This year, an alarming story hit social media and global press. Girls as young as 10 were being influenced by social media to use adult anti-ageing skincare. Young girls started putting retinol-based skin products at the top of their Christmas lists. They copied influencers doing elaborate 10-step skincare routines. Worrying about wrinkles before they’ve even grown up.

These toxic anti-ageing products not only damage girls’ skin in the here and now, it’s a dangerous gateway to even more unsafe beauty practices as they get older.

Dove has been protecting the self-esteem of girls for 20 years. This was a moment to speak up and defend the very youngest generation, by raising awareness.

Dove’s goal was to help young girls think of their faces as a canvas for fun, not anti-ageing products. And to equip parents of Gen A girls with a conversation guide that helps navigate anti-ageing beauty anxiety.

T STARTED ON SOCIAL...

To raise awareness of this harmful trend while intervening effectively, we needed to speak to girls in a language they’d be receptive to. So we turned to a chorus of influencers – the same ones girls might watch for Get Ready With Me videos, but this time with a surprisingly positive twist. Instead of skin care, our creators used face paint, stickers, and glitter, joyously demonstrating that faces should be a canvas for self-expression and fun.

AND TOOK THE WORLD BY STORM

Inspired by our influencers, women around the world created their own tutorials – including Hollywood’s most famous kid (and now caring mother), Drew Barrymore. Our campaign created so much buzz that we expanded it to outdoor sites and print. Our movement went global, celebrating what a 10 year old’s face should look like and joyously championing women and girls as only Dove knows how.

In PR terms, we needed to create a new spike in this story – aiming to deliver a burst of earned coverage within the first 48 hours. The anti-ageing skincare trend was spiralling out of control, so our role was to get it out in the open, restore balance, and give clarity around what IS age-appropriate skincare for 10 year olds and how that can protect their self-esteem.

We targeted the outlets and reporters talking about it, to drive coverage across multiple verticals beauty, lifestyle/news and marketing, prioritising top-tier outlets who could spark conversation, to ensure that the campaign went far and wide to drive awareness and talkability.

We triggered earned media via leveraging timely conversation and creator activity, offered brand spokespeople and research, and engaged allies to take a stand with us.

A suite of assets prioritised credibility and offered real help including the expert-led anti-ageing skincare talk video.

Dove responded to the trending TikTok story that young girls were being exposed to adult skincare content.

The global campaign was fuelled by Dove’s powerful influencer communities, earned media, owned, and OOH & Print content.

73 influencers were activated over 7 key markets – US, UK, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and South Africa.

Influencers created awareness and drove parents to a resource pinned to Dove’s TikTok, which had expert advice on how to have a conversation about anti-ageing skincare.

We then followed up with impactful Print and OOH, located near stores selling anti-ageing skincare products, to ensure the story stayed top of mind.

The campaign ran across February and March.

This was an incredibly successful global campaign that spanned US, UK, Canada, Germany, France, Italy and Spain.

We had 1.2 Billion impressions in reach from 315 pieces of earned media, with 100% positive sentiment in coverage, and 73 Million paid views on TikTok.

We collaborated with our community of creators across our key markets, who joined #TheFaceof10 campaign via genuine, compelling TikTok and Instagram campaign posts.

Drew Barrymore, Hollywood’s most famous ‘kid’ posted a #Faceof10 video to TikTok and Instagram, with a total of over 25.3 Million followers.

Paid media targeted women 19-54 years-old across TikTok and Outdoor environments to raise awareness of the issue and encourage moms and caregivers to have the Anti-Aging Skincare Talk with their young girls.

Mentions of girls and adult skincare increased 700% amongst parents during #TheFaceof10.