Dove’s 'real women' campaign was admired, but tired. The brand’s plain approach lacked the aspiration needed to sway our hair-obsessed target - women ages 25-49. And, although Dove is loved for its bar and body wash, it had little credibility in hair. We desperately needed a convincing way to demonstrate that our new Nourishing Oil Care line didn’t just promise smooth, frizz-free hair, it delivered.

We also needed to outsmart the category leader Pantene by getting our message out beyond traditional paid media. With under $1m to spend, we looked to social media as a driver for credible word of mouth to influence trial. Real women bloggers were recruited to experience the product in the ultimate torture test, the rain. Our approach was to create a 'Singin’ in the Rain' music video filled with real rain, re-record a contemporary version of 'Singin’ in the Rain' as the soundtrack for our video, and cast influential bloggers to take part. By using real women with significant influence and strong social networks, Dove was able to generate credible product recommendations from reliable sources, which were shared among these networks. Dove Hair’s online share of conversation increased from 1% to 46% over the first 4 months of the campaign, drastically surpassing the goal. Most importantly, our new product line Nourishing Oil Care has over-delivered on business results by 67%. While the category grew 1%, Dove hair grew 4% in dollar volume, double our target. During this period, Pantene lost 2.8 share points.

Using Radian6, we identified and invited 14 women bloggers to participate in our 'Singin’ in the Rain' video production. To convince women our product worked, we created the ultimate torture test for the frizzies: a 'Singin’ In The Rain' music video, filled with real rain. A celeb stylist from 'Glee' did their hair, Usher’s choreographer taught the dance moves, and the group danced to the song under clear umbrellas. After the shoot, we posted the video and let the blogging and sharing begin. The team expanded the conversation through paid online media and a 'rainy day' partnership with the Weather Network.

The bloggers tweeted incessantly during filming, creating positive word-of-mouth thereafter and changed their Facebook profile photos to one from the shoot. When the video was posted, the blogging, sharing and social networking continued, allowing women to see with their own eyes that our product really worked, even in the rain.

Dove Hair’s online share of conversation increased from 1% to 46% over the first 4 months of this campaign, drastically surpassing our goal. 88% of conversation was positive, and the likelihood that a consumer would recommend this brand to a friend went from 0 in 10 to 8 in 10. Social media metrics were outstanding with a total of 259,000 views of the 'Singin’ in the Rain' video across all media channels. Our 'Hair tab' on the brand’s Facebook page has become the most visited tab for Dove Canada and for Dove Hair globally. Overall, activity on Facebook attributed to approximately 8m video impressions. Most importantly, our new product line Nourishing Oil Care, has over-delivered on business results by 67%. While the category grew 1%, Dove hair grew 4% in dollar volume, double our target. During this period, Pantene lost 2.8 share points, suggesting we stole from the leader.