move assures the customers that Dove can use natural regimens to realize the kind of beauty they are yearning for.
Integration of the Unique Selling Proposition into the Advertising Message
A unique selling proposition assures consumers of the high quality of a given product. The use of a sketch artist trained by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), together with the additional roles played by the second parties, helps to integrate the USP into the message. The Shanon model enhances the communication process courtesy the various instruments of brand management tools. According to Arvidsson (2005, p. 236), the instruments of brand management permeate our life-world. To this end, the USP is integrated into the campaign message with the help of brand management instruments like the YouTube video employed.
Creative Strategies
An effective marketing campaign is one whose strategies endear the consumer to the product. Fill (2011, p. 56) opines that the approaches adopted by the company should establish a ‘call to action’ feeling among the clients. To this end, the Dove campaign intends to send out a message of beauty products that are pro-natural. The call-to-action is used creatively since the campaign does not waste time by tying the viewer to the message.
The Media Channels Selected for the Campaign
The Sketches campaign employs, among others, the single-step communications model. The framework enhances the direct transfer of the message to the consumer. According to Varey (2002, p. 75), communication is a mode of exchange. However, the model adopts a multifaceted approach to the communication process. In addition, it proposes the use of mass media. In light of this, Dove opted for YouTube to carry out the campaign.
The Appropriateness of the Message and Media Channel
The marketing campaign analyzed in this paper is used to promote the idea of natural beauty among female consumers. An effective promotional undertaking should adhere to the need for ethical consumption and benefits from the sale of a commodity (Fordyce & Ryn 2014, p. 35). Based on this analysis, it is apparent that the message and the media channels related to this campaign are appropriate. The message and mode of communication are regarded as being appropriate if they effortlessly endear consumers to a given product. Furthermore, all ethical elements of communication are adhered to in the campaign (Finne & Gronroos 2009, p. 183).
Conclusion: Suggested Alterations to the Campaign
A number of adjustments can be made to enhance the success and appeal of Dove’s campaign. For example, beauty is not restricted to one specific gender. Promotional campaigns are expected to target a larger demographic (Duncan, 2005, p. 177). The management should note that the male market is also an ideal segment. The only alteration to this campaign will entail the incorporation of the male customers. Regardless of the preferred market niche, a promotional campaign should endeavor to increase its outreach. The development enhances the chances of penetrating into new market segments.
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