Background

Situation

Since 2019 Dove Deodorants have led the charge in challenging the judgement women face when it comes to beauty ideals associated with their armpits. Today globally, most women and girls still believe there is an ‘ideal’ underarm, with 1 in 2 women having judged themselves because of their armpits.

• Brief

Armed with the ambition to become the most culturally relevant and unmissable deodorant brand in the US we were briefed to create an integrated 360 blockbuster activation challenging underarm inhibitions.

• Objectives

To liberate women from armpit inhibitions and prompting them to consider their own point of view when it comes to underarm judgement.

To drive mass awareness of the issue, as well as our product, by owning a specific moment, that really cuts through culture.

For Dove to go from just being a deodorant, to being something worth talking about.

The Pits of New York

Summer on the New York subway is the ultimate test for our armpits and of our self-esteem.

It's the pits for our pits.

We used this inference to deliver an unexpected, timely campaign for Dove Deodorants that

heroed women confidently baring their armpits in this most hostile environment, with the

edge, grit and straight-talking style that could only come from the women of NYC.

Judgement around women’s armpits is deeply and unconsciously ingrained in the US, with 6 in 10 admitting to judging others, based purely on appearance. So, by showing the Pits of New York and leaning into a moment of heightened exposure and judgement, we revealed the truth and prompted our audience to consider underarm judgement, including their own point of view, in an effort to unite and shift it, with unapologetic statements and a strong call to action to #freethepits.

Historically, Dove has encouraged women to defy underarm judgement, in a playfully defiant way. Evolving our Brand Purpose further and to coincide with the launch of a new White Paper, we prompted our audience of US women aged 18 – 44 years, to consider the source of armpit judgement and their own point of view, with the aim of uniting women and shifting underarm judgement once and for all.

Armed with the White Paper findings which unearthed that 40% of women have felt judged for their armpits whilst on the subway, it became the perfect place to intercept women in these moments of vulnerability, in a contextually relevant way.

Leaning into the realness and edge of New York, and New Yorkers, our campaign aimed to destigmatize underarm judgement by highlighting that 6 in 10 women admit to judging others, based purely on appearance.

The heart of our activation took the city by storm underground. 4 week print and digital OOH subway takeover, across 3 major New York Subway stations – Times Square Station, Herald Square station and Meatpacking district stations, totalled over 500 placements, along with in-car digital Livecard Max and half-branded subway cars across 750 cars.

Additional OOH across Times Square Towers print and digital spectacular, the digital Godzilla billboard and over 250 placements throughout the streets of New York drove awareness.

On social we sparked conversation across the US, working in partnership with 31 Influencers who created 46 pieces of content. With Meta and TikTok awareness amplification.

Beauty Editors attended a ‘Pit Portrait’ photoshoot and this, coupled with PR outreach achieved coverage across 28 editorial placements and 468 press release placements. Our on-ground ‘Pit Stop’, engaged the public to #freethepits in return for a free ‘Pit Pass’ to ride the Subway.

Our OOH Blockbuster takeover across New York resulted in 192MM est. impressions.

Influencer outreach resulted in a 50% reach against our demographic target of US women aged 18 – 44 years, with 104MM est. impressions and 94% positive sentiment.

Whilst our Brand Say Meta and TikTok Topview extension resulted in 177MM est. impressions with 64% reach.

Earned coverage through our on-ground ‘Pit Stop’ activation, beauty Editor pit portrait photoshoot and PR outreach resulted in 343M+ social and editorial impressions.