Dive Brief:
- Unilever's Dove teamed up with parenting website ATTN on a new video series targeting teens as they experience adolescence and body image issues, the company revealed in a press release.
- Award-winning writer, producer and actor Lena Waithe is the creative force behind the new five-episode series, "Girls Room," that takes place in bathrooms at home and at school to represent a common space where people experiment with their appearance and shape their sense of self.
- The series was filmed in a vertical format specifically for mobile audiences and will air on ATTN's IGTV channel. Creative agency BBH co-created the series.
Dive Insight:
Dove has promoted body positivity in its marketing for years in an effort to expand consumers' rigid definitions of "real beauty," but now, the Unilever brand is extending that message to teen girls through a mobile-first video series they may relate to.
The content is inspired by Dove Self-Esteem Project's research around body image, according to the press reelase. Experts from the Centre of Appearance Research at the University of the West of England consulted on the project, giving credibility to a push that aims to give support and promote wellness to young women. By connecting with girls who are facing bodily changes and shaping how they define beauty in their teen years, Dove is working to instill confidence in the minds of future customers and promote positive connotations with the brand. Nurturing these relationships early on may help position Dove as an empowering, top-of-mind beauty option to buy from for years to come.
In a call with investors last month, Unilever CEO Alan Jope said the company plans to funnel more of its marketing spend to outreach that directly supports purpose-based messaging. The company's data illustrates that brand purpose supports both short- and long-term growth, figures that suggest positive sales results from including empowering messages in marketing. Brand purpose is one of the company's five key growth fundamentals going forward.
The "Girls Room" series kicks off just ahead of Women's History Month, a strategic opportunity for the brand to talk about the challenges young women face when it comes to confidence and body positivity. Dove has centered its marketing around empowering messages for years. Last year, the brand worked with Getty Images and the creative network Girlgaze to create #ShowUs, a stock image library featuring more than 5,000 photographs that are not digitally distorted and were captured by women, non-binary and female-identifying photographers.
