Unilever uses direct mail to help consumers redefine “Real Beauty”

By: Paula Andruss

The buzz surrounding the Dove® Campaign for Real Beauty has been deafening since its inception. Using real women to promote its personal care products has made the Unilever Inc. brand resonate with women around the globe, earning accolades and awards in addition to double-digit sales growth.

Part of a comprehensive marketing effort that includes advertising, billboards, a dedicated Web site, viral films, special events and the Dove Self-Esteem Fund, the 4-year-old campaign is also supported by the “Dove Dimensions” direct mailer. A mini-magazine that’s sent by mail three times a year to approximately 1.8 million households, it’s designed to connect directly with consumers and reinforce the brand’s “real beauty” philosophy through general and product-related articles and promotions.

Though the Campaign for Real Beauty may garner more publicity from its new-media elements, Dove officials and industry insiders agree that the mailer and its editorial format play a crucial role in building brand equity and loyalty among the Dove brand’s target consumers.

Kathy O’Brien, marketing director for Dove, says the Dove Dimensions mailers started as a way to help the brand establish direct communication with its most valuable consumers.

“They allow us to provide real women with brand, product and category information in a more personalized format,” she says. “Dove has found that direct marketing is an effective way to reach loyal consumers. While coupons, FSIs, advertising and public relations efforts reach the general population, Dove Dimensions is a more personal connection to the brand for consumers who have expressed additional interest in Dove products or programming.”

Recipients of the mailer are taken from Unilever’s database of consumers based on previous interactions with the brand, such as entering a Dove contest, participating in a promotion or requesting sample products.

Such direct mail allows Dove to target consumers who have been affected by the campaign and its real-woman imagery, and create an ongoing dialogue with them about the brand as a whole, says David Diamond, partner at Toronto-based marketing consultancy Twenty-Ten Inc.

“Today there’s a trend to create a mega-brand,” Diamond says. “This mailer allows Dove to target the ladies for whom this campaign has made an emotional connection and try to get them to spend their skin-and body-care budget on Dove products, and also have a bias going forward so that when there’s a new Dove product, they’ll try it because they already have this relationship with the company.”