• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms and Conditions
  • DMCA
  • Blog

Davis Network Advertising

Success is in our D-N-A

Prosperity Marketing System

  • Home
  • About
  • News
  • Mobile
  • Resources
  • Contact Page
You are here: Home / News / Unilever Gives Birth to Baby Dove as Johnsons Tries to Bounce Back

Unilever Gives Birth to Baby Dove as Johnsons Tries to Bounce Back

April 5, 2017 by davis

Most Popular

Unilever’s Dove and Dove Men+Care are proud parents of Baby Dove, the brand’s first major category extension since launch of the aforementioned men’s line seven years ago. The new line of baby washes, lotions and wipes kicks off with a digital video today to be followed by a broader digital, TV and #RealMoms social campaign.

Baby Dove arrives just as the category leader, the Johnson’s Baby brand, copes with declining sales and negative publicity from lawsuits claiming its baby powder is responsible for ovarian cancer in some women — something the company vigorously denies. It also comes after Unilever appears to have walked away from a reported interest in acquiring an upstart that rattled the category in recent years, Honest Co., which is now apparently off the market after hiring a new CEO. Both companies declined to comment on that.

Big brand extensions into baby bath products have been slow going in the past, even from brands with a close connection to the category. Kimberly-Clark Corp.’s Huggies discontinued its foray into bath products, and Procter & Gamble Co. sold Kandoo, an offshoot of its giant Pampers brand, to orphan-brand marketer Nehemiah Manufacturing in recent years.

So why will things be different for Dove?

“Baby Dove is building on the 60-year heritage of cleansing and care and moisturization of the Dove brand,” said Nick Soukas, VP of Dove. One of the key insights behind the products is that baby skin loses moisture five times faster than adult skin, so Dove’s heritage of moisturizing products fits particularly well, he said. He declined to comment on the litigation woes afflicting the Johnson & Johnson competitor, but said Dove was coming to market because it has a products line that can make a positive impact.

Beyond the moisturizing heritage, Dove has been squarely focused on moms and dads with its existing product lines for years, making the leap to babies fairly easy. Marketing for Dove Men+Care in particular has been focused on men’s roles as fathers since day one.

But Baby Dove will be focused on the primary buyer in the category — moms — and in particular bucking up women’s self-esteem vs. pressure to be perfect. Instead of Real Beauty, think of it as a campaign for real parenting.

“When you look at how brands are talking about parenting, there’s a real opportunity to bring a modern, updated view of parenthood,” Mr. Soukas said. Baby Dove marketing will aim to “show parents as they really are, and the reality of parenting.” Dove research shows nine of 10 moms feel pressure to be perfect, but only 26% feel they can live up to the ideals portrayed in media.

Backing the launch are media shop WPP’s Mindshare on media, Publicis Groupe’s Razorfish and WPP’s Ogilvy & Mather on creative, and Edelman on PR and social media.

J&J, while admittedly having a rough time of late on the Johnson’s Baby business, will be putting up a renewed fight, Baby Dove or no. In a presentation to the Consumer Analyst Group of New York conference in February, Jorge Mesquita, worldwide chairman of Johnson & Johnson Consumer Companies, said, “Johnson’s Baby is a category where we are clearly underperforming” and “losing share.” But he said turning the business around is his biggest priority, and that the company is preparing a restage and “brand transformation” that “recognizes it clearly is not connecting with consumers as it once did.”

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Google+ (Opens in new window)

Related

This news item is brought to you by http://adage.com/article/cmo-strategy/unilever-birth-baby-dove-johnson-s-bounce-back/308561/?utm_source=CMO%20Strategy&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+AdvertisingAge/CMO%20Strategy

Filed Under: News

Primary Sidebar

Be the most informed person in your circle

Recent Posts

  • The F8 of Digital Advertising Sits with Fb and Google – Which-50 (website)
  • Why Sports Will Play a Greater Role in Fox’s Upfront Pitch
  • Google turns to artists to mold Assistant into an amiable companion
  • “Alexa, how can my brand shine in the age of ask”
  • Twitter amplifies branding opportunities in Periscope broadcasts

Archives

  • April 2017 (140)
  • March 2017 (15)
  • February 2017 (11)
  • January 2017 (5)
  • December 2016 (1)
  • September 2016 (1)
  • April 2016 (1)
  • March 2016 (1)
  • February 2016 (1)
  • October 2015 (1)
  • September 2015 (1)
  • June 2015 (1)
  • May 2015 (2)
  • April 2015 (3)

Footer

RSS Subscribe to our news feed…

  • The F8 of Digital Advertising Sits with Fb and Google – Which-50 (website)
  • Why Sports Will Play a Greater Role in Fox’s Upfront Pitch

Pages

  • About
  • Archive Page
  • Blog
  • Contact Page
  • DMCA
  • Home
  • Privacy Policy
  • Resources
  • Terms and Conditions

Legal

  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms and Conditions
  • DMCA
  • Blog

Tags

amazon apple awards B2B B2C bitmoji branding campaigns chatbot marketing chatbots digital advertising direct response e-commerce facebook google influencer marketing Interview Mobile mobile app mobile video music non-profit PR regulations search technology snapchat sports TV twitter viral video

Categories

  • Mobile (54)
  • News (132)

#1 Tool for 2017

Prosperity Marketing System

Be successful by copying what we are doing in our own business [Earn money before you spend money]!

Copyright © 2023 · News Pro on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in