Imperial College Business School MSc Strategic Marketing 2015-2016

Consumer Behaviour (BS1502)

Dove Men+Care Communication Strategies: Bridging the Identified Gaps

KENSINGTON 8

EMILIE STORDALEN (01084344)

CAROLINA PLEXIDAS (01110243)

MARGARIDA FERNANDES (01153653)

PATCHARAPAK VIDHAYASARANA (01095171)

SHENGHAN LIAO (01094469)

PRIYASHI NAHATA (01108167) Word count: 2974

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................... 1

2. IDEAL CONCEPT MAP .................................................................................................... 2

2.1 Previous Strategies ......................................................................................................... 3

3. METHODOLOGY .............................................................................................................. 5

3.1 Sampling ......................................................................................................................... 5

3.2 Elicitation Stage ............................................................................................................. 5

3.3 Mapping Stage ................................................................................................................ 6

3.4 Aggregation Stage .......................................................................................................... 6

4. CONSENSUS MAP ............................................................................................................. 7

5. GAP ANALYSIS .................................................................................................................. 9

5.1 Gap One – Femininity to Masculinity .......................................................................... 9

5.2 Gap Two – Moisturiser to Deodorant and Body Wash ............................................ 10

6. COMMUNICATION STRATEGY .................................................................................. 11

6.1 Communication Idea One – Rugby World Cup Event ............................................ 12

6.2 Communication Idea Two – The Groom Room ........................................................ 14

7. CONCLUSION .................................................................................................................. 17

8. REFERENCES ................................................................................................................... 18

9. APPENDIXES .................................................................................................................... 22

1

1. INTRODUCTION

Dove, a brand under the umbrella of Unilever, is one of the top three most valuable brands in

the cosmetic industry (Brandirectory, 2015). This report will focus on Dove Men+Care, a brand

extension from Dove.

A consensus map was developed to identify potential gaps between the desired brand

associations and the actual associations. A sample of 15 men aged 25-35 living in London was

used for this research.

Analysis of the gaps was used as the input to develop effective communication strategies in

order to influence and change the mental image of Dove Men+Care in the target consumer’s

mind. Consumer behaviour theories was applied in order to help justify how the communication

ideas will alter the association.

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2. IDEAL CONCEPT MAP

By thoroughly analysing Dove Men+Care’s communication strategies since its launch, the

terms most commonly used to describe and advertise itself were aggregated (Figure 1). The two

elements that have been consistently refined are Athletes and ‘Care’, linking to the brand’s

vision statement of being ‘the caring side of masculinity’ (Cliffs, 2015).

Figure 1: Dove Men+Care Ideal Concept Map

3

Dove Men+Care’s first-order associations are centred around caring for yourself (i.e.

‘Hygiene’, ‘Deodorant’ and ‘Body wash’) and caring for others (i.e. ‘Sport’ and

‘Generational’), focusing on families and sports teams. The brand possesses one major

connection between the ‘Masculine’ and ‘Care’ first-order associations as these two are the

basis of its brand identity. The second and third-order associations are indirect connections to

the brand. These are also important, as they are the cues the brand can use to target its

consumers.

2.1 Previous Strategies

In 2010 the campaign ‘Journey to Comfort’ focused on targeting 35-44 year olds (Wong, 2010).

It was illustrating life events experienced by consumers up until the present moment, and the

effort it had taken to grow into themselves. As 74% of men engage with sports on social media

(Mintel News, 2015), Dove Men+Care used this as an opportunity to partner with athlete

endorsers and differentiate itself from Dove.

By 2013, the target age range had shifted to 25-54. In addition, 73% of men complained that

they were being inaccurately depicted by adverts. The brand used this research to present itself

as the choice for those ‘who’ve evolved beyond’ the stereotypes (Neff, 2013).

When the brand launched in the UK, it was eager to align itself with what the segment was

passionate about to encourage ‘brand trial and create user loyalty’ (Newsworks, 2015). Dove

Men+Care partnered with The Telegraph newspaper and the official media partner of the Rugby

Football Union in 2013. This created a great opportunity for Dove Men+Care as it provided the

brand with a more masculine edge.

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By 2015, the link between ‘Care’ and ‘Masculine’ was fortified with the use of its ‘Care Makes

a Man Stronger’ slogan, aiming to challenge cultural stereotypes of what defines a man. To do

this, emphasis was put on its athlete endorsers’ achievements in their personal lives, not in the

sport, setting an aspirational goal all men can achieve with the support of the brand.

There was a subtle shift once again, indicating the expansion of its target age range for its

consumers. Dove Men+Care hashtags changed from #RealDadMoments to #RealStrength,

showing its shift from fathers to men in general (Griner, 2015).

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3. METHODOLOGY

To obtain a better insight into the behaviours of Dove Men+Care’s consumers, appropriate

sample and methods were chosen to increase the validity and credibility of the research.

3.1 Sampling

Dove Men+Care has a target market of men ranging from 25 to 54 years old (Neff, 2013).

However, this report will focus on a specific age range of 25 to 35 years old men living in

London, to measure their associations with the brand.

3.2 Elicitation Stage

The first step involved eliciting brand associations with Dove Men+Care, by conducting one-

to-one interviews with 15 men aged 25-35. Participants were asked: “When you think of Dove

Men+Care, what comes to mind?” This encouraged them to mention any associations they have

with the brand. Following the interviews, the associations collected were organised into a table

labelled as the Association Corpus (Appendix 4). The frequency of each word was counted and

only the words that appeared in at least 50% of the participants’ interviews were retained,

forming the Elicitation Word List. However, the results from this lead to only three first-order

associations, thus this was reduced to 25% in order to enlarge the Elicitation Word List

(Appendix 5). In addition, participants were asked: “What hygiene products are the most

important to you?” which led to a deeper understanding of their behaviour towards the products,

and gave insights to develop more tailored communication strategies for the target market

(Appendix 10).

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3.3 Mapping Stage

In the second stage, participants were presented with the Elicitation Words List, and asked to

draw a brand map for Dove Men+Care. They were also able to add concepts that did not appear

on this list as second-order associations. Participants were instructed to connect the concepts

based on their perceived strength of each connection using one, two or three lines (one

indicating a weaker connection and three lines indicating a strong connection).

Additionally, participants were also asked to rate the brand on a scale of 1 to 10, where 1

indicates very unfavourable and 10 indicates very favourable (Appendix 8).

3.4 Aggregation Stage

In the third stage, the 15 individual brand maps (Appendix 11) were aggregated to produce the

Consensus Map showing how consumers perceive Dove Men+Care. For the first-order

associations, the strengths of the association connections to the brand were selected based on

the most frequent strength indicated by the interviewees (Appendix 6). A similar approach was

adopted to aggregate second-order associations (Appendix 7). However, due to the fact that

there were numerous second-order associations, only those mentioned by at least 25% of the

participants were retained. Nevertheless, as three out of the seven second-order associations

were already mentioned as the first-order associations, only the remaining four were connected

to its corresponding first-order association.

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4. CONSENSUS MAP

The consensus map for Dove Men+Care indicates that there are nine first-order associations

with the brand (Figure 2). The first-order associations with the strongest links include ‘Soap’,

‘White’, and ‘Creamy’; the medium links include ‘Moisturiser’, ‘Clean’, ‘Good smell’, and

‘Body wash’; and the weakest links include ‘Bird’, ‘Shampoo’, and ‘Feminine’.

Second-order associations were mostly derived from three first-order associations. When asked

about the ‘Moisturiser’, people often related with being ‘Smooth’ and ‘Soft’. For ‘White’,

people accounted for this because of the ‘Packaging’. The ‘Bird” correlated as the ‘Logo’ for

the brand to most people, thus becoming a second-order association.

Although ‘Soap’ (one of the strongest first-order associations) did not have any second-order

associations, it was strongly related to other first-order associations including ‘Clean’ and

‘Good smell’ through interconnectedness. This indicates that people strongly associated these

three factors to the brand especially when they were in relation to one another.

An interesting observation was that ‘Feminine’ appeared to be a first-order association, even

though Dove Men+Care targets men. Additionally, the rest of the first-order association had a

tendency to lean towards describing the Dove women's care range as well, such as ‘White’,

‘Creamy’, ‘Shampoo’ and ‘Moisturising’.

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Figure 2: Dove Men+Care Consensus Map

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5. GAP ANALYSIS

Following the three-stage Associative Network Memory Model for Dove Men+Care, two main

gaps were identified.

5.1 Gap One – Femininity to Masculinity

The most prominent gap this report focuses on is changing the feminine associations to

masculine. Dove revamped their brand for men in 2010 and built a brand extension (Miziolek,

2012) to create a new brand perception by adding ‘Men+Care’ to the existing logo and changing

the colour palette to dark grey. However, it is evident that the target consumers still strongly

associate it with a women’s care brand. The consensus map clearly demonstrates this as

participants associated Dove Men+Care packaging with the colour white instead of dark grey.

This may be due to the immense media exposure of Dove’s ‘Real Beauty’ campaign (Appendix

9) that became ‘one of modern marketing’s most talked-about stories’ (Bahadur, 2014).

In addition, Dove Men+Care wants to be associated with attributes such as ‘Strong’ and being

involved with sports by committing to sponsor the Rugby World Cup 2015 (Rugby World Cup,

2015). In reality, none of the participants interviewed associated the brand with being active or

involved with sporting events, highlighting the major gap in associations.

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5.2 Gap Two – Moisturiser to Deodorant and Body Wash

The second gap identified how participants associated Dove Men+Care with moisturiser, and

the qualities that make it nourishing for skin, using words such as ‘Creamy’, ‘Smooth’ and

‘Soft’ to describe the product. Whereas ideally the brand wants to be associated with powerful

protection deodorants and hygiene products such as body wash and the grooming product range.

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6. COMMUNICATION STRATEGY

The communications strategies proposed aim to alter the associations between the actual

associations and the desired associations of the brand.

Dove Men+Care’s hygiene products such as deodorant and body wash are classified under the

self-esteem section in Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, as using hygiene products help to boost a

user’s confidence and leads to positive feelings towards themselves (Tuk, 2015a).

Dove Men+Care products are considered a necessity that consumers use in private, therefore

the brand has a low influence on their purchase behaviour (Tuk, 2015d). According to the

Consumer Involvement Theory, Dove Men+Care are considered low involvement products that

provide consumers with a short-term sensual gratification (McNamara, 2015). Consumers are

likely to put minimum effort in their decision-making process and make impulsive choices with

low motivation in the MOA Model (Tuk, 2015c). Their attitudes are formed through a ‘Like –

Buy – Think’ model in the ABC Model of Attitudes and Hierarchy Effects (Tuk, 2015c).

The primary aim of the communication is to persuade and change men’s weak attitudes towards

this product category. The peripheral route from The Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) will

be applied by using heuristics and peripheral cues (Tuk, 2015c), as this is more likely to grab

their attention. The strategies to tackle this will be simple and easy to understand, with emphasis

on building a good feeling towards the brand through endorsers and integrated communication

strategies.

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6.1 Communication Idea One – Rugby World Cup Event

Firstly, Dove Men+Care should organise an event booth, featuring a tackle pad challenge called

#DoveMenStrength running throughout the Rugby World Cup 2015 in the UK (Figure 3). The

main objective is to alter the target’s mental image and bridge the identified gaps of the brand

from ‘Feminine’ to ‘Masculine’, and emphasise ‘Active’ and ‘Strong’. By continuing to use

rugby as an endorser (Newsworks, 2015), it highlights Dove Men+Care’s ideal masculine

positioning and strengthens its associations to ‘Sport’.

Figure 3: Tackle Pad Event at World Cup Stadiums

The link between Dove Men+Care and rugby is a referential association with evaluative

conditioning, meaning that even when the Rugby World Cup ends, consumers will still think

of the brand and associate it with the rugby’s masculine, sporty and strong values (Sweldens,

2015).

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Furthermore, a sporting event like the Rugby World Cup would attract a lot of male viewers,

with the 2015 event being recorded as the “best-attended, most-viewed, most-socially engaged

and most competitive Rugby World Cup to date” (Rugby World Cup, 2015).

To reach a wider audience the #DoveMenStrength booth should be present in different venues

such as London, Manchester and Newcastle. The Dove Men+Care colour scheme should be

applied to the booths, including the logo. The tackle pad challenge will be an engaging activity

asking men to play, aiming for Top 10 highest strength score. As a reward, they will be offered

a VIP meet-and-greet with a famous rugby player, who will further act as an endorser for the

brand. This plays on heuristic cues in the peripheral route that help alter men’s weak attitudes

toward this product category (Tuk, 2015c).

After each attempt, the participant will get a customised message that they can easily share

(Figure 4).

Figure 4: Example of Participant Tweeting

By creating a fun and effective motivation for participants to share on social media channels,

we utilise the theories of self-expression needs, as they will want to show off their score and

challenge friends, while boosting their self-esteem in the process. (Tuk, 2015e).

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In addition, during the halftime break the brand will announce the Top 10 highest scores on the

scoreboard, utilising the stimuli of the unexpected (Tuk, 2015b) and drawing everyone's,

especially the participants’, attention to the #DoveMenStrength challenge. Because of this, self-

esteem will be heightened as it will be seen as a personal achievement, and will also increase

the incentive for men to photograph and share the scoreboard on their social media (Tuk,

2015e). This Word-of-Mouth promotion by participants who share #DoveMenStrength will act

as an informational influence aid, shifting men’s attitudes towards masculine and strong

associations (Tuk, 2015d).

The Dove tackle pad challenge will be stored in long-term memory for those who experience it

during the Rugby World Cup event (Tuk, 2015b). However, Dove should also promote the

campaign on their social media channels to reach larger audiences, using repetition to enforce

the ideal concept of Dove Men+Care, while having enough variation in each post to keep the

audience interested each time (Tuk, 2015b).

6.2 Communication Idea Two – The Groom Room

To increase awareness of the Dove Men+Care hygiene products and help men associate it

with the brand’s colour scheme of dark grey, an experiential campaign called ‘The Groom

Room’ (Figure 5) is recommended to take place in the UK’s largest gym chain- Pure Gym

(Cave, 2015). Male’s changing rooms in three of the biggest Pure Gym branches across

London, Birmingham and Leeds should be transformed into a Dove Men+Care themed

environment with branded dark grey walls and offering product trials. As Dove Men+Care

would ideally want to be recognised for their deodorant and body wash it is recommended

that they offer these products for free. In addition, these were amongst the top five most

important hygiene products that participant’s stated in their interviews (Appendix 10).

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Figure 5: Example of Design for Groom Room

Dove Men+Care should focus on scent marketing in order to make it a crucial part of their

identity. According to scent experts, smells are associated more quickly with memories than

auditory and visual cues and has the power to enhance consumer behaviour (Smiley, 2014), so

it is advisable for the smell to be detectable in the changing rooms. This scent will be used as a

stimulus to grab men's preconscious attention when entering the room, triggering their sensory

receptors. With repeated visits, their interpretation of the smell will be associated with the

brand, making it recognisable and memorable (Tuk, 2015b). The Groom Room will use various

attention-drawing techniques including self-relevance; by providing men with the product,

when they are most likely to need it. For instance, Dove Men+Care body wash will be available

in the showers and deodorant on the counters so they can use it before and after their workout.

In addition, rhetorical questions such as ‘Isn’t sweating great when you’ve got Dove

Men+Care?’ will be visible on mirrors, next to the products. This will act as a reminder and

help them to build a connection with the brand (Tuk, 2015b).

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The Groom Room will help to influence men’s implicit attitudes about Dove Men+Care and as

a result influence their behaviour without much thought (Tuk, 2015c). For example, they might

have a pleasant memory of a good workout at the gym where they happened to use Dove

Men+Care. The pleasant feelings associated with that day could rub off on the product, leading

them to form favourable associations with it. When they encounter the product at supermarkets,

the product associations such as the deodorant’s powerful protection and the fresh feeling of

the body wash could be activated automatically leading them to have a favourable reaction

towards it.

Since we already know their attitudes are formed through a ‘Like – Buy – Think’ model in the

ABC Model of Attitudes and Hierarchy Effects (Tuk, 2015c) this strategy takes the consumers

through these stages within the branded changing rooms, enhancing the their experience with

the use of Dove Men+Care products. It is then more likely that their associations will be retained

in their Associative Network and their long-term memory (Sweldens, 2015). In addition, their

positive experience will encourage them to share their enthusiasm with friends through WOM

(Tuk, 2015d).

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7. CONCLUSION

This report has identified two major gaps between Dove Men+Care’s ideal perception in the

minds of their target market, and their actual perception. It is necessary to close these gaps so

that the brand can achieve better positioning, and create the right brand image of itself in the

minds of its consumers.

Two strategies were developed in order to close the gaps identified between the ideal and actual

brand maps. The first communication idea aims to change consumer’s associations from being

feminine, to being masculine. To close this gap, it is recommended for Dove Men+Care to

organise an engaging event at the Rugby World Cup with a tackle pad challenge. This will give

the brand a masculine edge that will be correlated back to the brand. The second communication

proposal is the experiential campaign, The Groom Room. This aims to grab men’s preconscious

attention with sensory stimulus, and enhance their brand associations through consistent use,

embedding Dove Men+Care deodorant and body wash into their minds and routines. Both

strategies will integrate the grey colour scheme to shift men from associating the brand from

white to grey.

With these strategies in action, Dove Men+Care can hope to achieve a more accurate brand

perception of themselves for their target market and increase brand equity. However, it must be

acknowledged that the communication strategies developed in this report are based on the

results given by 25-35 year olds, who are only a fraction of Dove Men+Care’s whole target

market range.

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8. REFERENCES

Bahadur, N. (2014) Dove 'Real Beauty' Campaign Turns 10: How A Brand Tried To Change

The Conversation About Female Beauty. [Online] Available from:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/21/dove-real-beauty-campaign-turns-

10_n_4575940.html [Accessed 9 November 2015].

Brandirectory (2015) Top 50 Cosmetic Brands 2015. [Online] Available from:

http://www.statista.com/statistics/243722/brand-value-of-the-leading-15-cosmetic-brands-

worldwide/ [Accessed 9 November 2015].

Cave, A. (2015) Pure Gym founder on how he built Britain's biggest gym chain. [Online]

Available from:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/retailandconsumer/11337645/Pure-Gym-

founder-on-how-he-built-Britains-biggest-gym-chain.html [Accessed 9 November 2015].

Cliffs, E. (2015) The Caring Side of Masculinity Takes Center Court During NCAA® March

Madness®. [Online] Available from: http://www.multivu.com/players/English/7471451-

dove-men-care-ncaa-march-madness/ [Accessed 9 November 2015].

Griner, D. (2015) For Super Bowl, Dove Men Will Basically Just Put a New Hashtag on Its

2014 Father's Day Ad. [Online] Available from: http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-

branding/super-bowl-dove-men-will-basically-just-put-new-hashtag-its-2014-fathers-day-ad-

162438 [Accessed 9 November 2015].

19

McNamara, S. (2015) Consumer Involvement Theory. [Online] Available from:

http://www.adcracker.com/involvement/Consumer_Involvement_Theory.htm [Accessed 9

November 2015].

Mintel News (2015) Mintel in the Media - This Week’s Highlights, 13 July 2015. [Online]

Available from: http://www.mintel.com/blog/mintel-market-news/mintel-in-the-media-this-

weeks-highlights-13-july-2015 [Accessed 9 November 2015].

Miziolek, J. (2012) How Dove Reinvented Its Brand For Men. [Online] Available from:

http://www.fastcompany.com/1824772/how-dove-reinvented-its-brand-men [Accessed 9

November 2015].

Neff, J. (2013) Dove Gives Guys a Break in Men+Care Push. [Online] Available from:

http://adage.com/article/news/dove-guys-a-break-men-care-push/240257/ [Accessed 9

November 2015].

Newman, A. A. (2015) Want to Sell Men's Grooming Products? Hire an Athlete, Not a

Hollywood Star. [Online] Available from: http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-

branding/want-sell-mens-grooming-products-hire-athlete-not-handsome-hollywood-star-

165703 [Accessed 9 November 2015].

Newsworks (2015) Dove Men + Care – Rugby. [Online] Available from:

http://www.newsworks.org.uk/Partnerships/dove-men-care-rugby- [Accessed 9 November

2015].

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Rugby World Cup (2015) Rugby World Cup 2015 signs-up Dove Men+Care. [Online]

Available from: http://www.rugbyworldcup.com/news/74654 [Accessed 9 November 2015].

Smiley, M. (2014) Dollars & Scents: From Clothes to Cars to Banks, Brands Seek Distinction

through Fragrance. [Online] Available from: http://adage.com/article/cmo-strategy/smell-

money-marketers-sell-scent/296084/ [Accessed 9 November 2015].

Sweldens, S. (2015) The Laws of Advertising: Building Brand Associations. [Consumer

Behaviour, BS1502]. Imperial College Business School, 21 October

Tuk, M. (2015a) Consumer Motivation. [Consumer Behaviour, BS1502]. Imperial College

Business School, 16 October

Tuk, M. (2015b) Perception and Memory. [Consumer Behaviour, BS1502]. Imperial College

Business School, 19 October

Tuk, M. (2015c) Attitudes. [Consumer Behaviour, BS1502]. Imperial College Business

School, 25 October

Tuk, M. (2015d) Influence. [Consumer Behaviour, BS1502]. Imperial College Business

School, 28 October

Tuk, M. (2015e) Self, Identity and Culture. [Consumer Behaviour, BS1502]. Imperial College

Business School, 4 November

21

Unilever (2015) Body Washes & Bars. [Online] Available from:

http://www.dovemencare.us/Products/Body-Washes-Bars/default.aspx [Accessed 9

November 2015].

Unilever (2015) Overview. [Online] Available from: http://www.unilever.co.uk/brands-in-

action/detail/Dove/299975/ [Accessed 9 November 2015].

Wong, E. (2010) Dove Super Bowl Spot Scores Initial Points with Men. [Online] Available

from: http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/dove-super-bowl-spot-scores-

initial-points-men-107033 [Accessed 9 November 2015].

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9. APPENDIXES

Appendix 1: Dove Men+Care Print Advert

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Source: Newsworks (2015)

Appendix 2: Print Advert in The Telegraph Newspaper

Source: Newsworks (2015)

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Appendix 3: Banner Image Dove Men+Care Website

Source: Unilever (2015)

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Appendix 4: Associations Corpus

Participant Associations Corpus

1 Shower Gel Deodorant Hand wash Hand soap bar Clean -

2 Moisturiser Feminine Hand

cream/soap bar

Bird Purity -

3 Smell/Milky Creamy Grandparen

ts White Bird Classic soap bar

4 Creamy Bird White - - -

5 Soap Women of all sizes White - - -

6 White Soap Clean Girl's beauty

products - -

7 Shampoo Bird Smell/scent Value for money White -

8 Moisturiser Moisturiser

Good for sensitive

skin Nice Smooth -

9 Soap White Bird Feminine Smell/scent -

10 Shampoo Body wash Soap Clean Fresh -

11 Bird, Dove Deodorant Creamy Soap Woman -

12 Deodorant Sensitive Skin Shampoo Moisturiser Bird -

13 Soap Shower Gel Shampoo

Dove ads with

Women

White/blue/gold Price

14 Body wash Moisturiser Good Smell Soft colors - -

15 Soap Peace Creamy - - -

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Appendix 5: Elicitation Word List

27

Appendix 6: The Frequencies of the Strengths of Connections from First-order

Associations to Dove Men+Care

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Appendix 7: The Frequencies of the Strengths of Connections from Second-order

Associations to First-order Associations

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Appendix 8: Scores for Dove Men+Care

Participant Score

1 5

2 6

3 7

4 4

5 8

6 5

7 6

8 7

9 3

10 6

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Appendix 9: Dove Campaign for Real Beauty

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Appendix 10: Top 5 Most Important Hygiene Products from Interviews

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Appendix 11: Participant 1－15 Individual Brand Maps

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35

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37

38

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