The campaign idea inspired women to come together to ‘Break the rules of beauty’. So to kick start the movement we targeted the biggest player in India media with the narrowest definition of beauty. Matrimonial adverts.

Open up a newspaper to the matrimonial section and every advert is seeking the same woman. The beauty ideal. So we printed an unbranded subverted matrimonial seeking the exact opposite. This is what made it stand out. Women that called the phone number were then welcomed by Dove, and invited to join the campaign.

With the help of our diverse beauties, Dove’s campaign snowballed, as the message spread across every channel. Each execution challenging the socially accepted idea of beauty by featuring different kinds of women. These women could be considered models in the west, but in India, it‘s shocking to see these women next to the word beautiful.

The subverted matrimonial was part of the initial recruitment campaign – the spark that ignited the entire campaign.

The copy and design of the matrimonial was very simple on purpose. Crafted exactly like every other matrimonial, but with exactly the opposite sentiment – one of diversity.

After this “ignite” stage, the campaign went from the most direct media where the beauty ideal matters most, to mass media. Media in India historically only shows the beauty ideal, so for Dove to show a dark woman, older woman, an eastern or southern woman, or with curves and say that they are beautiful was equally controversial.

Running in parallel was digital and social activity encouraging more and more women to get involved, and feel brave enough to say that they are beautiful too.

To reach an audience as big as India, with a statement as big as Dove’s ambition, the campaign had to go nationwide.

The campaign has only been live since 23rd April 2016, but is already making a big statement in India.

Within its first five days the film has been viewed almost a million times online, and reach many more on TV. And the campaign’s multi-media approach allowed us to create 678,297,782 impressions and counting – that’s at least one for every woman in India. But this is still only the beginning.

The debate about broadening the definition of Indian beauty has also been ignited online, with women all over India not only sharing the campaign, but posting selfies with #RealBeaty #NoFilter showing pride in their skin tone, shape and size for the first time.