Dove challenges women to “choose beautiful”

To me, Unilever’s personal care brand Dove has always been a brand that strives to push the boundaries when it comes to its marketing. From the Real Women campaign to the Evolution of Beauty the brand’s success lies not just in its core product, but ensuring there is a clear vision of what the brand stands for and building a marketing strategy that not only hits the nail on the head when it comes to communicating with their target audience but essentially, and rather cleverly is able to plant a “seed” for a marketing campaign and leave it to the audience to do the talking, taking ownership of the idea and evolving it on a personal level.

In a nutshell this is the essence to success when it comes to viral marketing is it not?

In Dove’s latest move, the brand has launched a video as part of its global marketing campaign #ChooseBeautiful that challenges perceptions of female beauty. A recent survey by Dove showed that 96% of women rated themselves as “average” looking with the video serving to visualise these statistics and challenge perceptions.

‘Feeling beautiful is a personal choice women should feel empowered to make for themselves, every day,’ say Dove.

This video is at the epicentre of the brand’s marketing campaign, with both on and offline activities serving to support the key message of #ChooseBeautiful as visualised within the film.

The short film, shot in five countries, is designed to inspire women to reconsider their choices about beauty and question how those choices make them feel, inviting women to walk through a door labelled “beautiful” or “average”. With additional activities including a tumblr account hosting all of the digital elements to the campaign, including the option to download a ‘mindful me’ toolkit and mini meditations.

It’s no surprise that #ChooseBeautiful is now trending on Twitter a social media platform renowned for issues of social media trolling alongside communities celebrating women globally.

Which door would you choose?